Author | Haohan
Edited by | Xiaohan
In 2022, the "Wei Xiaoli" collective sword refers to 400,000 medium and large SUVs.
Over the past few years, the three players have developed their own developments with different models and different price positions, and although sales are often compared, there is no direct competition between models.
But this year, the three new cars to be released - Xiaopeng G9, Ideal X01, and Weilai ES7 have invariably gathered in the market segment of medium and large SUVs.
Because they are the latest generation of products, and even their own flagship products (ideal and Xiaopeng), these three cars will undoubtedly be equipped with their own most powerful electric drive and intelligent system, from the information that has been exposed:
The size of the ideal X01 is larger than the ideal ONE, the power is stronger, and it is supplemented with advanced features such as air suspension and electric suction doors, just like running to the Mercedes-Benz GLS and BMW X7.
Xiaopeng G9 has a large body of at least 4.8 meters and Xiaopeng's latest generation of 800V electric drive platform, and the sense of luxury has also been further enhanced, which is definitely the new owner of Xiaopeng Automobile this year.
From the number point of view, although the ES7 is not NIO's flagship model, but because it is equipped with the same new electric drive and intelligent configuration as ET7, it will obviously be the strongest SUV model of NIO in 2022.
From the parameter configuration and positioning, it is expected that these three cars will have about 400,000 models, and it is likely that they will be collectively unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year - which means that the ace products of the top three new cars will finally be launched in the same segment.
▲Some parameters of Wei Xiaoli's new SUV model are predicted
So what are the characteristics of these three models in terms of exterior interior, power and intelligence? Through the various news and spy photos that have been exposed so far, combined with the technical reserves of the three companies, the car thing "depicts" the general outline and performance characteristics of the three medium and large SUVs through this article, and you can have a sneak peek.
First, Xiaopeng G9: the length of the car is close to five meters or 280,000 yuan for sale
For a long time, SUV models have been one of the most popular models in the domestic car market, and it is also a "must-compete place" for major new and old car companies.
At the Guangzhou Auto Show at the end of 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile took the lead in releasing its second pure electric SUV model, the Xiaopeng G9.
▲Xiaopeng G9
In terms of body size, Xiaopeng Motors has not yet announced the external parameters of xiaopeng G9, but the car thing learned from the prospectus of Xiaopeng Automobile that Xiaopeng's fourth electric vehicle will use the same Edward platform as Xiaopeng P7, and the wheelbase of the platform is between 2800mm and 3100mm. This can also indicate that the wheelbase of the Xiaopeng G9 is up to 3100mm.
At the same time, some netizens measured the body side photos of the Xiaopeng G9 through cells of the same length, and estimated that the body length of the Xiaopeng G9 was about 4880mm according to the wheelbase of the vehicle.
▲ The body side of the Xiaopeng G9 (Image source: Mike Lee)
In terms of pricing, according to the information of Xiaopeng in the prospectus of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the price of Xiaopeng G9 should be between Xiaopeng P7 and Xiaopeng P7 Pengyi Edition.
In this regard, the car predicts that the final price of the Xiaopeng G9 may be between 280,000 yuan and 400,000 yuan, and the price of the models in the entire car series may be around 350,000 yuan.
▲Screenshot of Xiaopeng Automobile's prospectus on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Second, the ideal X01: the standard Mercedes-Benz GLS is equipped with a mounted third seat
In addition to the Xiaopeng G9, Ideal Auto's new SUV model, the Ideal X01, may also be unveiled around the 2021 Beijing Auto Show.
Ideal X01, ideal X01 as ideal car's second SUV model, built on the ideal X platform.
According to an ideal X01 publicity point circulating on the Internet, the length, width and height of the ideal X01 are 5200/1998/1800mm, and the wheelbase is 3100mm. Whether it is the length of the body or the wheelbase, the ideal X01 is already close to the size of the BMW X7, Range Rover Long-axis Edition, Mercedes-Benz GLS and other models.
▲Ideal X01 publicity points of network transmission (image source network)
The highlights also state that the Ideal X01 will come standard with a 6-seater variable space seat, and that the seat is a patented design for the Ideal.
In this regard, the car also found this patent design drawing, it can be seen that the third row of seats of the car adopts a new upper-hanging design, the third row of seat backs and cushions are independent of each other, and the seat back is hung on the roof slide separately, and can be moved up and down front and back.
▲Patented design of the third row of seats of the ideal car
Since the cushions of such upper-mount split seats do not participate in folding, when the back of the seat is folded upwards, the third row can form a nearly flat space, further improving the loading capacity of the rear of the vehicle.
In addition, the Ideal X01 will also be equipped with the ideal ONE owner's coveted electric suction door function and air suspension.
▲The ideal X01 will be equipped with air suspension of the German Wyback brand (source network)
In terms of price, the price of the ideal X01 will be between 450,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan, and according to the previous pricing strategy of the ideal car, the ideal X01 series has a high probability of only one configuration and one price, and the special paint color may be the only paid option.
Third, Weilai ES7: the use of ET7 the same roof or will be opened for delivery at the end of this year
In addition to the Xiaopeng G9 and the ideal X01, two new cars that have been nailed down, Weilai has also set its sights on the SUV model once again after releasing two cars in a row.
In recent times, the camouflage spy photos of Weilai's new SUV models have frequently appeared on major automotive forums.
In terms of body size, according to the pictures exposed on the Internet, the size of NIO's new SUV model may be between the NIO ES6 and NIO ES8, and the side and tail shape of the new car is very close to the NIO ES6.
Compared with the WEIO ES8, ES6, EC6, the biggest highlight of the car is that it adopts the same roof shape as the WEILAI ET7 and ET5, and places a "watchtower" type lidar in the middle, and two "horns" on both sides are high-definition cameras. Overall, the first impression of the car is the roof of the NIO ET7 plus the body of the NIO ES6.
▲Nio's new SUV model camouflage spy photo (source network)
Li Bin said on the third quarter earnings call last year that in addition to the NIO ET7, two other new models based on the NT2.0 platform are also being developed as planned and can begin to be delivered to customers in the second half of 2022. The two new models of the NT2.0 platform mentioned by Li Bin should be the Weilai ET5 that has completed its debut and this new SUV model that has been exposed recently.
▲The tail shape of the NIO ES7 (source network)
Previously, NIO had registered a number of car name trademarks, including ES7, EC7, ET6, EZ7 and other model names.
According to the naming rules of Nio, the SUV model of the conventional shape is named ES+ digital, the sneak-back model of the SUV model is named EC+ digital, and the sedan is named ET+ digital. Therefore, according to the naming rules of Nio, this new SUV model of NIO is likely to be named NIO ES7 (hereinafter referred to as NIO ES7).
▲The car name trademark registered by NIO
If you look at the order of new car releases, NIO ET5 was released on 2021 NIO Day in January this year and will start delivery in mid-to-late September this year, so NIO ES7 is likely to make its debut in the middle of this year and start delivery at the end of this year or early next year.
In terms of pricing, due to the fact that the self-driving hardware and the three-electric system of the NIO ES7 are likely to be close to the NIO ET7, the body size is between the NIO ES6 and the NIO ES8. Therefore, the car thing speculates that the price of the NIO ES7 may be between 380,000 and 480,000 yuan, and if the BOSA battery rental scheme of NIO is used, the car price may be around 350,000 yuan.
In summary, if the price of Wei Xiaoli's three new cars is predicted according to the car, the overlap between the price ranges of the three models is not high, and it basically continues the current brand positioning and competitive relationship of Wei Xiaoli's three companies.
Fourth, the interior: Weilai Xiaopeng new car follows the family interior design Ideal X01 is equipped with Touch Bar
At last year's Guangzhou Auto Show, the Xiaopeng G9 only showed the exterior styling, and the interior design of the vehicle was not made public.
In recent times, the network began to circulate the interior photos of the Xiaopeng G9, from the pictures can be seen that the Xiaopeng G9 follows the central control design of the Xiaopeng P7 horizontal screen, and does not use the longitudinal central control screen on the Xiaopeng G3i and the Xiaopeng P5.
In the actual experience process, the longitudinal central control screen on the Xiaopeng G3i and P5 is extremely easy to be obscured by the arm, which is not as convenient as the horizontal double screen on the Xiaopeng P7.
▲Interior design of Xiaopeng G9 (source network)
However, compared with the dual screen of Xiaopeng P7, the LCD dashboard and central control screen of Xiaopeng G9 are not on a flat surface, which is closer to the driver. In addition, as an SUV model for multi-person car scenes, Xiaopeng G9 has added a display in the co-driver position and is connected with the central control screen.
In terms of the display effect of the screen, although Xiaopeng Automobile did not announce the screen resolution, size, brightness and other parameters, but according to the screen above the Xiaopeng P7 that is close to 2K resolution, the screen quality of the Xiaopeng G9 is at least the same as that of the Xiaopeng P7, as to whether there is a bigger surprise, it still needs to wait for the official announcement of more parameter configurations.
At present, the NIO ES7 is still in the road test stage, and there are no interior photos of the NIO ES7 on the Internet. However, the car speculates that the interior design of the NIO ES7 is likely to be close to the interior design of THEO ET7 and ET5, which will be equipped with a combination of a 10.2-inch LCD dashboard and a 12.8-inch AMOLED central control screen.
At the same time, as major car companies become more and more "rolled" in the interior configuration, and in order to better match the "Queen Co-Driver" seat on the NIO SUV model, it is not excluded that the NIO ES7 may install an entertainment display in the co-pilot position.
▲The interior of nio ET7
Compared with the Xiaopeng G9 and NIO ES7, the interior design of the ideal X01 has a relatively large change compared to the ideal ONE.
The first is the steering wheel. According to the pictures exposed on the Internet, the ideal X01 adopts a new steering wheel design, the steering wheel center is a rectangle, there are 6 function buttons on both sides, and can be completed by the middle metal lever up and down, but these function keys may also retain the touch function.
▲Ideal X01 steering wheel (image source network)
In addition, from the pictures exposed on the Internet, it can be seen that there is a black film pasted on the top of the rectangle in the middle of the steering wheel. Car stuff speculates that the area may be the ideal X01 promotional point mentioned in the Touch Bar.
The Touch Bar refers to the small strip display at the top of the MacBook Pro released by Apple in 2016, which can adjust the volume, brightness, fast forward and backward and other custom operations for various applications.
Touch Bar on Apple's MacBook Pro
The Touch Bar function on the Ideal X01 is similar to the Touch Bar function on Apple's MacBook Pro, which can operate the various functions of the vehicle. According to the pictures exposed on the Internet, the ideal X01 Touch Bar can realize the functions of opening/closing assisted driving, opening the rear tailgate, charging management, automatic parking and other functions, and may also adapt to third-party software to complete various custom operations in the future.
▲Touch Bar button on the ideal X01 (image source network)
But interestingly, Apple has canceled the Touch Bar trackpad on the latest generation of MacBook Pro released at the end of last year, and most users who have used Apple Touch Bar have reported that the function is better than nothing, and it cannot effectively improve interaction efficiency.
As for whether the Touch Bar on the ideal X01 can really improve the user's actual experience and driving safety, it is still necessary to wait for the car to be delivered on the market before reaching a conclusion.
Secondly, the central control screen of the ideal X01 does not continue the three-in-one large screen that is popular and popular on the ideal ONE, but adopts a split large screen design.
Two versions of the ideal X01 interior are now circulating on the web. The first version is that the dashboard and the central control screen are independent of each other, and there is no entertainment display in the co-pilot position; the second version is that the central control screen and the co-driver entertainment screen are designed for a dual screen, and the dashboard and the double screen on the right side are independent of each other, which is closer to the central control design drawing exposed by Xiaopeng G9.
Ideal removed the triple screen, and then installed Xiaopeng G9 on.
▲The two interior designs currently exposed by the ideal X01 (source network)
As of now, Xiaopeng G9, Weilai ES7 and Ideal X01 have not declared which car chip the vehicle will use, because the three car companies are very much emphasizing intelligent attributes, so the car thing speculates that these three cars will most likely use the current mass production of the strongest car chip Qualcomm 8155 chip.
Fifth, power: ideal for four-cylinder range extender, Xiaopeng on the 480kW super fast charge
In terms of power, Xiaopeng G9 and NIO ES7 still use pure electric drive forms, while the ideal X01 also continues to use the range extender hybrid drive form.
▲Electric drive system parameter prediction
For the ideal ONE, the most complained about is that the vehicle uses a 1.2T three-cylinder extended range engine, and many car owners have complained on the Internet that the three-cylinder engine has problems such as jitter, low thermal efficiency, and high fuel consumption. The ideal X01 has confirmed that it will use the range extended range power system composed of the 1.5T four-cylinder engine produced by ideal Xinchen Technology Company, the model may be CE15F, and the thermal efficiency of the engine can reach 40%.
▲Xinchen Power's CE series engine
▲The signing ceremony of Ideal Automobile and Xinchen Power
According to the information circulating on the Internet, the ideal X01 will be equipped with front and rear motors from the Great Wall Hive Power, the maximum power can reach 330kw (about 449 horsepower), the peak torque will reach 650N·m, and the acceleration time of 100 kilometers will be about 5.8 seconds. Such power performance can already be compared with 6-cylinder fuel models such as Mercedes-Benz GLS and Land Rover Range Rover, and the price of the latter two has exceeded 1 million yuan.
In terms of endurance, the ideal X01 will be equipped with a battery pack with a capacity of 44.5kWh and a fuel tank of 65 liters, and the comprehensive cruising range of NEDC may be about 1000 kilometers.
The Xiaopeng G9 uses the Xiaopeng XPower 3.0 power system, which has five key features.
The first is the high voltage, all the components on the car are 800V class, can support 800V high voltage.
The second point is overcharge, Xiaopeng Automobile's maximum charging current can reach more than 600A, it is very difficult to do this, Xiaopeng Automobile has reduced the resistance of each link of the high-voltage connection, and it is also necessary to achieve special safety protection.
At the same time, Xiaopeng Automobile also adopted a 480kW charging pile, in order to achieve a large current, developed a liquid-cooled charging gun, not only to achieve a large charging current, but also to significantly reduce the weight of the gun, to achieve an excellent experience.
▲Xiaopeng XPower3.0 power system
The third is high energy, only fast charging can not solve the user's vehicle experience, but also need to have a long endurance, which requires the vehicle must have high energy to meet the needs of users.
The fourth is efficiency, in order to achieve this goal, Xiaopeng Automobile uses silicon carbide to achieve the highest efficiency of the electric drive system, which can reach 95%.
The fifth is strong power, which is achieved through the combination of electric drive assembly and battery assembly. In terms of batteries, Xiaopeng Automobile adopts a cell with high energy density and supports overcharge, and develops an efficient thermal management system, including battery Pack thermal management and vehicle thermal management, which efficiently transmits battery heat generation to the outside of the car during the overcharge process.
▲Xiaopeng 480kW high-pressure overfill pile
Although the parameters of the three-electric system of the NIO ES7 are still unknown, the car predicts that the powertrain of the NIO ES7 may be the same as that of the NIO ET7, the vehicle adopts the front and rear dual motor four-wheel drive configuration, the maximum output power is about 400kW (about 650 horsepower), and the vehicle's 100-kilometer acceleration time is about 5 seconds.
In terms of batteries, the NIO ES7 may be the same as other models on sale in NIO, and will provide two kinds of battery capacity options: 70kWh and 100kWh. Since the same class of SUV models is more resistant to air resistance than the sedan, it is estimated with reference to the NIO ET7 range, and the NIO ES7's NEDC range equipped with 70kWh and 100kWh battery packs may be around 500km and 650km.
In addition, at the 2020 NIO Day, Li Bin announced that the NIO 150kWh battery pack will be installed in the fourth quarter of 2022, which is closer to the expected delivery time of the NIO ES7, so the car is likely to provide a 150kWh battery pack option when it is listed, and the NEDC cruising range will exceed 800km.
▲The endurance of each niraco model equipped with a 150kWh battery pack
Sixth, automatic driving: all equipped with lidar, urban L2 is the focus of this year
Ideal has an increased range, Xiaopeng has overcharge, Weilai has a replacement, with the continuous development of the three homes of Wei Xiaoli, the anxiety of the mileage began to gradually ease, and the next competition is the level of automatic driving of the vehicle.
In terms of automatic driving hardware, the above three models have not announced the specific sensor hardware configuration, but from the existing information, it can be found that these three cars are invariably equipped with lidar, and all adopt the perception scheme of vision + radar. Interestingly, the layout of the LiDAR of Xiaopeng G9, Ideal X01, and NIO ES7 is different.
▲L2 level automatic driving hardware prediction
According to the camouflage test diagram of the ideal X01 circulating on the Internet, there is a long strip of bump above the windshield of the vehicle that runs through the entire roof, and there are no obvious special bumps or openings in the rest of the front. Therefore, the car speculated that the ideal X01 lidar may be placed in the bulge of the roof.
▲The bulge of the roof may be lidar (source network)
In addition, Che Dongxi also found a technology patent applied by Beijing Chehejia Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Ideal Automobile) in August last year. The technology patent is a vehicle-mounted radar component, combined with the patent design drawings, lidar radar adopts an integral liftable design, and the overall shape is similar to the bulge on the ideal X01 spy photo, which can further support the guess of the car thing.
The car speculates that when the vehicle turns on automatic driving assistance, the lidar on the roof of the car rises to work, and when the vehicle does not need lidar to work, the lidar can be lowered. This can not only reduce the wind resistance coefficient of the vehicle, but also effectively protect the lidar from damage.
In addition, the Ideal X01 will be equipped with 12 8-megapixel cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic radars.
▲Patent diagram of ideal automobile lifting type lidar
Compared with the ideal X01's lifting layout, the layout of the two lidars on the Xiaopeng G9 is somewhat conventional, placed under the two headlights, and the two headlights together form the two "skimmings" of the Xiaopeng LOGO.
The car found that compared with the lidar on the Xiaopeng P5, the radar on the Xiaopeng G9 is black and gray from the appearance, while the lidar on the Xiaopeng P5 is blue-green, and the overall shape of the former is more slender, so the lidar of the two vehicles is not the same model, but the Xiaopeng P5 previously chose lidar from DJI, so the Xiaopeng G9 may continue to choose DJI.
▲Lidar of Xiaopeng P5 (top) and Xiaopeng G9 (bottom).
In addition to lidar, the Xiaopeng G9 will be equipped with Xiaopeng XPILOT4.0 hardware and equipped with two 8-megapixel front-view binocular cameras.
▲Xiaopeng XPILOT4.0 hardware
Judging from the existing camouflage spy photos at this stage, WEILAI ES7 will adopt a "watchtower" lidar layout similar to THATOs ET5 and ET7, and will be equipped with an equivalent 300-line lidar from Tudtong, with a maximum detection distance of up to 500 meters, a detection angle of 120 degrees, and a dynamic focus function.
In addition, the WEILAI ES7 vehicle perception hardware configuration is likely to be similar to the WEILAI ET5, ET7, in addition to a lidar, the car will also be equipped with 7 8 million pixel high-definition cameras, 4 3 million pixel high-sensitivity surround view cameras, five millimeter wave radar, 12 ultrasonic sensors.
▲The roof shape of the NIO ES7
In addition to the perception hardware all three vehicles are equipped with lidar, in terms of computing platform, the three cars once again invariably chose NVIDIA car specification-level AI chip OrinX, using a 7nm process, and the single computing power of the chip is as high as 254TOPS.
Previously, Ideal Auto has reached cooperation with Nvidia and Desay SV, ideal X01 will use IPU04, an autonomous driving domain controller built from Desay SV based on OrinX chips, and Li Xiang himself also tweeted that the new car will use NVIDIA OrinX chips. The XPILOT4.0 hardware of Xiaopeng G9 will also be equipped with two OrinX chips, with a computing power of 508TOPS; WEILAI ES7 will also be equipped with a high probability of 4 OrinX chips to form the NIO Adam supercomputing platform, with a computing power of 1016TOPS.
▲ Li wants to Weibo screenshot
If you only perceive the hardware configuration and chip computing power, the automatic driving ability of these three cars is the first echelon in the car market in 2022, so the update speed and stability of the software will become an important factor in the competition of these three companies.
Up to now, wei xiaoli three have launched their own high-speed navigation auxiliary driving function (high-speed point to point L2), and has been pushed to the owner to use, so the above three new cars in the delivery of high-speed navigation assistance driving function can be used directly, and do not need to wait.
In addition to the high-speed navigation assisted driving function, the urban navigation assisted driving function (city point-to-point L2) will be one of the decisive factors for the three companies to compete in 2022.
The urban navigation assisted driving function is similar to the high-speed navigation assisted driving function, which is that after the driver sets the destination, the vehicle can automatically select the driving lane, automatically complete the overtaking lane change, and automatically drive to the set destination. However, this function still falls under the category of L2 autonomous driving, which requires the driver to put his hand on the steering wheel and be ready to take over the vehicle at any time.
In terms of urban L2, Xiaopeng Automobile has led Nio Automobile and Ideal Automobile, taking the lead in showing a beta version of the city NGP based on XPILOT3.5 hardware in November last year, and is expected to push it to car owners in the first half of this year. Therefore, the Xiaopeng G9 is most likely to become the first of the three cars to achieve the city L2.
In addition, in addition to Xiaopeng's urban NGP, Huawei, Weima, Zhiji, and Tesla are all testing their own urban navigation assisted driving functions, and all plan to be introduced to the market in 2022 or 2023.
▲ Experience the NGP demo version of Xiaopeng City before driving things
Of course, the above information is speculation, and the specific hardware configuration and autonomous driving capabilities can only be answered after the vehicle is released and delivered.
Conclusion: Wei Xiaoli will "start again"
As the head players of the new domestic car-making forces, Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal will all launch their own new SUV models in 2022, and will all begin to be delivered at the end of 2022. Therefore, for these three companies, releasing their new SUV models at similar time points can be understood as an opportunity to start again.
With the liberalization of the domestic three-child policy, SUV models will become the just need for more families to buy cars and buy cars, so Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal who can win the competition for SUV models in 2022 are likely to take a leading position in the entire intelligent electric vehicle track.