Writing by | Roomy
Editing | Zhou Changxian
“I am from the old generation and I feel the limitations of being a ‘car maker.’ I think it’s necessary to retire in this new era.” Standing at the top of the world as the number one car manufacturer, Toyota’s leader Akio Toyoda stepped down as president and handed over the baton to 53-year-old Satoshi Sato.
The intention behind Toyota’s leadership change is obvious. A traditional car manufacturer that has been around for decades is now faced with the expansion of electric vehicles.
In the following days, a new story unfolded. Former Great Wall Motor President Wang Fengying joined XPeng Motors and reported directly to the founder, He XPeng. He XPeng expressed his expectation that Wang’s addition would bring more sparks to the integration of “intelligence + automobiles.”
This intelligent pioneering brand flourished in the 0-1 stage, but as its scale increased, it faced the challenge of improving its management system and establishing a sales structure for large-scale manufacturing.
Traditional car companies need new forces that dare to break through, and emerging forces have made some common sense mistakes that traditional car companies would not make. Is there any other option besides these two paths?
In the CCTV Financial Channel’s “Brand Nation Road – Extreme Tech Edition,” we saw CEO An Conghui and his engineers at Xpeng Smart Technology, writing their answer to this question through action.
The Third Track
In March 2021, Xpeng Smart Technology was founded, and An Conghui became the new CEO. This is his third time leading a new energy company in his nearly 30-year career with Geely, and everyone knows that this is a change that must succeed.
In less than two years, Xpeng’s performance can be described as “rising out of nowhere.” As a new brand, Xpeng set a speed record of only 192 days from inception to the delivery of new cars, and the first model, the Xpeng 001, achieved the delivery of tens of thousands of cars in just 110 days… half the time it took for Tesla. “Xpeng Speed” has become a hotly debated topic in the industry.
An Conghui pursued speed, but did not agree with the “rising out of nowhere” narrative. Because this overlooks the value of the Xpeng brand and ignores the accumulation of its technology and resources.
“The electric vehicle track is a marathon,” An Conghui said. Xpeng wants to run this marathon at a sprinter’s pace. “Traditional car companies are also transforming and entering the age of intelligent electric vehicles. Some companies that have not made cars before are also entering this industry, and the competition is fierce.”Unlike other traditional car companies that compromise in their transformation, Jidou Inc. takes the independent enterprise approach and operates a brand-new brand, creating a user-oriented organization format, and walks on the “third path” outside the traditional automobile and new car-making forces, in order to achieve a thorough transformation.
This is determination.
The advantage of the third path lies in combining the first two models, “combining the power of giants with pure user thinking.” This requires a strong foundation, solid pace, and a daring attitude. Like An Conghui often said, the hardest part is the starting point, “We took a route that was expensive, time-consuming, and required strong resilience.”
“Jidou started from the most difficult product and technology subdivision market of intelligent pure electric vehicles, which is the differentiated competition with other brands.” An Conghui once gave two answers to building a brand, which are progressive. He stated that the image of a brand depends on the culture and values of an enterprise, “to maintain long-term strategy.” Another aspect is that a brand needs accumulation and precipitation, which requires user perception and recognition.
From the wave of electrification, An Conghui saw three changes: first, the product side, including research and development, manufacturing, logistics, procurement, and so on; second, the huge ecology on the user side; third, the capital side, that is, it was indeed very different from traditional automobiles in several big fields.
The basis for achieving everything lies in core competitiveness. “For an automobile enterprise, the core competitiveness is the ability of the architecture, which is formed gradually through long-term and massive investment.”
The architecture mentioned by An Conghui refers to the SEA Haohang Intelligent Experience Evolution Architecture, which has been researched and developed for five years and invested more than 20 billion yuan.
This is the confidence.
Haohang – The Choice to Face Difficulties
The most challenging products, the most challenging technology subdivision markets… Jidou’s choices are all related to the word “difficult,” but ultimately, the willingness to face “difficulties” comes from confidence and perseverance.
In a previous interview, An Conghui said that the beginning of Jidou was the debate over the design platform for pure electric circuits. “Pure electric products should use a dedicated pure electric platform. It is impossible to replace oil with electricity.” This is An Conghui’s persistence and insight.
The persistence in developing intelligent electric vehicles may require significant upfront investment, but in the long run it is an absolute necessity. The chairman of BMW’s labor union once clearly stated that BMW should change its course and establish an exclusive EV platform, since the limited compatibility of current electrification technologies brings mediocre competitiveness.
Despite the fact that many carmakers have chanted the slogan of “software-defined vehicles” in recent years, very few have actually achieved it. This is because in the beginning, many did not opt for a “full-stack self-developed architecture capacity”, or lacked the resources and systems to support this costly and time-consuming approach.
Is it worth putting in so much effort?
There may be doubts, but An Conghui believes that those who think that intelligent EVs are easier to manufacture than traditional cars are mistaken. In fact, the difficulty and complexity of manufacturing intelligent EVs are greater, as they not only involve the product itself, but also the entire production chain and ecosystem.
“Whether it’s intelligent cockpit, autonomous driving or the intelligent drive redefined by Jidu Auto, we must strive for the best in every area,” he believes. Starting with the most challenging, high-end and distinctive products, we can successfully build the Jidu brand. This statement is like a military order.
To have a leading and rich reserve of hardware and software, Jidu’s engineers often find themselves in a state of conflict, where they need to juggle between “wanting this and that” and breaking not only customary practices but also their own thinking.
From the first product 001, Jidu has established the product concept of “hunt-version equals all-purpose”. Moreover, Jidu wants to achieve a balance in technology across the entire value chain.
To achieve this, Jidu relies on the system capabilities brought about by the brand new intelligent EV architecture and platform. Jidu 001 is the pioneer of Sea’s vast intelligent evolution experience architecture.
As an assistant chief engineer of the Sea architecture development team, Zhu Fangfang often goes to the factory production line, meticulously observing every detail of a new car coming to life.
“All Jidu models are derived from the Sea architecture, the world’s largest all-electric architecture in size and bandwidth, which is actually a large family of architectures.”
Currently, the Sea architecture has cooperated with nine automotive brands including Mercedes-Benz, and is developing more than 25 models that can achieve full-size coverage from A-class to E-class, and meet the demands of sedans, SUVs, MPVs, compact city cars, sports cars, pickups, and other vehicle types.
Meanwhile, the vast architecture centers around the battery, not only providing a low center of gravity, but also achieving a 50:50 front-to-rear weight balance. The architecture can be equipped with a high-performance electric four-wheel drive system, achieving millisecond-level power distribution, with a maximum 600 kW dual-motor layout shortening the car’s 0-100 km/h acceleration time to under 3 seconds.
“What is the advantage of architecture-based car production?” Zhu Fangfang points to the 001 and MPV model 009 on the production line and says that all fixtures, all production tools can be shared between them. “We can quickly and continuously release more models like making dumplings. This is a very, very big advantage of our architecture-based car production.”
Realizing the generational and scale advantages of rapid car-making within the brand is just the beginning of what Jidu hopes to achieve. What JiDU hopes to do is what Geely wanted to do 30 years ago when it was creating cars – to be a “technological powerhouse”, a “respected” company, and a globally recognized intelligent technology company.
Outside the holding group, other brands are also starting to utilize the vast architecture, demonstrating the technology and leading edge of the architecture as a whole. I think the vast architecture will surely lead the development of this industry,” said An Conghui, who believes that modular architecture is the core competitiveness of car companies, and large car companies such as Volkswagen and Toyota all have their own modular architectures.
In 2022, JiDU delivered 70,000 units of the 001, becoming the best-selling pure electric car model in the domestic market with more than 300,000 units sold. This is the evaluation of consumers giving actual money to the Vast for their work.
JiDU’s Globalized Technology Ecology – Innovation as the Reason, Experience as the Result
In November last year, JiDU’s second MPV model, the 009, was launched.
The pre-launch poster copy was: “In this hour tonight, MPVs will be divided into two eras” – the JiDU 009 represents the “new era” of intelligent, upscale and luxurious all-electric MPV; the others are the “old era” of traditional MPVs.
Dividing the old and new eras can be said to be confident enough. Regardless of the level of discussion this sentence might provoke, everyone hopes to know what kind of car the JiDU 009 really is, in terms of the market, users, technology, and more.
“JiKe 009 integrates the luxurious space of MPVs, the robust safety of SUVs, and the excellent handling of sports cars, not only setting a new benchmark for luxury MPVs in terms of design, safety, luxury, performance and intelligence, but also redefining luxury MPVs from a user perspective, leading the field of large luxury cars, and entering the era of intelligent electric vehicles,” said An Conghui at the new car launch.
The launch of JiKe 009 means that all JiKe’s technology research and development is accumulating for pure electric vehicle models, fully tapping and exerting the value of pure electric architecture, and also marks that the JiKe brand is further rising to the luxury car market with a price over 500,000 RMB.
It is worth mentioning that, with the support of the SEA vast architecture, the pain points that traditional MPVs are hard to solve have been effectively solved in JiKe 009. For instance, the low rigidity due to the large body has resulted in the safety problem of “natural life doors” that traditional MPVs are often criticized for.
After the project was initiated, JiKe gave the project team an important task – safety, “how to improve the comfort of the back seat while improving the safety of MPV models on the basis of the vast architecture of pure electric ecology?”
For this purpose, a special task force was set up in the JiKe architecture center, with Li Tianqi serving as the chief engineer. He thinks every day about how to solve the problem of the short distance between the third-row seats and the rear of the car, which often leads to compromised safety of traditional MPVs.
The birth of the integrated casting technology provided a solution. Initially, the technology was pioneered by Tesla and was applied to the rear body of the Model Y, sparking a new trend in the industry. The advantage of integrated casting technology is that it can significantly reduce the weight of the body parts and reduce the number of parts and welding processes, thereby improving the rigidity of the body.
What JiKe wants to do is not just “copy and paste”, but to let the integrated casting technology embody the deep understanding of the JiKe brand of electrification and intelligence.
According to Li Tianqi, using the die casting technology to create a large integrated body part is currently relatively advanced in the industry. Adhering to the “6S6S Safety Development Concept” which treats all six seats equally safe, the body design of the Zeekr 009 is currently the largest die-cast body part in the world.
However, from project initiation to the launch of the new car, there is only less than one year. The challenge is enormous for the R&D team.
Moreover, changing from steel to aluminum and the difference between stamping and die casting technology will lead to completely different product designs. Therefore, Li Tianqi and the team spent eight months to achieve a breakthrough in process development that took Tesla nearly two years to achieve and developed a new concept.
“In such a short time, we have developed such a part ourselves,” said Li Tianqi, not hiding his self-praise while closely observing the completed welding on the body of the Zeekr 009 in the welding workshop of the Zeekr factory. “Others can do it, and our Chinese independent brand can also do it, and we can do it better.”
For example, in the weakest part of the traditional MPV, through a 7200-ton giant die-casting machine, the Zeekr 009 has an integrated die-cast aluminum rear end body, and through a four-stage collision zone strategy, it reduces repair costs while ensuring safety. As a result, Zeekr 009 has achieved the goal of “redefining the safety standard of luxury cars over 5 meters.”
However, the problem is not only about safety. It is not easy to truly create a “groundbreaking” product, which requires system strength from the surface to the inside. Considerations for safety and comfort… require a breakthrough on multiple levels.
One of the difficulties is that when the MPV, which has always been known for its comfort, “touches electricity,” because the battery layout occupies the chassis, engineers will struggle between range and space experience.
The Zeekr 009 has the “air large flat floor” advantage thanks to the original pure electric vast architecture. The height of the Zeekr 009 from the step to the ground is as low as 36cm, which not only releases more internal space but also the battery pack loading does not appear bulky. However, there is still a need to solve the problem of battery life and safety balance.
The Zeekr 009 is the first brand to be equipped with Ningde Times Kirin Battery. With the support of Kirin Battery with up to 140 kWh, the high-end version of the Zeekr 009 has a range of 822 kilometers. In the 2023 Zeekr 001 Ultimate Evolution, the “Thousand-mile Endurance Package” will be introduced, which will further break through the limit of 1000 kilometers (CLTC conditions) on the Zeekr 001 supported by the Kirin battery.
Of course, pragmatism has never been the character of Zeekr.
Since Zeekr 001, as one of the first researchers in China to engage in the research and development of new energy vehicle power batteries, Pan Fuzhong and his team are focusing on how to achieve “high energy density, high power density, and high integration efficiency that support high endurance mileage”, as well as “how to enhance safety dimension” in daily discussions and research and development.
“We have spent a long time and a lot of energy in exploring how to achieve the optimal design scheme and how to make this product achieve the highest performance basis, and all aspects of safety and reliability also receive optimal embodiment.”
For this reason, Pan Fuzhong and his team spent four years developing the full-stack self-developed Polestar battery pack, from early prototype samples to moldings and then to mass-produced parts that can be mass-produced.
In terms of safety and reliability, the R&D team conducted hundreds of tests. When the test failed, they had to find out the reason. Pan Fuzhong said that this process is “just like solving a case, which is more difficult”. In the end, the reason was found, the problem was solved, and “the sense of achievement came.”
One of Pan Fuzhong and his team’s achievements is to crack the fire hazard and create the Polestar battery pack NTP non-thermal propagation technology, which can realize six safety protections including multi-layer thermal insulation, unimpeded heat dissipation, implementation of prevention and control, automatic warning, active cooling, millisecond power-off, and the Polestar battery pack has since been called “non-inflammatory”.
Since the delivery of Zeekr 001 for more than a year, no battery safety accidents have occurred. Based on this, Pan Fuzhong and his team began to design the 009 Kirin battery. “We developed the 009 Kirin battery in a co-development way with CATL and we worked together to discuss and implement solutions and promote performance step by step.”
Under the joint efforts, Zeekr 009 pioneered the “Ten Palace Grid” battery anti-collision structure, adopting the thickest aluminum side anti-collision beam in the industry, dedicated to creating the highest battery safety requirements in the industry. When the technical review was passed and it met the product requirements of Zeekr 009, Pan Fuzhong and his team’s steps were moving toward 3.0 and 4.0 full self-developed products.All the efforts have not been in vain. The Haohan architecture breaks through the traditional manufacturing constraints, and the Zeekr 009 opens up a new path for electric MPVs in terms of safety, luxury, and performance.
Zeekr is committed to being a global automotive brand, with a perspective that is not limited to the domestic market, and has established a technological ecosystem in multiple locations around the world.
At the Zeekr European Innovation Center, more than 2,000 top automotive engineers from over 30 countries around the world gather to continuously innovate through modular development, virtual engineering, software system development, and quick response to global user needs.
At the Shanghai Intelligent R&D Center, the core business covers intelligent cockpit, digital cockpit, software electronics and other fields, and it is an important support point for Zeekr to build its own capability in intelligent hardware and software. It will win more development initiative in the era of intelligence.
It is worth mentioning that the pure electric architecture Haohan-M was jointly designed and developed by the Zeekr European Innovation Center and Chinese R&D team. Based on the Haohan-M architecture, Zeekr has created the M-Vision concept car, which is known for its intelligent mobile space.
In the “start-up letter” within Zeekr, An Conghui clearly pointed out that in the second half of the industry competition, intelligence is the main battlefield. At present, Zeekr has established an unparalleled global technology ecosystem and leading R&D team in the industry, and has an absolute leading advantage in intelligent architecture and intelligent driving.
AutocarMax believes that this leading advantage is due not only to continuous high R&D investment, but also to Zeekr’s systematic ability to quickly apply forward-looking technology to product experience. The latter is the best interpretation of innovation for the sake of experience.
In conclusion:
Zeekr’s global technological ecosystem is constantly taking root and sprouting new branches.
With the market performance of 001 and 009, and the more mature experience gained in full-stack self-research and architectural platform manufacturing, Zeekr hopes to stand out in the layout of intelligence.
In July of last year, at the “Zeekr Evolution Day”, An Conghui stated that the main evolution and upgrade of the Zeekr brand is focused on products, with three major parts — “Intelligent Driving”, “Intelligent Cockpit”, and “Intelligent Driving”.
The “Cooperation + Self-Research” dual model of intelligent driving development is leading the way for JieKe to make great strides in the field of intelligentization.
The vast M architecture is compatible with almost all intelligent driving software systems worldwide and supports high-level automated driving. This is the long-term plan of JieKe for software and hardware upgrades of future products.
JieKe’s NZP high-speed navigation assistance system, developed in cooperation with Mobileye, has officially opened the full-scale pioneer test of high-speed NZP, and the two parties are also jointly developing a new consumer-grade pure electric car with L4 autonomous driving capability.
2023 is referred to by An Conghui as the “key year to verify JieKe’s model”. At the same time, he believes that “this year’s competition will be very fierce, and the elimination race is coming, and the industry is facing the biggest challenge ever”.
In order to meet such challenges, An Conghui has put forward five key tasks internally. Among them, in the field of intelligentization, two major goals must be achieved: intelligent cockpit should be the focus of breakthroughs to create industry-leading benchmarks; intelligent driving should proceed in parallel to win the race track of intelligent driving.
He also pointed out that JieKe’s continued high investment in research and development this year will enter a harvest period, and requires each team to accelerate the landing and rooting of technologies, ensuring the leading position in key areas.
As early as 2008, Li Shufu said that making Chinese cars run all over the world is Geely’s mission. Now, Geely, which has emerged through honing, is building the foundation of Chinese cars through a brand matrix led by JieKe.
Obviously, in the wave of electric and intelligent transformation, compared with traditional car companies and new forces, JieKe’s path selection for track, architecture and technology ecology is more clear and firm.
It is precisely because of this that JieKe is using breakthroughs in core technology and persistent intelligent evolution to enable the high-end innovation of Chinese cars to blossom and bear fruit globally, and to shoulder the historic mission of building China’s automotive brand power.
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.