Keywords: Advanced Pure Electric Sedan
In 2021, “neijuan” (overwork culture) has become a popular term, and it’s also the year of the widespread emergence of “new energy vehicle” in the automotive industry.
Let’s briefly review what the “overwork culture” brought to China’s domestic new energy vehicle market in 2021:
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The year of high computing platforms;
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The year of LiDAR;
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The year of luxury sedans.
Since the release of the XPeng P7 in 2019, there has been no advanced (forward-looking R&D) options in the domestic pure electric sedan market. Perhaps because SUVs naturally cater to more users, and the thickness of the battery pack also limits the space for pure electric sedans. Either the back seat is not good enough or the sedan becomes a cross-border model.
However, what had to happen eventually happened. In 2021, NIO ET7 (priced at 448,000 RMB and 526,000 RMB) took the lead, directly ticking all the above options and introducing battery-swapping into the pure electric sedan market. In terms of size and price, it is clearly targeting models such as the BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, which are sharing a huge cake. Moreover, 4 Orin chips and Innovusion LiDAR plus 11 800-megapixel cameras have also pushed the hardware specifications of intelligent driving to the skyline.
Subsequently, L7, the first model of IM Auto, a new brand under SAIC Group (priced at 408,800 RMB), also entered this market.
It seems that the entry point for the high-end electric sedan market in China in 2022 is handling and performance data (acceleration within 4 seconds per 100 kilometers).
When the smaller and more sporty version of ET7, which is exactly the same in terms of intelligent driving configuration as its elder brother, but more affordable, ET5 (priced at 328,000 RMB and 386,000 RMB) was released, I suddenly thought of a car that was even earlier released, seems to have the same positioning, and even has an extended-range version.
It’s the NETA S shown above.
Review of NETA S Information
To be honest, except for the fact that Zhou Hongyi, the founder of 360, invested in NETA car twice and owns over 16% of the company, I almost forgot about this product.
Basic data
Like those cars above, NETA S also has a LiDAR (below the headlight), high computing power, and a wheelbase of 2,900 mm, with a more advanced front double-wishbone/rear multi-link suspension configuration.
In terms of power, the four-wheel-drive version of the front and rear dual-motor has a peak power of 340 kW, peak torque of 600 Nm, and a zero-to-100 km/h acceleration time of 3.9 seconds. Thanks to the pure electric architecture, NETA S has a 50:50 front-to-rear weight distribution, and the vehicle’s center of gravity height is only 450 mm, which is even lower than the smart L7 (490 mm) and NIO ET5 (482.6 mm), which are known for their handling performance. The mechanical quality of the handling foundation is obviously also good, it just depends on how it is tuned. The announced Moose test score is 80 km/h, which is a very high level.
In terms of range, the NEDC comprehensive range for the pure electric version with a claimed minimum consumption of 12 kWh per 100 km is 710 km. What’s special is that NETA S also has an extended-range version with a range of 1,100 km, but there is no information yet released about the battery capacity and range extender.
Another interesting point is that the NETA S will be equipped with the new generation Hozon EPT 4.0 constant temperature heat management system. This system uses a Huawei heat pump nine-way valve, which is possibly benchmarked against Tesla’s valve design, with 16 working mode combinations that can ensure the power output of the vehicle. Compared with previous models, the cold weather range of the car has been increased by 20%.
Shanhai platform
NETA S is the first B-class car under the brand’s new “Shanhai platform”. This platform is positioned as a “full-stack self-developed intelligent and safe vehicle platform,” and is an advanced platform that NETA strives to break through in terms of passive safety, network security, functional safety, battery safety, and more. The platform uses front double-wishbone + rear five-link suspension structure, and also supports air suspension as an option. The front and rear dual-motor layout also means that front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive, and four-wheel-drive can be freely configured, and it also supports both pure electric and extended-range powertrain architectures.
In terms of EE architecture, the ambition of Hillsea platform is enormous. By 2025, it will evolve to a central domain fusion architecture, completely decoupling the whole vehicle actuator and computing resources, achieving seamless integration with cloud-based supercomputing platforms.
Interestingly, 360, as one of the major shareholders, is also making efforts on this platform, and will empower the whole vehicle platform with 360 cloud security brain and XaaS (Everything as a Service) services to ensure information security.
In terms of intelligent driving, based on the 1,000 TOPS computing platform and a sensor scheme with 6 lidars, NETA expects to gradually achieve intelligent driving assistance in all scenarios including high-speed, low-speed and urban roads with the help of NETA-OS.
TA PILOT 4.0
TA stands for the latter part of NETA’s English name “NETA”, and also the first two letters of “TALENT”, which means talented pilot (officially stated).
TA PILOT 2.0 has been mass-produced and equipped on NETA’s U and V series, which can achieve the basic ADAS functions in urban and high-speed scenarios. As for version 3.0, it mainly adds high-speed navigation assistance functions based on the basic ADAS functions. The official has not revealed which model will be launched first, but it does not exclude the possibility that lower-end models may receive hardware upgrades for intelligent driving.
Function
It is confirmed that NETA S will be equipped with 2 lidars, 5 millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars, 13 cameras with a maximum of 8 million pixels, and Huawei MDC 610 computing platform with a maximum of 200 TOPS computing power.
In terms of functions, it is equipped with NCP urban navigation assistance function (depending on the coverage of high-precision maps), NNP high-speed navigation assistance function (standard in Q3 2022 delivery), and the final enclosed parking scene.
At the media communication meeting, Li Auto did release a test video with LiDAR perception. However, because it is currently in the testing phase, cameras of the media attending were sealed with stickers.
Self-developed
About TA PILOT 4.0, I also had face-to-face communication with the staff at the Beijing design center of IM Auto on February 28.
In line with CEO Zhang Yong’s concept of “technical equality,” which means not adopting a top-down approach but a product line that enters the market with compact cars. In 2021, a total of nearly 70,000 vehicles were delivered, and the brand’s cumulative sales exceeded 100,000 units, enough to make NIO the leader of the second echelon of new forces.
However, because of its grounded positioning in the popularity of electric cars, it has not established a strong user perception or brand image in terms of intelligence. However, it seems that NIO is quite confident in the field of self-driving.
“All of it is developed by ourselves.”
Wang Junping, the head of NIO’s intelligent driving department, emphasized this point in his speech. He is from the background of Baidu’s autonomous driving and introduced the general background of team members, most of whom come from large companies. Some come from traditional ADAS, and some are fresh blood. Anyway, according to his words, this team is a solid and capable team.
In terms of personnel expansion, NETA uses a particularly interesting term called “saturated expansion”. The current total number of the intelligent team is 600+, and this number is planned to reach 1,000+ by 2022. The intelligent driving team currently has more than 300 people, with a master and PhD degree ratio of over 80% and a proportion of algorithm software personnel of 70%, which will be expanded to 500+ by 2022. NETA expects to continue investing 800-1,000 million yuan annually in the research and development of intelligent driving.
The Third Mode of Cooperation with Huawei
The reason why NETA dares to say that they are self-developed is because in their eyes, there are three modes of cooperation with the technology giant Huawei.
The first mode is Huawei hardware + Huawei algorithm, also known as the HI mode. In this mode, Huawei’s participation is also the highest. Although Huawei demonstrated it in April last year, no car model has started mass production yet, and there is also the hidden danger of low sales due to positioning and high pricing.
The second mode is Huawei hardware and third-party software. Although it lacks the halo of Huawei HI, there is obviously not as much premium. However, it still gives away some crucial points such as data loop and iterative efficiency.
Therefore, NETA’s cooperation with Huawei is the third mode: a simple hardware procurement relationship.
NETA believes that they have “caught up with the best era.” The intelligent track refreshes the competition pattern of automobile manufacturing. Although NETA, as a new force in the field of intelligence, is not the earliest, it has more advantages compared to traditional automakers. Full-stack self-development can obviously give mainframe manufacturers a higher technological barrier in terms of product iteration, data and experience accumulation. In other words, NETA wants to hold the soul in its own hands.
As for the selection of hardware for TA PILOT 4.0, NETA also purchased the MDC 610’s 200 TOPS computing platform and 96-line Huawei lidar. Regarding this computing power, Wang Junping, the person in charge of intelligent driving, proudly stated that NETA can use such computing power to achieve advanced auxiliary driving, and there are also sufficient redundant mechanisms to ensure safety. As for why to purchase MDC 610, his answer is also very simple:
NETA doesn’t need expensive products, only suitable ones. And buying Huawei supports Chinese enterprises.
Such an answer also conforms to the “Intelligence-Price Theory” mentioned by Zhang Yong, CEO of NETA Automobile.
Intelligence-Price Ratio, Can It Bring About a New Generation to Catch Up?
I have to admit that technology equality is a great vision. After all high-tech becomes popular, intelligent products and automated driving will also do the same. NETA insisted not to charge extra for the automatic driving function. As an intelligent device, the intelligent car must rely on its own product power to achieve more benefits brought by scale effect, and then feed back to R&D progress, catching up with technology trends. How to improve user trust and stickiness in the product experience of intelligent driving, rather than just marketing as a gimmick, is the core of technology equality.
As for whether NETA S can “equal the first generation”, it still depends on actual testing. However, don’t forget that when many C-class pure electric cars appear, NETA S has positioned itself as a “B-class digital electric car sedan”. Obviously, it already has a competitive advantage in price.
The XPeng P7, which was also a B-class car, had the same front double-wishbone and rear multi-link suspension design. Due to hasty listing, it did not have good handling quality and no lidar, but relying on a series of OTA upgrades, it still successfully created an intelligent brand image based on good intelligent driving experience and intelligent voice interaction.
It is said that the Pre-IPO valuation of NETA has also reached USD 7 billion. After the bubble of self-driving and internet car building in the past two years, the valuation logic this year has gradually become calm and it still focuses on profitability. The NETA’s value is supported by its intelligence and price ratio, which depends on the actual performance of NETA S in Q3 of this year. As for Zhou Hongyi’s investment, we also pay close attention to whether it can catch up with the IPO boom of intelligent electric cars.
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.