Chinese EV startup XPeng has another model on the market now. As of today, you can buy an XPeng P7i. The first deliveries will take place this month. The model is only available in China at the moment.
Don’t let the model’s good looks, sporty specs, and robust features fool you. The cost of the P7i starts at just RMB249,900 ($36,185). The car would certainly be flying off of lots in the US for that combo. Let’s see how it does in the hyper-competitive Chinese market. Will it give XPeng the sales boost the company has been needing?
The MAX and WING versions of the P7i come with the “industry’s most advanced all-scenario driver assistance system,” XNGP. Having experienced an earlier version of this virtually, it appears to me that the technology is a solid step above the crowd. It was certainly better in the hour-plus that I experienced it driving around a hectic, dense city than the Tesla FSD Beta that is in my car.
“The P7i exemplifies our pursuit of excellence, and is the latest refinement of our vision of smart mobility,” said Mr. He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng. “The P7i is bringing major upgrades to our highly successful P7 model, already enthusiastically received by customers. With the P7i, we are now delivering the world’s most advanced smart driving EV technologies to the world’s largest auto market.”
That may seem like a big claim, but genuinely, the smoothness of XPeng’s driver-assist system through all kinds of challenging scenarios was stunning to me. It is indeed the best ADAS on the market from what I’ve seen.
“The new P7i is equipped with XPENG’s proprietary XNGP architecture — the industry’s most advanced all-scenario driver assistance system, capable of performing City NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot), enhanced Highway NGP and LCC (Lane Centering Control) functions, as well as the industry’s first mass-produced cross-level parking assistance VPA (Valet Parking Assist),” XPeng writes. “Its intelligent capabilities are supported by a superior hardware platform, consisting of dual-LiDAR units and dual NVIDIA DRIVE Orin-X SoCs capable of up to 508 TOPS of computing power (MAX & WING versions) – a 17-fold increase from the previous models. Powered by a 31-sensor architecture with an enhanced 360° perception capability, the P7i is designed to achieve L4 ADAS functions in certain scenarios.”
What about those specs I mentioned at the top? Here you go:
- Up to 757 NM of torque
- 0–100 km/h in 3.9 seconds
- Up to 702 km (436 million) on a full charge (CLTC rating system)
- Can add 240 km (149 miles) of range in 10 minutes
- 0.236 Cd
- 7.1.4 Dolby Atoms sound system with 20 speakers
A much bigger table of specs is here:
Lastly, here’s a look at the different P7i model options and their pricing:
What kind of volumes will we see for the P7i?
XPeng also points out that it’s quickly increasing its ultra-fast charging infrastructure in China. The company is planning to upgrade 180 of its supercharging stations to 480kW ultra-fast charging capability.
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Source: Clean Technica