2020-04-06, XPeng Motors held a 24-hour live launch event for the P7, positioning it as an entry-level luxury intelligent EV sports sedan and marking it as their second vehicle for consumers.
Actually, shortly after P7 was released, XPeng Motors took advantage of the momentum and started their test driving activities. We were lucky enough to be among the first to obtain a test drive vehicle from the official website, despite the fact that its specifications had already been exposed on the internet many times. However, we were still impressed when we saw the actual car.
From its appearance, the P7 is exceptionally attractive, with a low, sleek body and an extra-long wheelbase that creates a smooth and streamlined overall shape. It looks even better if you take a look at its 45-degree rear angle.
After testing out the vehicle in depth for a week, we can say that, from the perspectives of driving performance and comfort, it is undoubtedly one of the best in its class. Additionally, the P7’s hardware for assisted driving is also top-level within the industry, featuring Nvidia autonomous driving chips, 14 perception cameras, and 5 millimeter-wave radars.
Based on the outstanding performance of P7’s assisted driving system during high-speed tests demonstrated by Huang Xin, XPeng’s director of autonomous driving, and the comprehensive results of our experience with G3’s assisted driving system, we have high expectations for P7’s future performance. In fact, my colleague 63, who experienced the P7 for himself, immediately placed an order for one at a price point of 290,000 RMB, which is the best proof of his satisfaction.
Ten years have passed, and nowadays not only is China the world’s leading electric vehicle market, but it is also one of the most advanced technology markets in the field of electric vehicles.
Throughout this process, a group of innovative Chinese automakers have emerged, constantly creating surprises, and striving to become leaders in this industry.
One of the most representative companies among these innovators is XPeng Motors, which has become the fastest-growing EV company, taking only 20 months from the first mass-produced model to become the best-selling automaker of new forces in the field, and P7 has garnered over 10,000 orders within less than two months.
XPeng defines themselves as a technology company, and thus has a unique perspective when it comes to intelligent vehicles. If you want to stand out and succeed in the future when it comes to intelligent electric vehicle startups, you must ensure that the “intelligent” aspect is fully optimized.Answer:
Future electric vehicles are only hardware carriers, and it is actually very difficult for hardware itself to do differentiation. The real change that can change the experience and achieve travel change will be the evolution of automatic driving and intelligent cockpit.
XPeng’s strategy is also relatively clear, which is to make automatic driving vehicles that meet Chinese road conditions, such as optimizing the automatic driving continuity problems caused by road maintenance on Chinese cities and highways.
“Intelligence” and “Electricity” are actually an inseparable whole. Hardware is the carrier, but how to do this carrier well is also crucial for a consumer-oriented product.
XPeng’s strategy is also very simple, making electric vehicles that meet the needs of Chinese users.
After a deep experience of G3 and P7, we found that the mechanical performance of P7 is already quite mature compared to G3.
To promote the progress of products, there must be a top-down driving force within the enterprise, and there must also be forward-looking technical support. What specific points can “cars that meet the needs of Chinese users” be expressed? How did XPeng balance between sports and performance? What is the strategy for XPeng’s pure electric platform technology research and development?
With these questions, we interviewed Dr. Xu Jihan, Vice President of XPeng. Below is the interview transcript:
P7 Product Definition
Q: Why did XPeng make P7?
A: G3 is our company’s pioneer work, and its market performance is quite good, but we need a product that can realize our brand’s upward trend, so we want to create an entry-level luxury car, and luxury cars have higher profit margins.
In addition, we are a technology company, so we have adopted a large number of technological elements, but because of the different positioning from G3, the requirements for car performance are also different.
Through research on the market, we found that the B-class electric car field is a blue ocean, and the competition is not so fierce.
At that time, there were only Model S and Model 3 on the market, and we chose to make a coupe because we wanted to create differentiation.
In terms of performance, because there were only two Tesla cars on the market at the time, we comprehensively thought about how to compete with these two cars.
We looked at how Tesla did it in terms of handling, ride comfort, noise, and endurance, and where we should be better than it, and which ones are at least not worse than it. Based on this idea, we made P7.
Q: How do you define P7 as a coupe model?Defining a sports sedan, we define our product from three aspects.
First of all, in terms of appearance, a sports sedan must have a streamlined body shape. Our car has a very low profile of only 1.45 meters, and a long wheelbase of nearly 3 meters. The front and rear suspensions are also relatively short.
To increase the sporty posture of the sports sedan, we have extended the front axle to the A-pillar distance, and must ensure that the P7 looks aesthetically pleasing.
Secondly, in terms of power performance, its acceleration performance is good, so we achieved an acceleration score of just 4.3 seconds for 0-100 km.
Thirdly, in terms of handling performance, our chassis was jointly developed with Europe’s top companies, so our steering can be directed wherever you want, and the suspension has both sporty and comfortable performance.
As for the highlight of the power system, considering the low profile of the sports sedan, we have customized a 110mm battery cell height, which is lower than the normal standard battery cell of 140mm, so that the ground clearance of the chassis can be reduced, making the car appear more sporty.
Considering safety, our battery pack is IP68 waterproof, which can be immersed in water for 48 hours at a depth of one meter. The general industry standard is IP67, which only requires one hour of immersion in water. This is our characteristic.
Our motor controller, motor, and gearbox are assembled together, which we call three-in-one, and the overall power density is also high, with 2000 watts per kilogram, which are all very good indicators.
Q: How do you view P7’s competitors?
A: In the sedan sector, our main competitors in the market are probably the Model 3 and Model S.
Compared to the Model 3, our wheelbase is longer, which means our interior space is at least more spacious than it. When we developed the P7, we did a lot of research on the performance of the Model 3.
We listed about a dozen key performance indicators, and our design performance is all higher than it.
Regarding the Model S, we also have a comparison. Once, a media organization organized a challenge and compared our P7 with the Model S, Porsche’s Panamera, and BMW’s M4 in the same test track according to different test items. P7’s performance was indeed very good.
These several items include 0-100 acceleration, 100 kilometers braking distance, maximum speed swerve, elk test, speed comparison around the circuit, and noise level.
In these six competitions, P7’s score ranked first in five of them. In the hundred-kilometer acceleration, we were 4.3 seconds, and Tesla’s Model S was about 0.1 seconds faster than us. So in the current competition circle of electric sports sedans, I think P7 should be very good.#### Optimization of P7 Products
Q: Speaking of the tuning and overall driving experience of P7, it tends to lean towards comfort. How was this considered during development?
A: It is like this, chassis tuning is always a compromise between handling and ride comfort.
In short, if you want comfort, the chassis will be softer, and the handling may not be good. If you want handling, the chassis will be stiffer, but then the comfort will not be good.
In the Chinese market, most people still lean towards comfort, so our tuning will be slightly more comfortable. However, our handling is also good.
Because the chassis we use is a rear five-link, front double-wishbone architecture, which is generally used on Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, it can better balance handling and comfort.
We are slightly biased towards comfort because we think the Chinese market will have a higher acceptability, and we are a Chinese company, so we must cater to the needs of Chinese users.
Q: We experienced P7 for a week before, and compared to the quality of the small Peugeot G3, it has significantly improved. Can you tell us how this qualitative change was achieved from G3 to P7?
A: First of all, in terms of intelligence, we still adhere to our established direction, and the data on G3 can also be better reused on P7. As for the powertrain, we have developed a new platform, including powertrain, chassis, underbody, and electronic architecture.
In terms of chassis, we worked with Porsche Engineering to cooperatively design the architecture, however, all parts development was done by us.
In terms of electronic architecture and controller, we worked with NVIDIA, using the latest chip with very high computing power, and we were the first company in the world to use this chip.
In terms of intelligent cabin, we used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820A chip to run the system smoothly.
On P7, we have used 5 radars and a total of 14 cameras, including front and rear side, front long focus, medium focus, short focus, and even fatigue monitoring cameras inside the car. This is more than G3, and the hardware can support higher-level assisted driving.
Moreover, P7 will achieve NGP-like functions in the fourth quarter of this year.
In terms of powertrain, we have integrated the motor controller, motor, and gearbox to achieve high power density. We have not yet integrated the entire vehicle controller.
However, our next-generation electronic architecture will also integrate the entire vehicle controller into a certain domain controller, which is expected to be realized in the next model.Question: A few months ago, the software was optimized and upgraded for the XPeng P7, which increased its endurance by 10-18km. What other spaces for “optimization” are there in the future?
Answer: Of course, there is a limit. Tesla’s approach is different from ours. It reserves all the battery cells in the battery pack. For example, if there were 8 battery cells originally, it only uses 6 of them and then adds those two battery cells. However, our improvement is achieved through optimizing the entire power system and entire energy recovery through software. We optimize the algorithm, and the hardware itself will not change. But there is a problem that if the hardware remains the same and only optimization through algorithms is made, there will be a limit to its effect, and the effect is a bit like the logarithmic curve in mathematics, where the higher it gets, the smaller the scope and space for optimization.
Question: Can this battery pack be reused when applied to other models?
Answer: The battery pack can definitely be reused if the next model is a sedan with the same wheelbase. It can be used as it is. However, if you want to make a sedan, the height requirements are not that high. If you want to run a longer distance, you can also make the battery pack thicker. I believe that this battery cell is not only used by us, but BMW is also using it or planning to use it, with almost the same size as our battery cell. Because it also wants to make sedans lower, not only does it need to be low for coupes, but also for sedans if it wants a small wind resistance. Therefore, I believe that the short battery cell must have its usefulness, and not only we will use it, but others will use it too.
We are also preparing to develop new battery packs, skipping the module and going directly to the battery pack, which means our underfloor needs to be changed. The underfloor may vary due to different car models. For example, if you want to make a bigger or smaller car or reduce the wheelbase, the underfloor will definitely not be exactly the same.
But I will try to make the battery pack change as little as possible because developing a battery pack requires a lot of resources.
XPeng’s Platform Planning
Question: I saw that the P7 was from the E-Platform before. Can you introduce this platform?
Answer: Our P7 is the first car on this platform. What is the purpose of using this platform? The purpose is that now we have a coupe. If we want to make a sedan of the same level, we only need to make minor modifications. The advantage of this is that the cost and progress can be controlled.
This platform also has a lot of room for expansion. For example, if we want to make an SUV, the existing technology and parts can be shared, which can increase the bargaining space with suppliers.Translation:
Before this E-platform, we had a platform called D-platform, which covered the range of vehicle models from a wheelbase of 2.6 meters to 2.8 meters. With this E-platform, we can cover a range from a wheelbase of 2.8 meters to 3.1 meters.
In other words, by combining the development of these two platforms, we can produce all vehicle models within this wheelbase range.
This is very advantageous for the future development of our company and for the development of more vehicle models.
Q: What are the plans for the E-platform?
A: We are currently planning the development of a new vehicle. Considering the rational and effective use of resources, we will not develop too many vehicles simultaneously. We are indeed preparing the development of the next vehicle on this platform.
Q: How do XPeng Motors and suppliers cooperate in platform development?
A: D-platform was developed by XPeng Motors itself and is commonly used in Class A vehicles. As mentioned earlier, for the E-platform, we chose the commonly used BBA architecture to elevate our brand.
Because experience is an accumulation in automobile technology, although there is theory, it is more about experience.
In terms of the chassis, we developed it together with a top German chassis supplier. In terms of architecture, they helped us design it, but we were responsible for the specific component development.
Q: What is your view on the difference between pure electric platforms and fuel vehicle platforms?
A: One of the major differences between electric and fuel vehicles is that the wheelbase of an electric vehicle platform is generally longer and can accommodate more batteries.
I am not sure how fast others are iterating on their electric vehicle platforms, but XPeng P7 is constantly evolving.
For example, when we developed G3, there was no Ethernet and domain controller for the electronic architecture. When we developed D55, which was based on the D-platform, we had Ethernet and domain controller.
The current trend in vehicle electronics is to reduce the number of controllers as much as possible. Reducing the number of controllers can lower costs, reduce wiring on the vehicle, and reduce the chances of electromagnetic interference. Therefore, we have already started using domain controllers in our D55 vehicle.
I am not sure if all electric vehicle manufacturers are evolving as quickly as we are, but XPeng Motors wants to make small, steady improvements and stay ahead in technology.
Of course, we are not the best in terms of domain controllers, but we are taking steps towards improvement.
We are currently developing an electronic architecture with four domain controllers, integrating more controllers together. The new electronic architecture may be used in the second E-platform vehicle.
Q: Finally, one more question. How much money did XPeng Motors spend and how many people were involved in developing the P7?
Answer not provided in the original text.答：
As for the cost, I cannot answer you because it may involve the company’s confidential information.
Regarding personnel, we have four major research and development centers. The automobile center has about 1,000 employees, the powertrain center has about 180 employees, the autonomous driving center has over 300 employees, and the internet center has over 300 employees. There are approximately 2,000 engineers in the entire engineering research and development team.
However, our employees can support multiple projects, which can optimize the personnel structure and achieve resource sharing among each project. About 600-800 people are involved in the P7 project, and these people also support other work.
Overall, the company has allocated a significant amount of resources to the P7 project. Everyone from He XPeng to the entire company has put a lot of effort into it, and of course we are quite satisfied with the product.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.