XPeng Motors is one of many Chinese EV startups. But
unlike many of their colleague-companies they actually seem to have a real car.
The vehicles on these photos are part of a first-batch “1.0” pre-production run
of 15 cars.
Interestingly, these cars will be sold to the
public, aimed at “geek consumers”, the company says. Early next year XPeng
Motors (formerly known as Xiaopeng Motors) plans to launch the full-production
2.0 version. The factory is in Guangdong Province and will have an initial
annual capacity of 50,000 cars and a full capacity of 100,000.
The car will be called the Identity X. Sadly, the
word ‘identity’ was misspelled on the back of the vehicle shown on stage. The
badge reads ‘Identy’. Not a big mistake but not a very good sign. The tech
however is impressive. The battery pack is located in the floor, and the motor
is located over the front axle.
XPeng will offer a 2WD and a 4WD version, the
latter will have another smaller motor at over the rear axle. The main motor
has an output of 190 hp. The company claims a range of 300 kilometers. 0-100 km/his
gone in 7.9 seconds for the 2WD version and in 5.8 seconds for the 4WD version.
The interior looks properly tech with a 15.8 inch
touch screen and a fully digital instrument panel. XPeng didn’t say anything
about autonomous drive, so for now we assume the Identity X won’t have it. The
fancy thing on the roof is not a radar but a camera, images of which can
immediately be shared with the world via the infotainment system.
