Autohome founder's electric car foray draws Musk comparison

Beijing

LI XIANG was earning 10 times more than his parents from part-time jobs when he left school in 1999 to focus on a website before starting Autohome Inc, China's premier car-buying portal. Now, he plans to not just sell vehicles, but design and build them too.

Chehejia, or "Car and Home", has raised 2.5 billion yuan (S$525 million) in venture-capital funding since Mr Li started the Beijing-based electric vehicle business last July. A self-confessed petrolhead who's been likened to Tesla Motors Inc co-founder Elon Musk, the 34-year-old aims to start selling a commuter car that can be recharged as easily as a mobile phone by the end of 2017.

A lifesize plaster-and-wood prototype on display in Chehejia's research centre shows Mr Li's progress. He's already a latecomer in a market increasingly crowded with startups seeking to tap new technologies to build electric, auto-driven and digitally connected vehicles. Mr Li wants Chehejia to differentiate itself with two models that rely less on public charging facilities and promise to meet 90 per cent of the needs of commuters struggling wit…