【EV Vision Report】Feng Qingfeng, CEO of Lotus Group, said in a recent interview with the media that the Wuhan Lotus factory has been completed and is expected to start production at the end of 2022. He said electric vehicles will take a bigger share of the Chinese market next year.
"Electric vehicles will be the biggest bright spot in China's auto market next year, probably accounting for 30% or more of new car sales," Feng Qingfeng expects, "another explosive driving force is that the level of intelligence of electric vehicles will be greatly improved next year." ”
Lotus Group CEO Feng Qingfeng (file photo)
Bloomberg reported that Feng Qingfeng revealed the latest financing situation, and it is expected that Lotus will complete a financing of $400-500 million in March next year and be listed in Hong Kong in 2023.
On August 31 this year, Lotus Technology officially announced its establishment, its global headquarters was also determined to settle in Wuhan Economic Development Zone, Lotus Global Intelligent Automobile Factory also settled in Wuhan, the project covers an area of about 186 acres, construction area of about 390,000 square meters. After the completion of the Wuhan Lotus Science and Technology Headquarters Park, it can not only serve the Lotus vehicle project in Hannan at close range, but also serve the Geely and Lotus projects in the country and the world. With an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles, the Wuhan Smart Factory is the world's first factory to adopt full-process 3D digital twin technology. The factory implements the production concepts of digitalization and intelligence throughout the design and construction process, so as to improve quality, shorten the cycle, and realize the customized experience of "building 1 car for 1 person". The factory also set up a composite experience track in the factory, using a combination of test track and track, which can meet the testing and experience needs of diverse products such as racing, drifting, and off-road. In terms of intelligence, after the vehicle completes the quality inspection, it can realize unmanned storage; in the warehousing and logistics link, the whole process is unmanned and automated.
In the next five years, Lotus plans to launch three pure electric intelligent products: in 2022, the launch of the E-class SUV code-named Type132; in 2023, the launch of the E-class four-door coupe code-named Type133; in 2025, the launch of the D-class "New Species of Pure Electric Intelligence" code-named Type134, the above three new models will be combined with Lotus UK's pure electric supercar Evija, and the pure electric trot to be launched in 2026, forming lotus group's global pure electric product matrix.
In addition, in order to achieve ultra-high-end product positioning, Lotus will launch an independently developed EPA edge evolution architecture. According to the development needs of Lotus's ultra-high-end pure electric intelligent vehicles, the EPA architecture applies track-level electric drive intelligent driving to daily driving scenarios, and the wheelbase can be adapted according to the model between 2889-3100mm, and retains the flexibility of expansion space, which can support the development of C+ class, D class, E class and higher level models. EPA's high-voltage system adopts the industry's top 800V three-power system, which can be equipped with 92-120kWh of power. Products built on this architecture can easily achieve zero hundred acceleration in less than 3 seconds.
In the field of intelligent driving, based on the EPA marginal architecture, Lotus proposed the concept of "track-level intelligent driving" and put forward a very challenging technical goal: in the next decade, with the assistance of Lotus intelligent driving, as long as you can get a driver's license, you can win the F1 championship. This is the technology path that Completely distinguishes Lotus from other brands, lotus technology is committed to ensuring that drivers are away from risk through active redundancy of software and hardware performance, so that more drivers can feel a very fun intelligent driving experience.