"Xiaomi's secrecy work is really good", it was not officially announced until three days before the technical conference on December 28. But marketing promotion is sweeping like a bamboo.
On Weibo, the most active platform for young users, Xiaomi car advertisements are overwhelming. At the same time, the official Weibo of CATL, Qualcomm and other leading chain companies also collectively congratulated "Xiaomi Auto", not only endorsing Xiaomi's automotive technology, but also showing its ability to operate in the industrial chain.
And Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, himself frequently appeared to interact with netizens, revealing some information about the first model from time to time, such as ** range and so on. He also wrote a "small composition" with deep emotion, describing the process of more than 1,000 days of hard work to build a car, and paid tribute to BYD, NIO, Xpeng, Ideal, Huawei and many other new energy companies on the eve of the press conference. Considering that there will be overlap in market positioning, some netizens jokingly called this "salute before soldiers".
From the result-oriented point of view, these waves of marketing not only have a high degree of excellence and a strong sense of rhythm, but also achieve the publicity effect. "It can only be said that Internet people can really play", an industry insider sighed.
At 2 p.m. on the 28th, at the National Convention Center, Xiaomi's automotive technology conference was held. This is the first official debut of Xiaomi's dedication to building a car, and it is also a time to face the verification of friends, professionals, users and the market. The official website of Xiaomi Live alone attracted 4.8 million people**.
At this press conference, Xiaomi Auto not only brought the first model, Xiaomi Su7, but also five core technologies.
OneIt has a V8S motor with 27,200 rpm
The core technologies released by Xiaomi Auto are three self-developed V6 V6S and V8S super motors.
Among them, the V6S has a maximum speed of 21,000rpm, a peak torque of 500N·m, and a peak power of 275kW, which is higher than that of Tesla Model S and is in a leading position in the industry.
At present, the V6 V6S two motors have been mass-produced, and it is confirmed that they will be the first to be used on the Xiaomi Su7, with an acceleration of only 2 kilometers per 100 kilometersIn 78 seconds, the top speed reached 265 km/h.
Not only that, Xiaomi Auto has developed its third super motor, the V8S. The motor has a maximum speed of 27,200 rpm and is extremely powerful. Lei Jun said that the V8S is scheduled to be on the car in 2025. In addition, the next-generation super motor pre-developed by Xiaomi Auto uses a carbon fiber laser curing winding process, and the maximum rotor speed can reach 35,000 rpm in the laboratory.
Considering the cooling problems caused by high speeds, Xiaomi Auto has adopted a number of technologies such as two-way full oil cooling and heat dissipation, S-shaped three-dimensional oil circuit design, and stepped dislocation design to ensure the reliable function of the super motor under complex working conditions.
Judging from the information disclosed so far, Xiaomi Auto has a leading edge in motor technology and is expected to become one of its outstanding selling points. And in order to prevent being said to be "bragging", Xiaomi Auto also found a professional organization to verify the strength of super motor technology.
II"Challenge the King of Winter Trams".
In terms of battery technology, Xiaomi Auto has cooperated with CATL and built its own battery pack factory, for which more than 1,000 people have been invested. At the press conference, Xiaomi Auto launched CTB integrated battery technology.
The maximum volumetric efficiency of this technology is 778%, so that the battery capacity can reach up to 150kW, and the CLTC range is 1000+ km. It is worth noting that the Xiaomi Su7 standard version has a battery pack capacity of 101kWh and a CLTC range of 800km. Another battery version of the model uses BYD's lithium iron phosphate battery with a battery capacity of 736kwh。
In order to ensure battery safety, Xiaomi Auto has developed its own battery management software system, which is designed in accordance with the "industry's highest functional safety level standard (ASIL-D)". In addition, the cell inversion technology is adopted, and high-cost materials such as aerogel are used. For example, in the unlikely event that a battery catches fire, safety is greatly improved because the battery cells are upside down.
Xiaomi Auto's goal is to "challenge the king of winter trams". Lei Jun believes that the key to achieving this goal lies in thermal management technology. To this end, Xiaomi cars use high-efficiency dual-mode heat pumps, which claim to be able to maintain a comfortable temperature in the passenger compartment without additional heaters at minus 15 degrees Celsius.
In order to shorten the charging time and improve the energy conversion efficiency, Xiaomi Auto has joined the 800V team. The 800V silicon carbide high-voltage platform developed by Xiaomi Auto has reached 871V. The high-voltage platform will be the first to be applied on the Xiaomi Su7, which can be charged for 220km in 5 minutes and 510km in 15 minutes.
IIIIndependent research and development of Titan alloy, 9100 tons of die-casting technology
In the face of the trend of integrated die-casting process, Xiaomi Auto believes that as a newcomer, it needs to follow the trend. "Tesla said that it could significantly reduce costs, but at first I felt that traditional stamping was more cost-effective", Lei Jun said, so Xiaomi Auto was originally developed with three sets of systems, Group A and Group B, and traditional stamping, and successfully launched 9,100 tons of super large die-casting technology, which is higher than Tesla's 9,000 tons.
The die-casting process combines 72 parts into one (using an integrated die-cast post-floor process), resulting in 840 fewer solder joints, a 17% reduction in overall weight, and a 45% reduction in production man-hours. This is particularly critical for new car companies to increase production capacity and control costs. Considering safety, Xiaomi cars have adopted a three-section rear lot anti-collision design.
Xiaomi Auto is also working the material side. Through cooperation with the National Key Laboratory of Materials, trace elements such as rare earth and zirconium are added to the formula, and ** modeling, Xiaomi Auto has developed its own Titan alloy environmentally friendly die-casting material. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi Auto is currently "the only car manufacturer in China that has mass-produced self-developed alloy materials".
FourthFull-stack self-developed intelligent driving technology
In the field of intelligent driving, Xiaomi Auto is taking the full-stack self-developed route. It is reported that its first phase investment in the field of intelligent driving reached 4.7 billion yuan, and a team of more than 1,000 people was formed, with a test mileage of more than 10,000 kilometers. In the field of AI, Xiaomi has entered the game since 2016, and the current team size exceeds 3,000 people. At the same time, the underlying algorithm has been developed by itself, and a new generation of technology platform has been created, which is fully integrated into the large model.
Lei Jun believes that "perception is the foundation of everything". At this press conference, Xiaomi Auto brought three perception technologies: adaptive zoom BEV, road large model, and super-resolution occupancy network.
Among them, the adaptive zoom BEV technology can realize flexible perception of multiple scenes, with high recognition sensitivity, and the recognition range extends from 5cm to 250m, which realizes more accurate parking scenes (minimum recognition accuracy is 0.).05m), the urban scene can be seen wider, and the high-speed scene can be seen farther.
Screenshot of the live broadcast of Xiaomi's automotive technology conference.
The road model released by Xiaomi Auto can generate the topology of the road in real time without relying on high-precision maps. In addition, Xiaomi Auto has improved the recognition accuracy to 01m, which greatly improves the accuracy of obstacle recognition and reduces the probability of false alarms.
In terms of hardware, Xiaomi cars will be equipped with two NVIDIA Orin high-computing power chips, with a comprehensive computing power of up to 508tops. The perception hardware includes 1 lidar, 11 high-definition cameras, 3 millimeter-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars (MAX version of the model). The above products will be mass-produced and installed on the Xiaomi SU7.
Of course, any technique needs to be constantly optimized and trained. Xiaomi Auto also needs to continue to accumulate real road test data to improve the robustness of the algorithm.
Fifth, a complete "people, car home" ecological chain closed loop
Intelligent cockpit has become one of the core competitiveness of car companies. According to the report of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association, cars are transforming from a means of travel to a next-generation intelligent terminal. Xiaomi Auto believes that the intelligent cockpit is the key carrier to transform the car into an advanced mobile intelligent space.
Xiaomi cars are equipped with the surging OS operating system. The system has the characteristics of fast start-up, fast start-up, fast upgrade and high fluency. For example, the starting speed of the car machine is only 149 seconds, and can upgrade OTA while **. Lei Jun said that it only takes 3 minutes for the cockpit system to be upgraded, and it only takes 30 minutes for the whole car to be upgraded. In addition, it realizes Pad APP sharing, mobile APP sharing and ecological hardware sharing.
Through the surging OS system and multi-screen interconnection, Xiaomi Auto is expected to further enhance the immersion of the user experience and realize a comprehensive sharing ecosystem from software to hardware. For example, the Xiaomi Su7 is equipped with 161-inch center display, 56-inch head-up display, and 71-inch flip instrument screen, etc., two expansion screens can also be installed in the rear row, realizing the linkage of five screens.
Screenshot of the live broadcast of Xiaomi's automotive technology conference.
The large on-board screen not only adopts the surging OS visual unified design language, but also the designed multi-task flexible frame allows desktop applications to be dragged and resized at will, and automatically adapts to various devices.
In addition to hardware configuration upgrades, Xiaomi has also worked the software side. It is deeply optimized in terms of multi-window and interactive logic to ensure that the system has high responsiveness in complex application scenarios. In contrast, traditional car companies have limited independent research and development software capabilities, which is the key to Xiaomi's differentiation.
Xiaomi Auto has realized a complete closed loop of the ecological chain of "people, cars, and homes". The Xiaomi smart cockpit can currently support 1000+ Mi home devices, automatic discovery, password-free access, and can set up automation scenarios. Moreover, Xiaomi has also opened a unified standardized interface and rich standard protocols to create an exclusive Cariot ecosystem, and is fully open to third parties, supporting Apple's CarPlay, CarLife and other functions.
The message conveyed by the whole press conference is obvious, and the main focus of Xiaomi Auto is "I have the core technology that friends have, and it has more advantages." ”
However, analysts from the Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute believe that, on the whole, motor hardware, die-casting machines, CTB battery packs and other such hardware are mainly jointly developed with leading companies, and Xiaomi's core competitiveness is the ecological advantage of intelligent cockpit.
For 2024, Xiaomi Auto is very confident. Xiaomi Auto has determined to open 100 urban NOAs next year, and has set a goal of becoming the first echelon of intelligent driving. "I just wanted to be a top student," an industry insider joked. However, it is important to note that the achievement of this goal depends on the market performance of the SU7.
What is the magic weapon of cross-border car sales?
Based on the five core technologies, Xiaomi Auto has invested more than 10 billion yuan to create the Xiaomi SU7. Analysts of Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute believe that there are no obvious shortcomings in the product, and the related technologies used are basically in the first echelon of the industry.
At the press conference, Lei Jun denied the rumors of the price of "90,009" and "140,009". There is ** launched a Xiaomi su7 price vote on Weibo, and most people think that the price is 190,009. However, industry insiders believe that the price of the Xiaomi SU7 main sales model should be higher than 200,000 yuan, or even more than 300,000 yuan. There are several reasons for this speculation:
First of all, Xiaomi SU7 is positioned as a C-class high-performance eco-tech sedan, with a length of 4997mm, a height of 1440mm, and a wheelbase of 3000mm;Secondly, the cost is high. The cost of the Kirin battery alone is about 100,000 yuanThen, it is also equipped with CTB integrated battery technology, 9100 tons of die-casting process and other technologies, as well as dual motors, 7 airbags, 8295 Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, NVIDIA chips and other configurations.
In the case of such a "pile-up", Xiaomi Su7 is really "expensive for a reason".
Summary:Will Xiaomi cars be a wolf?
The biggest advantage of Xiaomi Auto is the support of the ecosystem. IFC** predicts that Xiaomi Auto will occupy an advantage in the field of intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit in the future, and its terminal equipment, smart home and smart car can operate under a single system to create a full ecological intelligent experience.
And Xiaomi's huge user base of home appliances and mobile phones will be its potential owners. According to the China smart home market report released by IDC, Xiaomi occupies more than 10% of the market share all year round. And it is mainly young users, and the main user groups of Xiaomi Home are young consumers aged 18-35.
In terms of mobile phone business, Xiaomi Auto has a very high market share in the global young consumer market. According to the analysis of Canalys, an independent market analyst, Xiaomi's global smartphone shipments in Q3 2023 will reach 41.8 million units, ranking third in the world. Moreover, the number of users in the age group of 20-29 years old of Xiaomi mobile phones reached 27%, surpassing Huawei's mobile phone users in this age group.
If Xiaomi Auto expands into overseas markets, its global smartphone business will play a good role in paving the way and synergy, and can quickly open up the market through mature channels and brand effects.
Shengang** expects that the sales of Xiaomi cars are expected to reach 100,000 units in the first year. However, Xiaomi Auto's ambitions don't stop there. Lei Jun said that ten times the investment, "through 15 to 20 years, it will become the top five car companies in the global automotive industry".
Just based on reality, the market performance of Xiaomi Su7 will directly affect the growth space of Xiaomi cars. Some analysts speculate that the price of the Xiaomi SU7 low-profile version may be less than 200,000 yuan. He believes that Xiaomi's cross-border car manufacturing will most likely replicate its previous "best strategy" of entering the mobile phone business, that is, directly filling the configuration but focusing on cost performance.
Judging from the information revealed at the press conference, Xiaomi Auto has a layout from three-electric technology to intelligent driving to intelligent cockpit, and compared with car companies of the same level, it is in a leading position in terms of data. If you refer to its play in the mobile phone business, Xiaomi Auto's ** may have surprises.
But it is undeniable that the mobile phone industry and the automotive industry are two completely different fields. Xiaomi's mobile phones can be sold to the top five in the world, but it is not easy to sell cars to be among the top five in the world. "Building a car is more than ten times more difficult than building a mobile phone," said an industry insider. The reaction of the capital market was very realistic, and when Xiaomi's automotive technology conference was held, the stock price of Xiaomi Group fell, and now it is still floating green.
Perhaps, like Huawei, Xiaopeng and other cross-border car manufacturers, Xiaomi Auto also has to pay some tuition fees before it can find a road that suits its own car.