On January 13, Zhiji Automobile, born out of SAIC Motor, held its world premiere in less than a month after its establishment, and launched two models in one go, covering sedan and SUV models. In an interview with the media, Liu Tao, the co-CEO of Zhiji Automobile, pointed out that: Zhiji wants to change the rules of the game and “kill” Tesla.
According to previous reports, the “predecessor” of Zhiji Automobile is the “Project One” exposed by SAIC in early December 2020. This project has been brewing within SAIC for more than two years, and finally landed under the name of “a new user-oriented automobile science and technology company” Zhiji Auto, and the founding round of financing attracted Alibaba Group and Shanghai Pudong Gov. with up to tens of billions yuan.
According to the official website of Zhiji Automobile. The English brand name “IM” means Intelligence in Motion, which is a rational thinking on the evolution direction of smart cars: it focuses on the collaborative creation of artificial intelligence and human intelligence and the mutual achievement of the deep intelligence of the whole vehicle. The design of the brand logo contains a digital code from 0 to 1, expressing concisely, reflecting the tension of smart technology.
It is worth noting that the new car released this time is equipped with Nvidia’s Xavier visual perception solution, which has a computing power of 30-60 TOPS, and is equipped with 15 high-definition vision cameras, 5 millimeter wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic radars. In addition, the new car is also equipped with Nvidia’s Orin X lidar solution, which can achieve a TOPS of 500 to 1000 or more and supports 3 lidars. In terms of intelligent digitization, Alibaba uses big data and the latest technology from Dharma Academy, and uses the advantages of Alibaba Cloud and other synergy to add more software applications to new cars.
According to the official parameters, Zhiji Automobile will be equipped with transient response high-torque dual electric shafts for future mass production models, and adopt rear-wheel drive, with a maximum power of 400Kw, a torque of 700N.m, and an acceleration of 3.9s per hundred kilometers. The new car will also be equipped with a battery using the “silicon-doped lithium supplement” technology jointly developed by SAIC and CATL, with a single energy density of 300Wh/kg, and a planned cruising range of over 1000km under comprehensive working conditions. The battery pack capacity of the entire series is 93Kwh as standard, and 115 Kwh for high performance model.
According to the official plan of Zhiji Automobile, the mass production version of the smart pure electric car will accept global reservations during the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2021. It is expected to be launched at the end of 2021 and delivered to users in 2022. All-electric SUV models will be launched in 2022.
