- China’s government has set out its next 5-year plan, highlighting promotion of electric vehicles as key tenet underpinning their environmental policies
- Net Element’s reverse merger with EV manufacturer Mullen Technologies is expected to close by 4Q2020, with Net Element expected to divest its legacy payments business following the deal
- Company aims to begin selling K50 Dragonfly sportscar by 2Q2021, recently began pre-sales for its wholly self-developed EV SUV, the Mullen MX-05
- US has followed in China’s footsteps, with Presidential candidate Joe Biden encouraging mass EV adoption as key policy initiative
Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE), a financial technology company in the process of transforming its business model to become a pure-play electric vehicle (“EV”) manufacturer through its binding letter of intent to merge with privately-held Mullen Technologies Inc., may have timed its move to perfection. The fifth plenum of the Chinese government concluded on October 29 following a four-day meeting. This year, the semi-annual gathering of China’s top leaders had a special task – finalizing the blueprint for the 14th Five-Year Plan, which will set out China’s economic policies for the period from 2021 – 2025 (https://ibn.fm/koCs5). One of the key undertakings adopted by the Chinese government during the plenum involved delineating a series of measures set to govern the development of the nation’s budding new energy vehicle (“NEV”) sector between 2021-2035, which aim to accelerate the country’s development into an automotive powerhouse.
The plan released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, listed a number of broad guidelines, namely – to improve the domestic Chinese auto sector’s capacity for technological innovation, build advanced industry ecosystems, and encourage further industrial integration and development. More specifically, the plan stated the Government’s ambitions of bringing the average power consumption of new, purely electric passenger cars down to 12 kWh/100 km while raising the market share of new NEVs within total automotive sales to 20% by 2025. By 2035, the Government aims to encourage the mass adoption of purely electric automobiles as a replacement to conventional internal combustion engine powered cars, while ensuring that all vehicles used in public transportation are completely electrified (https://ibn.fm/4QsI9).
Net Element and Mullen Technologies have revealed plans to begin their foray into the US electric vehicle market through their partnership with Chinese EV manufacturer, Qiantu Motors, with the aim of marketing and selling the latter company’s vehicles in the US. The joint-venture’s first product will be the K50 Dragonfly – an all-electric, two-seat, carbon-fiber-bodied sports car which can go from 0-100 km/hr in 4.6 seconds (faster than a Porsche Boxster) and which is set to begin deliveries from 2Q2021 onwards.
The company plans to follow on from their introductory model with the manufacture and sale of an entirely self-produced EV SUV, the Mullen MX-05, by the second quarter of 2022—with hopes of reaching a production threshold of 35,000 vehicles per annum by 2026. Mullen recently announced that the company has begun taking pre-orders for the MX-05 as of October 1, 2020 through its website as well as through any Mullen retail location in the U.S.
China’s NEV policies, while considerably more ambitious than those professed by the rest of the world, have resonated elsewhere around the globe. During his campaign, Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden set out four key targets driving his goals to encourage EV adoption – building 500,000 public EV charging stations by 2030, restoring the full EV tax credit, shifting government fleets to electric cars, and developing a new fuel economy target (https://ibn.fm/zqFBK).
Economies and governments the world over have positioned themselves for the mass promotion and adoption of electric vehicles as a key pillar underpinning their environmental goals. Through their upcoming tie-up (pending shareholder approval), as well as through their recent operational initiatives, Net Element and Mullen Technologies find themselves well positioned to respond to the rising tide of demand within the electric vehicle sector.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NETE are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/NETE
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