Robot vacuum. Source: ed_rsnhr/Pixabay
A second vacuum making company is looking to get into electric cars – and it has attracted a funding injection from Tencent Group, the second-largest shareholder of EV battery swap pioneer Nio.
Rox Motor, the car-building project of robot vacuum maker Roborock CEO Chang Jing, completed a $US100 million ($A140 million) financing at the end of 2021, according to a Chinese media report.
Tech news website 36Kr says a source told it that lead investor Tencent invested more than $US50 million in this financing round. Another investment company Sequoia also participated in the investment.
The source also said that Rox Motor is presently carrying out a new round of financing that would value the company at around $US2 billion ($A2.8 billion).
36Kr was not able to verify the report, but the news reminds us of the unsuccessful foray into EV development by UK vacuum giant Dyson. Headed by James Dyson, the vacuum maker planned to develop an SUV-style EV at a plant in Singapore and deliver them by 2021, but pulled out when it found it could not make the project commercially viable.
Like Dyson, Rox Motor wants to enter the EV market at the rugged end of the market.
Chang Jing reportedly loves off-road vehicles, and it is understood that its first planned EV is the off-road car similar to the Mercedes-Benz G series, hoping to use “extended-range” technology to exceed 1,000 kilometres on a single charge.
Whether this means it will have a fossil-fuelled range extender as was an option on the BMW i3, or high energy density battery technology, is unclear.
Again, as with Dyson, Rox Motor may have the advantage on EV makers such as Nio thanks to its prior knowledge gained from robot vacuum development.
Roborock Technology, which is a star player in Xiaomi’s ecological chain, and listed on China’s tech-focussed Star Market in 2020 at the highest price on record for the China market with a 58.76 earnings ratio, Global Capital Asia reported.
Xiamo, which has a 25% interest in Roborock, has also taken an interest in electric cars, announcing a $A13 billion investment in 2021.
As for the reason behind Tencent’s interest in Rox Motor, 36Kr reports that CEO and computer science graduate Chang Jing once served as a senior product manager of Tencent before founding Roborock in 2014.
Chang Jing also reportedly has a particular interest in product development; his Wechat signature simply says “I am a product manager.”
But Rox Motor’s success will depend on its ability to navigate the many challenges that EV product development presents. As a much higher order product, car development must hit numerous targets from passenger safety, audience appeal and ride quality to being able to compete with other auto players on the tech stage, just as a start.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.
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