Author: Tian Hui
From the hot pre-sale level, the GK-ONE 001 might be the brightest star at the Shanghai Auto Show.
According to official statistics, within 12 hours of the start of pre-sale, pre-orders for the GK-ONE 001 had exceeded 210,000, and it’s only the first pure electric vehicle under the SEA Haohan architecture.
One important reason for the popular pre-orders is the price.
After comprehensive subsidy discounts, the GK-ONE 001’s price is reduced to 266,000 yuan with a 100kWh power battery, which sets a new industry low.
The popularity of the GK-ONE 001 is not only due to the price. Superior configurations are also an important factor: air suspension, the world’s first 7nm process Mobileye EyeQ5H chip, all four doors are electric, 0-100 km/h acceleration time is 3.8 seconds. Any one of these features alone is equivalent to a million-yuan petrol luxury car.
All of these configurations can be purchased for only 360,000 yuan on the GK-ONE 001.
Product strength, cost-effectiveness, it is difficult for the GK-ONE 001 not to be popular. Behind the popularity is the advantage of the Geely SEA Haohan architecture.
On April 16th, in the blooming rape fields, the GK-ONE 001 was unveiled at the JeeKee factory in the Hangzhou Bay area. The spring of Geely’s electric vehicle industry, might really have arrived.
Power Battery System: CTP+Ni55
The GK-ONE 001 incorporates the top-three electric vehicle technologies in the industry.
The Ni55 power battery pack of the GK-ONE 001 achieves a group efficiency of 72%.
The Ni55 battery is a ternary lithium power battery developed by CATL with higher energy density by raising the charging cutoff voltage based on a 5 series battery. On the GK-ONE 001, the charging cutoff voltage of Ni55 is 4.35V, which is 0.15V higher than that of a conventional ternary lithium battery.
By using the CTP (cell to pack) technology, the internal redundant components of the power battery pack of the GK-ONE 001 have been reduced by 35%. By integrating CTP and Ni55, the efficiency of the power battery pack of the GK-ONE 001 achieves a group efficiency of 72%.In terms of power battery safety, Jinkr has designed a 360-degree battery safety protection system for power battery packs. In this system, the battery safety protection system is built around the battery compartment and the passenger compartment, and the vehicle body stiffness reaches 40,000 N·m/deg.
In terms of design, it has a 15-column side impact and positive 45° wheel detachment force and other characteristic safety technologies. It also takes full consideration of small-angle positive impact, side impact, column collision, and ball-shaped support, greatly improving the passive safety of the power battery pack.
In terms of cost, it can offer a 100kWh power battery model at a minimum price of 266,000 yuan, which shows that Geely has advantages in cost control in power batteries.
In terms of winter range, Jinkr 001 is equipped with direct-type heat pump air conditioning technology, which directly supplies high temperature and high pressure refrigerant for heating. Compared with PTC heating, winter energy consumption is reduced by 50%, heating speed is increased by 35%, and winter range is increased by 15%.
In the interview after the press conference, Li Mingyuan, the expert in the three-electricity technology of Jinkr, said that Jinkr has had 5 years of experience in power battery development based on Geely Group’s advantages.
The 5 years mentioned by Li Mingyuan is counted from the establishment of Weirui Electric Vehicle Technology (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. in 2017.
In terms of motors, Jinkr 001 is equipped with front and rear dual permanent magnet synchronous motors, and the comprehensive output power can reach 400 kW, and the maximum output torque can reach 768 N.m.
Li Mingyuan said that in order to ensure better driving experience, Jinkr chose the more expensive rare earth motor to ensure higher motor output efficiency.
From the parameters, the 8-layer hairpin stator winding technology permanent magnet synchronous motor carried by Jinkr 001 has a maximum speed of 16,500 r/min and a motor efficiency of 97.86%, which is indeed at a leading level in the industry.
Evolvable driving experience
Evolvable cars are a new concept put forward by Jinkr 001.
Jinkr 001 has an acceleration of zero to one hundred kilometers per hour in 3.8 seconds, and a deer test speed of 82 km/h. Even in the field of electric vehicles, such strong performance is rare.
But in the future, this driving performance may be further improved after an OTA upgrade.
Jinkr 001, all parts related to driving performance can be upgraded through OTA function.
The parts that cannot be upgraded are traditional appearance and interior design, but Jinkr 001 is still doing a good job in this aspect.
And in terms of appearance, the Geely Zeekr 001 is exceptional. The hunting-style design, which is often only seen on gasoline-powered luxury cars priced at tens of thousands of yuan, is loved by young consumers. The hunting-style design of the Geely Zeekr 001 perfectly captures the hearts of young consumers.
The 4970 mm length, 1999 mm width, and 3005 mm wheelbase of the hunting version with a sleek design are all hot topics among young consumers.
Although traces of the Lynk & Co brand can still be seen, the Geely Zeekr 001 has also made its own distinctive features in terms of exterior design.
The entire vehicle adopts the optical-electrical mapping aesthetic design concept, using a design approach that includes a front face called the “Polar Night Horizon”, an optical-electrical point matrix headlamp, and an energy knife-edge tail lamp and wheel hub to visually attract consumers’ love for the car.
It is worth mentioning that, under the influence of this exterior design, the Geely Zeekr 001 has a low wind resistance coefficient of 0.23 Cd.
In terms of acceleration, the Geely Zeekr 001 only takes 3.8 seconds to accelerate from 0-100 km/h, and it leads in its price range of competitors, and is even not inferior to foreign competitors.
From the actual parameters, the permanent magnet synchronous motor used by the Geely Zeekr 001 has a maximum speed of 16500 r/m and a motor efficiency of 97.86%, which is ahead of similar level.
Continuing the sporty attributes of the Lynk & Co brand, the Geely Zeekr 001 also shows it.
In terms of braking distance, the Geely Zeekr 001 stops from 100 km/h to 0 in just 34.5 meters, thanks to the four-piston Brebo brake system used in the car.
In terms of sport tuning, the Geely Zeekr 001 has exclusive “Z Drive” digital chassis technology.
By using a chassis domain integrated electrical architecture, the Geely Zeekr has digitized the control over the four-wheel air suspension, CCD electromagnetic damper, steering system, and electric drive system, etc., and has OTA evolution function.
In terms of driving mode, the Geely Zeekr 001 supports seven driving modes: sport, energy-saving, comfort, personalization, snow, sand, and off-road. With OTA evolution capability, the Geely Zeekr 001 will provide users with more driving modes (such as track, drift, etc.) to cater to more scenario needs in the future.
Continuing the driving experience of the Lynk & Co brand does not mean that the Geely Zeekr 001 compromises on comfort.To ensure a comfortable ride, the Zeekr 001 utilizes hydraulic suspension liners to effectively reduce suspension impact and vibration transmitted to the cabin, and improve overall vehicle NVH performance.
“Based on the vast architecture, we can create new cars faster.” Zeekr 001’s chief designer, Xu Yun, said at the press conference. “In the next three years, we will build two cars per year based on the vast architecture.”
Although neither Zeekr CEO An Huicong nor Zeekr 001’s chief designer Xu Yun provided specific information on future model planning during the press conference and subsequent interviews, two cars a year is enough to prove the vast architecture’s capabilities in launching pure electric vehicles.
The biggest feature of the vast architecture is that it can produce any type of car. It covers all sizes from A-class to E-class cars, fulfilling all styling needs for sedans, SUVs, MPVs, compact urban cars, sports cars, pickup trucks, and future transportation vehicles.
Another feature of the vast architecture is software-defined cars.
SEA OS, which is part of the vast architecture, will integrate the three domains of central integration of electrical and electronic architecture through interconnectivity between hardware and software, software algorithms, cloud computing, and application scenarios, making it an organic whole that mobilizes the entire system to achieve multidimensional interactive experiences and scenario building.
Zeekr 001, as the first model, has such strong capabilities. The new models created under the vast architecture in the next few years are also worth looking forward to.
Building cars is easier, but at the market level, Zeekr must start from scratch.
After separating from Lynk & Co and becoming an independent company wholly committed to high-end pure electric vehicles, Zeekr Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. differentiated itself from Lynk & Co in marketing channels and methods by establishing a direct sales model.
Zeekr’s marketing plan is to establish two-tier direct sales model – Zeekr Center and Zeekr Space – and set up delivery and service centers to provide delivery and after-sales services to car owners.
However, the most important aspect of Zeekr’s marketing model is the social center.
An Huicong said, “Zeekr will be a co-creation company, and Zeekr consumers can socialize at Zeekr Center. Co-creation is Zeekr’s corporate philosophy. Therefore, Zeekr will share 4.9% of its share equity as a co-creation fund with car owners.”
In terms of service, Zeekr will also build its own fast charging station and plans to invest in 350 kW super fast charging stations to provide services to car owners.
Regarding service implementation, vehicle maintenance will be carried out in the Lynk & Co after-sales network, but all after-sales personnel will be managed by Zeekr.
Zeekr holds the initiative.
The timing of the launch of the Zeekr 001 is just right.
On one hand, consumers of electric vehicles, especially smart ones, have moved beyond the market education stage and are gradually being recognized by consumers.
On the other hand, traditional car companies have advantages in the pure electric vehicle industry chain. From power batteries to pure electric vehicle platforms and even autonomous driving technologies, traditional car companies have the most resources in the automotive industry.
At the upcoming Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, almost every joint venture carmaker will showcase pure electric vehicles as their main exhibit. In the past two years, joint venture carmakers’ crazy acquisitions in China’s electric vehicle industry chain have further encouraged consumers to see that intelligent electric vehicles will become the mainstream direction of future automotive industry development.
Given this situation, the appearance of the Zeekr 001 before the auto show could be described as “preemptive”.
In fact, Chinese consumers’ understanding of intelligent electric vehicles is not just the result of market education. They are gradually realizing that domestic Chinese car companies’ intelligent electric vehicles are no worse than those of foreign car companies, and may even be better.
Chinese consumers’ demand for intelligent electric vehicles is on the verge of exploding, and joint venture carmakers cannot provide consumers with satisfactory products.
Geely has launched the Zeekr brand and the Zeekr 001 model at this opportune moment, taking the initiative in the intelligent electric vehicle market by entering the market with low prices and superior configurations.
Although Zeekr has not fully disclosed its future vehicle planning and strategic planning, its solid expertise and experience with Lynk & Co suggest a promising future for the Zeekr brand.
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.