Text | Joey
On November 23, 2020, Porsche completed an unprecedented continuous drift challenge in the history of electric vehicles with the Taycan at the Porsche Center in Hockenheimring, Germany.
On that site, the 4.96-meter-long, rear-drive Taycan drifted 42.2 km (210 laps) at an average speed of 46 km/h in 55 minutes, and eventually ended with the Taycan running out of power. Since then, a new Guinness Book of World Records has been officially born.
If porsche, which takes performance as its brand label, has made such an attempt and challenge in the past era of fuel vehicles, it has almost 100% nothing to do with Chinese car companies and Chinese consumers.
After all, at that time, Chinese car companies were still limited by the research and development and manufacturing level of the three major parts, and still regarded fuel saving, ease of use and high reliability as the primary goal of their research and development of new models. But now, that goal may have to be adjusted.
Just last night, Zhiji Auto played a pre-recorded listing video online. In the video, in addition to the official launch of the L7 model they have called out, they have completed a drift challenge like the Taycan.
At the Tianma Mountain Circuit in Shanghai, the Zhiji L7 achieved 258 laps of drift in 66 minutes, successfully floating 43.646 kilometers, and breaking the record of "the longest drift distance of electric vehicles on slippery roads".
Many people may think that such transcendence, the meaning only exists in the marketing level, and a proof of a Guinness World Record. After all, whether in the era of fuel vehicles or electric vehicles, almost no one will buy a car to play drift.
But in my opinion, such a change means that Chinese car brands are beginning to dare to challenge the old car brands. In the past, if Chinese car companies challenged European and American car brands, the content of the challenge was often more inclined to the dispute between pure electricity and internal combustion engine energy forms, or focused on the more advanced intelligent driving assistance and human-computer interaction level.
But like zhiji L7, in the field of electric vehicles, it dares to face the rigid performance of european and American veteran car companies, and even has the upper hand, in the past, there was almost none.
If we say that for the rise of China's automobile industry, in the past, we often used to describe it as overtaking in curves. So now, in the words of Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji, it is " straight overtaking".
Straight-line overtaking depends on the system
The question to be discussed now is what Liu Tao said, zhiji began to "overtake on the straight track", what is the bottom line?
In fact, since the L7 is still in the research and development stage, the performance background of this car has been marked, but at that time, the performance of the Zhiji L7 is only at the data level. For example, we only know its ultra-low 0.21Cd drag coefficient, the 0-100km/h acceleration time into the 3-second acceleration club, the chassis tuning brought by Williams' senior engineering team, and technical points such as four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, and the resulting "Snake Move" and so on.
But if it comes to getting on the track, there may be some differences. After all, paper configuration and data, and the real driving experience are two different things.
This is why at the listing meeting of Zhiji L7, almost all the scenes were concentrated in the Pegasus Mountain Circuit. What Zhiji wants to do is to let both the guests participating in the conference and the real angel wheel users be able to really see, touch, and drive this L7 model with performance as the main label, and show it to potential users who watch the live broadcast.
The performance displayed by the Zhiji L7 is not only on paper, such as its car height, which is really lower than the center of gravity height of the BMW 5 Series, only 490mm. To achieve such a body height, it takes a very arduous effort. After all, thinner batteries aren't available to everyone. It needs a strong system and supply chain strength to do the support behind it.
At this point, Zhiji's solution is to create horizontal batteries. Making the battery "lying down" will undoubtedly reduce the thickness of the battery pack, but it will also bring about a reduction in battery life (after all, the chassis space is just this point). At this time, what Zhiji has to do is to increase the density of the battery. According to Zhiji, the CTC range of the L7 can reach 615km.
Obviously, for the current 700, 800 kilometers, or even thousands of electric vehicle mileage "inner volume", this achievement is not nothing. But balancing the guarantee of adequate battery life with lower body heights and a better performance experience, Zhiji has done everything he can.
At the same time, in the field of power, Zhiji L7 is equipped with the highest power in the industry at present. The advantage of this motor is not only that it brings more than 2 times more power than the same level of fuel vehicles (maximum power 425kW, maximum torque 725N·m), but more importantly, it can bring the best heat dissipation effect to the motor.
How important is this heat dissipation effect?
We know that the difference between pure electric vehicles and traditional energy vehicles at the power output end is mainly reflected in the absence of a gearbox, and the power output is more direct. At the motor end, from the time the "electric door" is stepped on, the motor can work at maximum power. But the potential problem is that once the motor overheats during intense driving, it will produce a loss of efficiency (for every 10 degrees Celsius increase in motor temperature, the copper resistivity increases by 4%), resulting in a decrease in power.
The straight waterfall oil-cooled motor used by Zhiji L7 can be cooled down to stabilize the motor with maximum power output for a longer time. It is precisely because of this that the Zhiji L7 can use the best state to complete the drift challenge at the listing meeting.
Obviously, these technical points seem to be small details, but what can be intuitively shown is the strength of the strong car-making system of Zhiji, and not to let go of every point that may affect performance. And it is the stacking of these small details that makes Zhiji dare to play the name of "New World Driving Control Flagship".
But in my opinion, the emergence of the Zhiji L7 challenges more than just the ceiling of vehicle performance in the electric age.
The pattern change starts with pricing
How much should China's luxury electric vehicles sell? In fact, it is a question that has not yet been conclusively resolved.
At this point, Gaohe gave its own answer, the pricing of 500,000-800,000 yuan, the second car will not be lower than this pricing, and it seems that the sales volume in the market segment is still good, it seems to indicate that by taking the road of "technology luxury", Chinese car brands seem to have the possibility of entering the expensive and good market segment. But apparently, Zhiji didn't think so.
There is no doubt that Zhiji has wanted to take the high-end, technology and luxury route from the beginning. This can be seen in their initial willingness to promote high-grade leather, luxury wood trim, as well as DLP+ISC headlights, and forty minutes of intrusive intelligent driving assistance technology on urban roads.
However, they obviously do not regard these things as a basis for taking a higher-end route. At last night's listing meeting, in addition to maintaining the price of the previous Pro version of 408,800 yuan, Zhiji L7 also launched a lower price, only 368,800 yuan dynamic version. That is, a model that specializes in performance by removing DLP+ISC headlights, leaving aside the induction smart door, and not equipped with luxury wood trim.
Obviously, if in the past, people were still guessing what Zhiji claimed that "cars should look like in the intelligent era", what it would look like. So now, with an L7 Dynamic, zhiji tells us that at least for the right stage, they think that driving control and performance are what it should be.
What's more, the pricing of this model completely subverts people's previous speculations. If it is said that in terms of actual performance, Zhiji wants to benchmark the Most Famous Driving Control Porsche Taycan and BMW's 5 Series model. But in terms of pricing, it is clear that the strategy of misplaced competition is played again.
Such misalignment competition lies in the fact that it can be longer than the five series, longer than ground clearance, and can be compared with the Taycan in rear wheel steering angle, acceleration time, and drift persistence. But in terms of price, it intrude into the price range from the mid-3 series to the low-end of the X3 (including the C-class and GLC, as well as the A4L and Q5L of course).
This gives users a whole new choice. If gaohe plays a high-profile, hit the brand and product positioning of people. Then, Zhiji chooses the path of the straight man of science and engineering: directly enter the most fiercely contested market, and rely on strong strength to strive for possible success.
Obviously, for zhiji, the appearance of cars in the intelligent era should first be bought by more people to make sense. The arrival of the L7 can really change the pattern of the electric vehicle market, I am cautiously optimistic.
The official listing of L7 will undoubtedly bring many meaningful reference points for more pure electric manufacturers to build cars on the concept of driving control. And in the future, I believe that intellectual engineers will not just let the flagship be satisfied with driving control. This also makes the Zhiji L7, and even more changes in subsequent products, have more exciting points (such as intelligent technology, such as fashion configuration).
Challenges will come, but so will opportunities. Therefore, for Zhiji and its L7, "straight overtaking" is the best solution, because as long as you run fast enough, you can win more opportunities in the future.