Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker XPeng Inc. said it hopes to raise up to 1.11 billion U.S. dollars in its initial public offering (IPO) in New York. On Friday, the company said it intends to sell 85 million American depositary shares (ADS), each representing two Class A ordinary shares, priced between 11 and 13 U.S. dollars per share.

At the top end of the range, XPeng's valuation stood at 9.17 billion U.S. dollars.

The Chinese EV maker said existing investors Alibaba Group, Coatue, and Qatar Investment Authority had indicated an interest in buying up to 200 million U.S. dollars, 100 million and 50 million U.S. dollars, respectively, of the ADSs being offered.

Backer Xiaomi Corp had also indicated an interest in buying up to 50 million U.S. dollars of the ADSs.

Alibaba will own all of XPeng's class C ordinary shares, representing 14.9 percent of the voting power of its total shares immediately after the completion of the offering, XPeng said.

XPeng's IPO comes after rival Li Auto Inc, another Chinese electric vehicle startup, raised 1.09 billion U.S. dollars in its IPO on the Nasdaq last month.

Share prices of EV makers, including Tesla Inc. and Nio Inc., have surged in recent months.

"Investors can't seem to get enough exposure to electric vehicle stocks. We are comparing Xpeng with Li Auto, which went public in July and is up 28% from its IPO and to Nio," Kathleen Smith, principal at Renaissance Capital LLC., provider of institutional research and IPO ETFs, said.

Founded in 2014, Guangzhou-based XPeng delivered its first Xpeng G3 vehicle to customers in December 2018 and launched a second model in April this year. The company manufactures cars in two factories in China.

In recent months, China's passenger car sales have rebounded from a sharp drop caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.  The government affirmed its support for EV makers, announcing in April that it would extend the subsidies offered to EVs until the end of 2022, with a slower phase-out pace. The country has set the goal of making new energy vehicles account for 25 percent of auto sales by 2025.

(With input from Reuters)