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Xiaomi, the world’s second largest smartphone maker, lately launched its electrical sportscar, the Xiaomi SU7 sedan. Now, the corporate has simply introduced it can quickly try a quick lap on the Nürburgring Nordschleife utilizing a devoted SU7 track-ready prototype.
Xiaomi’s founder and CEO, Lei Jun 雷军, at present (July nineteenth) held the corporate’s annual presentation to indicate off new merchandise. Through the first ~70 minutes, Lei Jun informed the story of the inception and improvement of Xiaomi’s first auto, the SU7 EV, which was launched in late March 2024.
The story included Lei Jun’s technique of personally driving over 180 different auto fashions throughout the improvement technique of the SU7. He additionally bought a racing licence and spent a variety of time on racetracks, as did round 100 different members of Xiaomi’s car engineering group. This enabled them to rapidly develop their experience in car dealing with and efficiency, and iteratively apply enhancements to the SU7 throughout its improvement.
The 4-door sports activities sedan, which begins from RMB 215,900 (€27,270 or $29,700) is already an in a single day success, promoting at a price of over 11,400 models per 30 days.
After additionally spending time presenting Xiaomi’s new smartphones and different client merchandise, in the direction of the top of the present, Lei Jun introduced “one more thing.”
He revealed that the corporate has been engaged on a prototype track-focused variant of the SU7, known as the “Ultra.”
The Extremely has already been largely designed, constructed, and undergone monitor testing, however its parameters and dynamics are being additional developed and improved.
As soon as the SU7 Extremely monitor prototype has set a benchmark Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time, deliberate for someday in October 2024, Xiaomi will finalise the design and specs of a road-legal retail model of the Extremely. This can go on sale someday in 2025.
What are a few of the efficiency specs of the monitor prototype Xiaomi SU7 Extremely?
It has a complete of 1,548 horsepower, from 3 electrical motors. Intensive use of carbon fibre has allowed Xiaomi to maintain the car weight right down to 1,900 kg — spectacular for a strong 4-door BEV. For context, the Tesla Mannequin S Plaid weighs 2,162 kg, and the most recent Porsche Taycan Turbo GT weighs 2,234 kg. Each have considerably much less energy than the SU7.
On the identical time, the SU7 Extremely prototype’s racecar aerodynamics give it a large downforce of two,145 kg at excessive pace, which ought to make for some spectacular grip via high-speed corners.
The ability-to-weight ratio offers the car spectacular acceleration, with 0 to 100 km/h taking simply 1.97 seconds (quicker than the Tesla or the Porsche). Equally spectacular, 200 km/h comes up in simply 5.96 seconds! Prime pace is over 350 km/h (>218 mph).
We now have mentioned Porsche’s EV lap instances, and Tesla’s lap instances, on the ‘ring beforehand, so in case you are not conversant in this iconic race monitor (and why it’s extensively used for car improvement), take a look at these articles. What lap time will the Xiaomi SU7 Extremely prototype do on the Nürburgring Nordschleife?
A lot will rely upon how highly effective the SU7 Extremely’s cooling methods are, and thus how a lot of the lap distance these unbelievable headline 1,436 horsepower can be found for. Each the Tesla, and even the most recent Porsche, are thermally restricted on a single lap of the ring, when pushed to their most energy. Because of this, when known as upon for ~7 minutes (and ~20 km) of this demanding monitor, the powertrain cooling (for some mixture of motors, inverters, and battery pack) can get overwhelmed and the car compensates by lowering the system energy output.
Should you watch the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT lap, for instance, you may see a number of locations (notably at Kesselchen and Dottinger Hohe) the place the car’s 10 second “boost mode” is requested however unavailable as a result of car already being at its thermal limits. That is regular stuff — there’s all the time a steadiness in mechanical methods between energy output and thermal limits (in addition to interacting with different elements like effectivity and reliability).
On the finish of the day, the Taycan and the Mannequin S Plaid are designed primarily as highway vehicles, and solely a really small fraction of homeowners will ever push them to ranges that bump up towards the cooling functionality that the engineers lastly settled on.
Lap instances additionally rely loads on the selection of tires. Producers of highway vehicles, like Porsche, normally take the sincere and clear resolution of saying official ‘ring lap instances that are run on the identical tires that are supplied on the market to regular prospects of the showroom car. Musk made the rookie mistake of hinting about lap instances which had been finally solely achievable on race compound tires, which had been thus by no means achieved throughout the formally sanctioned lap time on road tires.
Xiaomi might be not aspiring to promote this actual track-special prototype model to common prospects as a road-going automotive. It subsequently may in idea run with race-biased rubber (like Trofeo R or Pilot Sport Cup 2 R) and declare that’s reputable as a result of it is a race automotive. In that case, a time of underneath 7 minutes must be effectively inside attain. That is as a lot because of the light-weighting and downforce as anything.
With a road-biased sport tire (like P-Zero, or Pilot Sport Cup 2), which is much less sticky and extra lengthy lasting, round or simply over 7 minutes would already be spectacular.
As talked about above, as soon as the group has discovered a very good setup with the prototype for the October lap time efforts, Xiaomi will transfer on to designing, manufacturing, and promoting a road-legal model (which can probably should have barely much less aggressive aero) to satisfy highway security (particularly pedestrian security) laws. They can even probably run this on street-biased rubber.
If the ultimate road-going model of the SU7 Extremely can get wherever near the lap time of the Porsche Taycan GT, that might be a outstanding achievement for the primary automotive Xiaomi has ever made. You can too guess that the corporate will worth it to undercut the Taycan!
We should wait and see.
Twist of Destiny
Lei Jun recounted that the corporate’s journey to launching its first car began on January 15, 2021. Why this date?
In 2014, Lei was named businessman of the yr by Forbes, and in 2019 acquired a nationwide award for “Outstanding Builder of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.” (This isn’t unusual — for instance, BYD’s chairman Wang Chuanfu has additionally acquired this nationwide recognition.)
The US authorities — which has been famously hostile to Socialism and labour actions for the reason that late nineteenth century, and notably hostile to China — determined to reply to that award by banning Xiaomi from getting funding from throughout the US, and finally, from doing enterprise within the US, as reported by the Wall Road Journal at the moment.
This restriction was put in place on January 14, 2021, proper on the finish of the Trump administration, and thereafter saved in place by the Biden administration. It was this hostile transfer by the US authorities which prompted Xiaomi to discover new areas of enterprise — by aiming to make an vehicle — and to maintain its staff employed.
This, and different attention-grabbing particulars, are recounted in at present’s presentation, which you’ll be able to watch on Xiaomi’s web site. The lengths the corporate went to with the intention to be taught throughout the improvement course of are noteworthy, and go an extended option to explaining how a client electronics firm was in a position to make its first ever auto such an instantaneous success story.
Article photos courtesy of Xiaomi
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