Author: Nange
Can this car be purchased for 180,000 RMB?
On May 28, 2022, the 26th Greater Bay Area International Auto Show was grandly opened at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, which is also the first annual exhibition of the domestic automobile industry this year.
As a newcomer in 2022, Leapmotor Motors also brought its flagship models to the auto show. In addition to the sales leaders Leapmotor C11 and Leapmotor T03, Leapmotor C01, as the world’s first vehicle equipped with CTC technology without battery packs and adhering to the product strategy of “Leapmotor creating luxury cars for Chinese people”, also made its offline debut.
Appearing on the stage with a hit product and no fear!
Nowadays, there are many new energy vehicles in the market, but various types of product marketing make consumers dazzled. Leapmotor C01 is precisely designed for users’ more diversified and multi-scenario use needs in the new energy era. Its pre-sale price of 180-270 thousand RMB not only achieves “appearing on the stage with a hit product” but also has no fear of strong competitors such as BYD Han Seal, Han EV, XPeng P7, and Tesla Model 3. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call it the “sales king”.
According to statistics, Leapmotor C01 is already a hit product in pre-sales, with over 20,000 orders sold within the first four hours of pre-sale since May 10. Within the 48-hour pre-sale period, the total orders exceeded 30,000, and the total orders exceeded 45,000 so far.
As a hit product, Leapmotor C01 has a clear product strategy, which is to focus on the core area of the automobile market. With 500 standard range version, 606 long range version, 717 ultra-long range version, and 630Pro performance version, 630 Pro+ high-performance version, five configuration models, the Leapmotor C01 fully meets the multi-scenario user car needs for range, performance, and space configuration.
For the most important concern of users, the LingPao C01 has achieved a maximum pure electric range of 717km (CLTC standard) with a 90kWh power battery and the world’s first battery-free CTC technology, while the same-class BYD Hanbing can only achieve 700km (CLTC standard).
As for the performance, I used to think that the Tesla Model 3 Performance with a price of nearly 400,000 yuan and an acceleration score of 3.3 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h was unreachable for the same-class vehicles, but I didn’t expect that the LingPao C01 high-performance version, which is only pre-sold for 270,000 yuan, can easily achieve an acceleration score of 3.66 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h by equipping with a 400kW front and rear variable architecture oil-cooled electric drive unit, highly integrating the motor, reducer, and controller. It is truly a powerful vehicle!
In addition, in terms of space experience, the LingPao C01 has redefined “transition experience”. Its body size of 5050/1902/1509mm is comparable to that of a mid-to-large-sized sedan, and the 2930mm ultra-long wheelbase and 319mm rear seat space have surpassed the 4800mm body length and 2920mm wheelbase of BYD Hanbing, bringing more spacious and comfortable seating space.
At the same time, with the support of Leapmotor OS intelligent cockpit, the LingPao C01’s intelligent experience has been upgraded again. The powerful combination of Qualcomm SA 8155P digital cockpit chip and intelligent three-screen fully meets the multi-form needs of in-cabin driving and entertainment. Meanwhile, the “visible-to-say” intelligent voice control, FaceID facial recognition, phone-vehicle interconnection and other functions provide powerful assistance to enhance the human-machine interaction experience.
Compared to the huge difference in intelligent driving systems between high-end and low-end models from other brands, the Leapmotor Pilot intelligent driving assistance system and 28 high-precision sensing hardware with 23 intelligent driving assistance functions are standard across all models of the LI Auto C01, providing all-around driving assistance for daily city commuting, long-distance highways, parking, and other driving scenarios.
The Cost-effective Secret Behind – All-around Self-owned Research and Development
As a luxury pure electric sedan, the LI Auto C01 not only has the potential to become a “popular model” in the basic competition, but also outperforms other cars in the same price range in bonus competition.
As a car model priced from merely 180,000 RMB, the LI Auto C01 boasts the experience of million-level configuration such as the highest 717km pure electric cruising range, the world’s first battery-less CTC technology, 3.66 second acceleration from 0 to 100km/h, and middle and large car size. Moreover, the prices of similar fuel-powered cars from traditional luxury brands with similar performance even double the cost of C01.
The LI Auto C01’s cost-effectiveness comes from LI’s consistent adherence to all-around self-owned research and development in the past seven years. Many of the results of such efforts have been integrated in C01, including critical software and hardware components of self-owned and self-made intelligent electric vehicle core systems and electronic components, making it one of the companies with the most self-owned core electronic parts after Tesla and BYD. The company also constructed a complete self-owned research and development system for intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent power supply focused around intelligent electric vehicles, enabling it to self-develop and self-manufacture the “new three core components” of intelligent electric vehicles: battery pack, motor and electric control system.
What is most eye-catching among all is the production-ready introduction of its battery-less CTC technology in the LI Auto C01. LI Auto C01 is the first electric vehicle in the world to come with a battery-less CTC technology. Its CTC technology design reduces redundant structures, eliminates battery pack boxes and covers, leaving only lower trays, and uses sealed vehicle components to contain the batteries, without a traditional battery pack. Compared with traditional solutions, CTC technology offers higher integration and modularity, resulting in a 20% reduction in the number of components, a 10% increase in overall cruising range, and a 25% improvement in vehicle rigidity.
Meanwhile, CTC technology has other incomparable advantages in lightweight and strength control. By combining the battery frame structure with the chassis frame structure, the vehicle body structure is strengthened greatly as the body structure is also the battery structure, enhancing the torsional and bending stiffness of the body. Releasing 10mm of vertical space directly reduces the volume occupied by the battery pack. Compared with Tesla’s CTC/ BYD’s Dolphin CTB technology, the battery pack structure is still relatively independent of the vehicle body structure, namely, the installation method of battery pack and vehicle body is no different from that of traditional electric vehicles, and the improvement of vehicle body stiffness by battery pack is no different from that of traditional electric vehicles.
Regarding the maintenance cost concerns about CTC, the official announcement of SERES indicates that the difficulty of repairing the CTC technology battery system is not much different from that of traditional electric vehicles, and the maintenance cost will not increase. Additionally, the SERES C01 also provides an 8-year or 150,000-kilometer warranty for the three-electric system, as well as a 4-year or 120,000-kilometer warranty for the entire vehicle. Moreover, for users who place a “0 yuan pre-order”, SERES also provides a lifetime warranty for three-electric systems.
It can be said that the independent R&D of SERES has erected a technological barrier for its products while enabling it to have greater autonomy in cost control. The expression can be seen in aspects such as battery material cost, parts universality, vehicle lightweight and vehicle performance.
ASSIST SERES TO SUCCESSFULLY BREAK THROUGH
It can be seen that as a “luxury electric sedan tailored for Chinese people”, the SERES C01 has not only formed a significant differentiation with its competitors by taking advantage of its latecomer status but also successfully broke through the fiercely-contested market of 200,000-yuan-level electric vehicles. Its product positioning with high cost-effectiveness has also made it the most critical product of SERES automobiles, carrying SERES automobiles into a brand-new arena and field!
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.