Author: MuMin

The official pre-sale price of “LINGPAI C01” is announced to be “180,000-270,000 RMB”. Although it does not create as much impact as C11 did with its price when it was first launched, C01 still offers high cost-effectiveness to customers if the official guiding price is lower than that of the pre-sale price.

After launching its third model, LINGPAI’s products have become more mature as the whole system becomes more mature. Let’s take a look at several key features:

• The first mass-produced car utilizing the “CTC” technology.
• One of the new, upcoming automakers in the second tier of whether it has launched or not to achieve NAP navigation assistance.
• Self-developed core technology across the board, among which includes self-developed smart driving and three-electric systems.

Now, let us take a closer look at this product claimed to be self-developed across the board.

LINGPAI C01 Pre-Sale: Price, Version, Highlights

On May 10th, LINGPAI automobile’s fourth model, LINGPAI C01, was officially launched with pre-sale.

This is LINGPAI’s first mass-produced car model that adopts the CTC battery module integration technology. Although the integration of this technology is not as thorough as Tesla’s direct placement of battery cells on the bottom of the car, LINGPAI is the first automaker in China to adopt it. Furthermore, LINGPAI has decided to utilize CTC technology for all of its upcoming car models.

C01 is positioned as a medium-to-large-sized smart electric sedan, with a length of over 5 meters and a wheelbase close to 3 meters. The pre-sale price is set between 180,000 to 270,000 RMB, with 5 different versions available. The difference in price between every two versions is around 20,000 RMB.

LINGPAI automobile has officially joined the high-end sedan market competition and hopes that C01 will become the benchmark in the 150,000 to 300,000 RMB sedan submarkets.

If we judge by the size of C01 and its pre-sale price range, its competitors will include XPeng P5/P7, BYD Han EV/Han DMI, BYD dolphin, CHANGAN Deep Blue C385, and even NIO ET5 (BaaS).

It is undoubtedly a highly competitive market, and it would be quite challenging to become a market leader and a bestseller.

Furthermore, the pre-sale price range of C01 is somewhat close to the current selling price of C11 (179,800 to 229,800 RMB), which may lead to a dilemma for the company.

Depending on the different endurance capabilities and power systems, C01 has 5 different versions:

• Standard Endurance (Rear-wheel drive): CLTC endurance of 500 kilometers, accelerating to 100 kilometers per hour in 7.61 seconds.
• Long Endurance (Rear-wheel drive): CLTC endurance of 606 kilometers, accelerating to 100 kilometers per hour in 7.46 seconds.- Long range (RWD): CLTC range of 717 km, 0-100 km/h acceleration of 7.18 seconds;
• Performance version (AWD): CLTC range of 630 km, 0-100 km/h acceleration of 4.26 seconds;
• High Performance version (AWD): CLTC range of 630 km, 0-100 km/h acceleration of 3.66 seconds.

In addition to achieving 3.66 seconds to break 100 km/h, the High Performance version of C01 also has extremely exaggerated appearance kits and a four-piston brake system, which can be expected.

Let’s take a closer look at the product strength of LINGPAI C01

C01 and C11 are based on the same platform, so their overall appearance and interior design will have many similarities, but there are also many innovations, after all, this is a sedan.

Appearance and interior

In terms of appearance, C01 has undergone major adjustments compared to C11, especially the headlights and the through-type light strip on the front face have been redesigned. The vehicle’s rear adopts a coupe-style design, giving a feeling of a coupe car. There is also a small spoiler design on the tail, which is more sporty and youthful.

There are 7 different body colors and 4 different interior colors to choose from. The hidden door handles and frameless doors are basic operations.

The body is slender, with a length of 5050mm and a wheelbase of 2930mm. It is a mid-to-large-sized sedan. There are three tire options: 18-inch, 19-inch, and specially equipped 20-inch tires for the High Performance version.

The interior design is very similar to that of the LINGPAI C11, with only some small adjustments and optimizations in some details, such as changing the material of the decorative part of the door panel and adopting a hollow design for the door handle, which is more user-friendly. The full series is equipped with a suede material roof, which is expensive.

In terms of some detail configurations, the C01’s trunk is non-electric and non-lifting, with a small opening and passable space. It also has a front trunk.

The vehicle is equipped with a touch screen for the rear passengers, which can control the music volume/songs, air conditioning adjustment, and even the boss key.

The front passenger’s rear seat is equipped with a “beach chair” mode, which supports electric adjustment of 10 cm front and back and 10 degrees backrest angle. It can be adjusted in conjunction with the front passenger seat, which is quite stylish.

C01 adopts a two-section “panoramic sunroof” and there is a version with an electric sunshade (which can only cover the front half), while the rear half can be equipped with a manual sunshade.

In-house developed CTC technology mass production first car

As mentioned earlier, C01 is the first car of Li Auto to mass-produce CTC technology, which is also the first domestic model equipped with CTC technology.

Li Auto’s CTC technology eliminates the structure of the battery pack and directly integrates the battery cells into the chassis, with a tray underneath the module. Compared with Tesla, which directly lays battery cells on the chassis, Li Auto’s CTC technology is not thorough enough in integration.

Because the large module battery cells are directly installed in the chassis, there is no concept of a battery pack, which saves redundant structures such as the battery box and cover, reduces the weight of the vehicle, and increases the range. In addition, space can be saved, allowing more batteries to be arranged, which also increases the range.

Moreover, CTC technology also increases the overall vehicle rigidity, making the vehicle more maneuverable and with better NVH performance.

Take a look at a set of data:

• The high integration of CTC technology increases the vertical space of Li Auto C01’s body by 10 mm, and the battery layout space by 14.5%. At the same time, the overall space layout of the vehicle will be more flexible;
• Li Auto’s CTC technology also increases the overall vehicle rigidity of C01 by 25%;
• The number of parts under CTC technology is reduced by 20%, and the cost of structural components is reduced by 15%, which means that the comprehensive cost of adopting CTC technology will be lower.

According to Li Auto’s plan, all future models will adopt CTC battery chassis integration technology.

In-house developed power system, the chassis of a million luxury cars?

The motor equipped on C01 is Li Auto’s in-house developed oil-cooled three-in-one electric drive assembly. The power of the dual-motor four-wheel drive reaches 400 kW, which is the reason why the high-performance version of the car reaches 0-100 km/h in 3.66 seconds. This electric drive assembly is a variable architecture, which can be placed in rear-wheel drive or front-wheel drive, and the placement angle can also be adjusted.

Oil cooling provides better heat dissipation, allowing the motor to fully unleash its power. Oil cooling also makes the motor perform more stably, and improves the overall motor lifespan.

Zhang Jiangming, the chairman of Leapmotor, also revealed that the 800V high-voltage silicon carbide powertrain will be mass-produced in 2024 models.

How Intelligent is C01?

Smart Cabin System

The cabin system of the C01 is essentially the same as that of the C11.

The cabin chip adopts the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip. One chip can drive the instrumentation, driver display and passenger display screens. The supplier of the voice interaction system is iFlytek. The specific functions and ecology are upgraded based on the C11.

For cabin innovation, the C01 achieved a small breakthrough:

For the first time in the industry, it comes equipped with an Android virtual machine with a compatibility rate exceeding 99% for popular applications. It is also the first to launch OPPO smart connectivity function, supporting OPPO mobile phone interconnection, and can also be controlled by OPPO watch. Apple users can also use iWatch to control the car, activate the C01 through Siri voice control, and perform functions such as unlocking the car, locking the car, and one-key car search.

These configurations give users more choices. You can use the car system to control the vehicle, or use your own other smart terminals to perform vehicle control.

Key point: Leapmotor models equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 cabin chip will be launched on the market at the end of 2023 or in 2024.

Intelligent Driving Functions

In terms of hardware, the C01 is equipped with 28 perception devices, including:

• 11 cameras: binocular cameras for forward vision;
• 12 ultrasonic sensors;
• 5 millimeter-wave radars, forward millimeter-wave radars.

It comes standard with 23 intelligent driving assistance functions, including TJA traffic jam assistance, LCC lane keeping, APA intelligent parking system, AR enhanced reality intelligent navigation, etc.

Among them, the ALC automatic lane change function can be used after the vehicle is delivered without waiting for subsequent OTA.

The C01 also has the highly anticipated NAP intelligent navigation assistance system, but it is not standard and needs to be purchased as an option on specific models through a subscription model.

Leapmotor revealed: they will push the navigation assistance driving function in October 2022.Apart from the current configurations, the automaker LI has also been developing a self-driving solution with Nvidia Orin chips and lidar. The solution is expected to carry high-precision maps and be available in 2024. A lot of spy photos of LI test vehicles with lidars on the roof are also circulating on the internet.

It is reported that in addition to establishing a joint R&D team for low-level autonomous driving with Dahua Technology, there is also a separate team within LI dedicated to developing Level 4 autonomous driving. The team, with a size of over a hundred people, aims to achieve full-scenario autonomous driving in 2024.

LI’s In-house Development Journey

At the C01 presale conference, Zhu Jiangming once again talked about LI’s in-house development philosophy, including intelligent power, intelligent cabin, and intelligent driving.

He believes that only by adhering to in-house development of software and hardware can the company create the ultimate products for its users.

In 2015, LI formed a team primarily composed of electronic talents and has been pursuing in-house development for seven years. The company has completed technological iterations in intelligent power, intelligent driving, and intelligent cabin.

Battery technology has continued to evolve:

• S01 uses cylindrical batteries.
• T03 and C11 models have upgraded to CTP large module technology.
• C01 and subsequent models will feature CTC battery-chassis integration technology.

Powertrain is continuously upgraded:

• S01 uses an eight-in-one electric drive system.
• T03 uses an in-house developed electric drive system.
• C11, C01 and subsequent models have replaced the oil-cooled three-in-one electric drive with a Bird Gun exchange Cannon.

Intelligent driving is constantly OTA upgraded:

• S01 and T03: Intelligent driving calculation platform with only 1 TOPS of computing power (Movidius+J6), only 15 perception hardware and 10 L2 assisted driving functions.
• C11, C01: Achieves 8.4 TOPS computing power (2 self-developed Lingxin 01), with 28 perception hardware and 23 L2+ assisted driving functions.
• The autonomous driving solution with Nvidia Orin chip and lidar is still under development.

The intelligent cabin experience is getting smoother and smoother:

• S01 and T03: the first-generation intelligent cabin system, based on the Texas Instruments J6 platform and Qualcomm’s 8-core car machine chip platform.
• C11, C01: Uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 cabin chip to drive the triple screen.
• LI’s vehicle models featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 cabin chip will hit the market by the end of 2023 or 2024.

Of course, adhering to in-house development means immense resource investment, which inevitably slows down LI’s initial speed, but it also enhances the acceleration of LI’s development.

This can be seen from LI’s vehicle delivery volume this year: in 2022, 30,666 users chose LI, and the delivery volume in March broke the 10,000 mark, while the delivery volume in April, affected by the epidemic in many parts of the country, became the leader of new car-making forces with 9,087 units delivered.# Zero Run upgrades its product strategy: making luxury cars for the Chinese people, with strong national sentiment.

Among them, C01 is the luxury electric sedan that Zero Run has built for the Chinese people.

So, with the stronghold of self-developed capabilities and the competitiveness of C01 in product strength, can it break through in the 220,000-level smart pure electric sedan market?

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.