Recently, I participated in the ice and snow test drive event of the Jidu001 organized by Zeekr. In order to meet the conditions of driving on ice and snow, the temperature had to be lowered. Therefore, the event was held at the Yakeshi Zhongqi Research and Test Center in Hulunbuir. The temperature there reached an astonishing -35℃, and the short day and night difference made me, a southerner, experience what true coldness is for the first time.

In addition, I also experienced the fully upgraded new Jidu001, which has been upgraded in terms of luxury, performance and intelligence. Below are some highlights of the upgrade for the 23 model Jidu001.

Highlights of the 23 Model Jidu001 Upgrade

Three new body colors have been added, namely, Polar Blue, Midnight Black and Light Orange. Polar Blue shows a beautiful deep blue color under the sunlight. Light Orange is similar to the color used in the hackback of Lynk & Co 02, exuding a youthful and sporty breath.

The fabric of the four-door door handle and the central cover plate of the carbon black interior have been upgraded from skin-friendly leather to NAPPA top-layer genuine leather, consistent with the three dual-color interiors in Nitrogen Blue, Platinum Gray, and Titanium Brown; the instrument panel, door panels, and seats have also added gray stitching.

The seats use Monaco NAPPA full-grain top-layer genuine leather, which is 20% softer, more comfortable, durable and wear-resistant than regular NAPPA leather. The coating is also 30% reduced compared to NAPPA leather.

Through the optimization of the thermal management system and driving system, Jidu001’s comprehensive operating range has been improved by 6-10 km under CLTC. The ME version with 100 kWh battery and equipped with the Flash Switching System can even increase up to 40 km.

In addition, the 23 model Jidu001 has been strengthened in different aspects:

• The use experience of the electric doors has been optimized with a new limitator and a 50% enhanced manual push assist.

• A wash liquid sensor has been added for real-time monitoring of the condition of the wash liquid.

• A rear-seat gravity sensor has been added for optimized warning of the rear seat belt.

• The light strategy plan for the WE version has been optimized.

• The charging power of the onboard charger has been optimized to 7 kW, fully considering the power of existing public chargers and future development trends.

• Cancel the onboard charger gun based on big data statistics, which is seldom used by users.

One More Thing 👉 Z-Sport Sports Advanced Kit

• Z-Sport sports advanced kit is only available for the YOU version with 100 kWh;
• The interior adopts the orange-gray design and uses a large amount of Alcantara material, covering an area of 9.2 square meters;
• The front seat adaptive racing seat can dynamically adjust and remember the support force;
• The 22-inch multi-spoke forged sports wheel hub adopts a lightweight structure design, reducing weight by 20%;
• The front Brembo six-piston calipers and the high-performance large-diameter perforated brake discs of the whole vehicle improve the heat dissipation performance by 20%;
• The brand’s high-performance tires improve handling stability and can carry higher driving speeds.

The WE version has a breakthrough kit for optional range, using a 140 kWh Kirin battery pack and rear motor including silicon carbide technology, allowing the range of the Zeekr001 CLTC to reach 1032 km, making it the world’s first mass-produced pure electric vehicle with the longest range.

Yakeshi ice and snow road experience

Perhaps in order to have a deeper understanding of the Zeekr001, the organizers arranged a convoy test drive from Hailar to the Zhongqi Research Institute test site in Yakeshi. This route will pass through icy and snowy roads to experience the overall comfort on these road conditions.

At a relatively high speed, my feeling about Zeekr001 is stable, and the power is instantly responsive without any reduction due to low temperature. On road sections with more ice and snow, the vehicle body feels slightly slipping, and Zeekr’s anti-slip system intervenes to ensure the balance of the vehicle in the shortest time, which makes the driving on ice and snow roads almost unaffected.

The second feature is suspension. It can effectively filter out bumps on the undulating snowy roads, making the car stable at high speeds.

After arriving at the venue, the first step was to unlock the ice-breaking task of the extreme cool 001. This is a common problem in daily life, especially after a night of heavy rain or in colder areas, when the car door is frozen shut. I remember that many brands’ retractable door handles encountered this problem, but this does not exist in the extreme cool 001, and the door handle and car door can be easily opened.

Afterwards, I experienced four interesting courses, including a slalom course, a gymkhana, a handling road and a circular course.

The most impressive experience was the circular course. Drifting in electric cars in the icy and snowy environment, can you handle it? Previously experienced it in a rear-wheel-drive fuel car like BMW, which was very interesting. By turning off the ESP while keeping the rear wheels in an uncontrollable state, then using the opposite direction to bring the car back to balance, the car can be easily controlled at a speed of 70-80. However, when the speed exceeds 80, the rear end begins to slide. When the speed exceeds 100, lifting the car’s nose and turning in the opposite direction can still easily bring the car back to normal. Compared to fuel cars, electric cars have obvious advantages in power and response time. The overall controllability of the extreme cool 001 exceeded my expectations.

However, I personally feel that electric cars are not as smooth as fuel cars in the entire drifting process, perhaps because the ESP intervenes forcefully to maintain the balance of the vehicle after detecting it has lost control, which makes the last step not seem as natural.

On the slalom course, I experienced the vehicle’s performance on a road with no grip. After accelerating to 100 km/h on the icy road, the car can still effectively shorten the braking distance while keeping the car stable, making me think I was driving on a normal road.

# Review

The Jinke Automobile’s G-ON 001 has excellent handling and can correct body posture when cornering. The ABS system only intervenes when the brakes are applied strongly, and it is within a very controllable range overall. The vehicle’s performance can be experienced through its movements on snowy terrain, which showcases the confidence that Jinke has in their car.

In Yakexi, the G-ON 001 broke two Guinness World Records – for the fastest electric car slalom on a frozen lake and for completing the most 1-minute electric car figure eights on ice.

Conclusion

After experiencing driving on icy and snowy terrain, my impression of the G-ON 001 has been completely transformed. In addition to the car’s excellent chassis tuning, the G-ON’s software system has been upgraded to OS 4.0 from 8155, which has improved the car’s slow response and poor system performance. Moreover, the vehicle’s instantaneous response time of 6 milliseconds from slippery tires on icy terrain was also impressive. The G-ON 001 uses an air suspension system with a CCD electromagnetic damping system, which keeps the vehicle stable on snowy terrain, not to mention its performance on urban roads. The car can adapt to various road conditions, which makes it the top choice in its price range of 300,000 RMB. I would not hesitate to recommend this vehicle to my friends.

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.