In the pure electric car market of 400,000-500,000, there is actually not much choice, and in the past, the more concerned is Tesla Model 3, but after the domestic production, Model 3 opened a price reduction and focused on the 300,000-level market. Since then, this segment has rarely been involved in models.
Is there no other option? Of course not! The NIO ET7 and Zhiji L7 are the 400,000-class pure electric sedans that have been very popular recently, and they are also one of the few choices in this market. Below, we will make a comprehensive comparison between the two cars. If you have a budget of 400,000, how will you choose between the two cars?
Price and configuration comparison:
In terms of price, the 70kWh version of THE NIO ET7 is priced at 448,000 yuan, the BaaS solution is 378,000 yuan, and the battery monthly fee is 980 yuan; the 100kWh version is priced at 506,000 yuan, the BaaS solution is 378,000 yuan, and the battery monthly fee is 1,480 yuan. The Genesis version is priced at 526,000 yuan, 398,000 yuan for the BaaS solution, and the monthly battery fee is 1,480 yuan.
There are two versions of zhiji L7, of which Zhiji L7 Dynamic is priced at 368,800 yuan, and Zhiji L7 Pro is priced at 408,800 yuan. From the price point of view, the Zhiji L7 is relatively cheaper. However, although the NIO ET7 seems to be more expensive, it is also more generous in configuration.
Taking the entry-level model as an example, compared with the Zhiji L7, the NIO ET7 has more front intermediate airbags, air suspension, inductive tailgate doors, digital/smart keys, HUD head-up display, front leg rest/massage, rear massage/ventilation, and so on. Of course, the price is also nearly 80,000 yuan more than the Zhiji L7.
Battery life comparison:
In terms of battery and endurance, NIO ET7 currently offers two battery versions of 75kWh and 100kWh, corresponding to NEDC cruising ranges of 500km and 700km respectively. However, it is worth mentioning that NIO announced its own 150kWh solid-state battery plan, and it will also be installed on the ET7 in the future, and the cruising range will exceed 1000km.
In terms of Zhiji L7, the car is equipped with a standard 93kWh battery, and the CLTC pure electric endurance is 615km. As we all know, the CLTC endurance standard is "more virtual" than the NEDC, so if the NEDC is converted, the endurance of the Zhiji L7 may be lower than the official advertised 615km.
However, the same 400,000 models, the endurance performance of the Zhiji L7 is still higher than the 75kWh battery version of the WEILAI ET7.
Power Comparison:
In terms of power, THE NIO ET7 uses the front 180kW permanent magnet motor and the rear 300kW induction motor, with a total power of 480kW, a total torque of 850N·m, and an acceleration of 3.8s per 100 kilometers.
Zhiji L7 uses permanent magnet motors before and after, the maximum power of the front motor is 175kW, the maximum power of the rear motor is 250kW, the total power reaches 425kW, the total torque of the motor is 725N·m, and the acceleration of 100 kilometers is 3.87s.
Simply looking at the power parameters, weilai ET7 is much better than zhiji L7, but the actual acceleration performance, the gap between the two cars is not large, both about 3.8 seconds.
Chassis suspension comparison:
In terms of suspension, the two models are still significantly different, Weilai ET7 uses the front five links + rear multi-link independent suspension, while the Zhiji L7 is the front double wishbone + rear multi-link independent suspension.
In terms of cost, the five-link independent suspension is superior to the double wishbones of the Zhiji L7. Structurally, the advantages of the double wishbone independent suspension are large lateral stiffness, excellent anti-roll performance, good grip performance, and clear road sense. The advantages of the five-link suspension are good comfort and good support, improving vehicle control performance and reducing understeering.
In addition, both models are equipped with CDC adaptive shock absorbers, which can actively adjust the suspension softness and hardness to improve driving comfort and handling. However, NIO ET7 is equipped with an air suspension system, which can achieve a three-speed height of -10mm/0/40mm and adjustable damping with speed, which also allows the vehicle to match a variety of road conditions, which can ensure the body stability of the ET7 during intense driving, but also take into account the comfort of the vehicle during daily driving, and achieve a balance between performance and comfort.
In contrast, although the Zhiji L7 does not have an air suspension system, it is only equipped with CDC electromagnetic suspension, which may be worse in terms of comfort compared to the height-adjustable air suspension.
However, Zhiji L7 has more rear wheel steering system, rear wheel steering system, rear wheel steering system, rear wheel can achieve a two-way total of 12 degrees steering, can control the turning radius in a 5.4 meters ultra-small range, which is more than 5 meters for a large car, undoubtedly can greatly improve the handling of the vehicle.
In fact, the main focus of the Zhiji L7 is the control performance. A few days ago, the Zhiji L7 broke a Guinness World Record for the longest drift distance of electric vehicles previously held by the Porsche Taycan - continuous drift for 1 hour and 6 minutes, with a total lap of 258 laps and a total mileage of 43.646 km.
From the suspension structure and configuration of the two cars, it is not difficult to find that the driving control tendencies of the two cars are completely different, WEI ET7 pays more attention to the balance of comfort and handling, while the Zhiji L7 is more inclined to sports and pays more attention to the control experience.
Comparison of technology configurations:
Both cars are models of new car-making forces, and both have intelligent driving and intelligent cockpits as their main selling points.
On ET7, Weilai can be said to directly pile up the hardware configuration. It uses four NVIDIA Orin computing chips with a hashrate of 1016TOPS. In contrast, the MobileyeQ4 chip currently used by NIO's models on sale hash rate of only 2.5 TOPS.
In terms of perception components, ET7 is equipped with a lidar, 5 millimeter-wave radar, 8 cameras, 2 IMU inertial navigation systems with GPS, and the hardware configuration can be described as full, which also allows it to basically have the ability of L4 level automatic driving. In fact, the NIO ET7 has already achieved Assisted Driving by Door to Door in terms of functionality. It is reported that WEILAI ET7 will push this function before September this year.
In contrast, Zhiji L7 is not as good as Weilai ET7 in terms of stacking materials. The hardware configuration of the Zhiji L7 is 12 cameras, 5 millimeter wave radar, 12 ultrasonic radar, high-precision positioning unit and high-precision map, and is not equipped with lidar. Built-in NVIDIA Xavier processor, but the computing power is only 30-60TOPS, which is far from the WEIO ET7.
However, it is worth mentioning that users can install 2 Sagitar Juchuang M1 lidar (150m maximum detection distance under 10% reflectivity) and 2-4 Orin X chips (500-1000 + TOPS computing power) for free with the mileage to unlock the fusion lidar fusion intelligent driving system.
According to Zhiji, relying on Xavier and vision sensors, Zhiji L7 has been able to achieve assisted driving functions covering urban and high-speed scenes, and Zhiji has previously released urban Pilot function experience videos in Shanghai and Suzhou.
Let's look at the smart cockpit. The entire cabin layout of THE NIO ET7 basically continues the current family design, still an LCD dashboard and a vertical suspension large screen.
Among them, the 12.8-inch OLED touch screen resolution of the central control reaches 1728x1888px. In addition, there is a 10.2-inch full LCD instrument, HUD enhanced head-up display system, and a 6.6-inch multi-function control screen in the rear row, which are standard across the series.
In terms of hardware, NIO ET7 uses Qualcomm 8155 chips, so the overall control experience is very smooth. Software, WEILAI ET7 is a self-developed car machine system, according to user needs, the development of nap mode and other use scenarios, the future may also be through VR to define other car entertainment scenes.
Compared with Weilai, Zhiji L7 is more technological in the interior. Zhiji L7 adopts a triple lifting screen, 26.3-inch main screen + 12.3-inch passenger driver entertainment screen and 12.8-inch 2K central control touch screen combination, of which the main screen and co-driver entertainment screen can be lifted and lowered separately, or in the super running mode as a whole to the half-screen state, with the simulation engine sound wave, relatively novel.
Secondly, in terms of hardware, Zhiji L7 also uses Qualcomm 8155 chips. In terms of software, Zhiji L7 is based on the IMOS created by Zebra AliOS operating system, which will have a good performance in terms of functionality and entertainment.
Exterior & Interior Comparison:
In terms of appearance design, Weilai ET7 and Zhiji L7 both adopt a simple style, showing a good sense of technology. In terms of specific details, Weilai ET7 still adopts the design language of the family X-bar, and the closed grille and split headlights are more sporty than the previous SUV models under the low front face shape of the sedan. At the same time, the whole body type is slender and dynamic, with the hidden door handle, frameless door design, fashionable and stylish, full of scientific and technological sense.
The appearance of the Zhiji L7 is significantly more radical than that of ET7, and the design is more in line with younger consumers. The closed grille on the front face is matched with an "E" shaped headlight set, which looks very sharp. Highly recognizable. In addition, the car is equipped with DLP light trace projection headlights, with a custom projection car language function, more technological sense.
It is worth mentioning that Zhiji L7 innovatively adopts the intelligent lighting system composed of DLP + ISC in the lighting, which can not only intelligently assist driving, improve driving safety, but also be used to express emotions to the outside world.
Secondly, in terms of body size, both cars are positioned as medium and large cars, THE WEILAI ET7 has a body length, width and height of 5101/1987/1509mm, with a wheelbase of 3060mm, and the length, width and height of the Zhiji L7 are 5098/1960/1485mm, and the wheelbase is 3100mm. In comparison, the two cars are not much different, the WEILAI ET7 body is slightly larger, the Zhiji L7 wheelbase is slightly longer, and the body space is relatively generous.
Summary: In general, the two cars of WEILAI ET7 and Zhiji L7 are both high-end pure electric cars of independent luxury brands, and the overall strength can be described as having their own advantages. Zhiji L7 has advantages in terms of endurance, space, control, etc., and is more sincere in terms of price. The WEILAI ET7 has more advantages in terms of comfort and brand power, and thanks to more powerful hardware configurations, intelligent driving is also more advanced. As for how to choose, it depends on their respective car purchase needs.