Alibaba-backed Xpeng Motors, which recently went public in the US, today announced the launch of a new battery leasing service.

Under the service, consumers can finance the "battery" and "car body" separately at the time of purchase, which further reduces the down payment and is essentially the same as Nio's recently announced BaaS battery rental program.

Unlike Nio, Xpeng customers only get a single invoice for their purchase, and Xpeng owners own the battery after paying for 84 installments (7 years), whereas Nio customers who purchase under BaaS will never own the battery.

Xpeng's battery leasing program is available in both "taster" and "standard" versions, which allow users to pay for the body at a 30 percent down payment, while paying a monthly fee to rent the battery.

Under the standard version of the service plan, users can purchase the P7 and G3 for RMB 75,000 and RMB 60,000 less than the original price, respectively. In terms of battery leasing costs, they will have to pay 980 RMB per month for the P7 (the same as Nio's current plan) and 780 RMB per month for the G3.

For the P7, this equates to a user spending RMB 82,320 yuan on the battery, which is RMB 7,320 more expensive than a one-time buyout.

Under the taster version of the battery lease program, which reduces the price of the P7 and G3 by 60,000 and 43,000 yuan, users of the former will have to pay 780 yuan per month and users of the latter will have to pay 580 yuan per month.

The program is currently being implemented on a pilot basis in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Wuxi, Ningbo, Foshan, Dongguan, Wuhan and Chengdu.

It involves models including the G3 520i series, the P7's four-wheel-drive high-performance series and the rear-drive long-range series.