Highlights of XPeng Tech Day 2021

Beijing (Gasgoo)- China’s electric vehicle startup XPeng Motors today unveiled a slew of innovative technologies and thoughts on its Tech Day 2021, including high voltage supercharging technologies, the latest and most sophisticated version of its advanced driver assistance systems, the design of new-generation road-capable flying car, to explore future mobility solutions.

He Xiaopeng; photo credit: XPeng

Long-time charging is one of the main obstacles for wide application of electric vehicles (EVs), so all automakers want to have technology breakthroughs in this segment. Today XPeng launched China’s first mass-producible 800V high-voltage SiC platform, which can give vehicles a range of up to 200km within 5-minute charging with new-generation “X-Power” superchargers.  

Photo credit: XPeng

For supercharging piles, XPeng plans to roll out 480 kW high-voltage piles with IP67 protection and safety monitoring chips to offer safe and convenient charging experience. The automaker will launch in-house developed power storage technologies, in the form of either super-charging stations or mobile power-storage vehicles.

Photo credit: XPeng

According to the company, it has the most comprehensive supercharging network in China among all Chinese brands, including 1,648 free-of-charge stations and 439 branded supercharging stations. He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of the company, expects that in the next 2 years, the company’s charging network will cover all cities and most highways in China. What’s more, the executive said new energy vehicle penetration rate in China’s auto market will amount up to 50% by 2025.

XPeng also released the latest upgrade of its smart driver assistance system, XPILOT 3.5. The new system features the industry’s first mass-producible quadruple perception fusion solution, with dual-camera-vision coverage, complemented by LiDAR and millimeter-wave radar sensors. Its visual perception network has been upgraded from 2D detection to 3D, with multiple-target recognition, classification and positioning. XPILOT 3.5 is expected to be rolled out in the first half of 2022 to support China’s complex driving scenarios in major roads in the city.

Photo credit: XPeng

As the company believe that human-machine co-pilot will remain critical in the near future, XPeng adopts the route of progressively transitioning from advanced driver assistance to full autonomy. After the XPILOT 3.5, the company aims to roll out XPILOT 4.0 in the first half of 2023. XPILOT 4.0 will be built on a comprehensive hardware upgrade, with 508 TOPS ECU computing power to support point-to-point driving for customers.

He Xiaopeng said in the second half of 2022, XPeng will become the first Chinese vehicle brand to explore the operation of autonomous mobility and the data and scenarios autonomous vehicles collect can accelerate the evolvement of autonomous driving technologies.

Apart from technology advancement, XPeng also puts much weight on drivers’ training to offer relevant knowledge education and safety tests about driver assistance system.

Photo credit: XPeng

Another bright spot on XPeng’s Tech day is the unveiling of the sixth-generation flying car’s design draft from the company’s affiliate Urban Air Mobility (UAM) company HT Aero. The new model has completed 15,000+ safe flights up to now. According to the CEO, the mass production of the new flying car will start in 2024 with a price range no higher than RMB1 million ($156,600). Just several days ago, HT Aero announced it nabbed over $500 million in the Series A funding round, which will value it at more than $1 billion.