On July 21, Weilai's track carnival came to Zhuhai International Circuit.
In November last year, Weilai Electric Power Run EP9 was released in London, England. In May of this year, EP9 held the first national track carnival at the Shanghai F1 International Circuit - this is the EP9's first public experience in the world.
In June and July, Weilai brought the track carnival to the Beijing Golden Port International Circuit and Zhuhai International Circuit.
The purpose of Weilai to hold the track carnival is to attract potential users from various regions and to make preliminary preparations for the opening of the experience shop.
18 months to create the world's fastest electric supercar
* EP9 is Leach's last work before his death
The process of EP9 creation is very interesting. Dr. Martin Leach is one of the key figures.
Leach is a professional racer who has won the European Kart Championship. Prior to joining Weilai, he was president of Ford Motors (Europe) and global CEO of Maserati. Such a special resume made Zhu Jiang, former vice president of Lexus China and Wei Qi, vice president of automotive marketing, evaluate him as: achieving seamless transition from race car driver to business leader.
It is understood that Wei Li’s founder, Li Bin, first met Leach in 2014. At the beginning of the establishment of Weilai, Leach assisted Li Bin to set up the new team of Weilai, and deeply participated in the definition of the company's values ​​and product definitions. These work constitute the cornerstone of the company today and even later.
As an automotive professional manager, Leach is known for his ability to lead the efficient development of small-scale teams. When Li Bin and Leach met for the first time and asked him if he could build the fastest electric car in the world in 30 months, Leach's answer was that he had done something similar to Mazda.
After Leach became the co-president of Weilai Motor, Li Bin told him that this "very uncommercial" plan needs to be implemented, but the time limit changed from 30 months to 18 months, and after the car came out, it could not just stop at On the PPT, it must eventually conquer the world's most difficult and challenging track.
A few days later, Leach gave Li Bin a list and told him that if these conditions are met, building the fastest electric car in the world in 18 months can be done.
EP9 born for the track
EP9 is not a project for profit, its cost is more than 1.2 million US dollars (about 8.15 million).
Currently, the world’s only six vehicles were delivered to Li Bin, founder of Weilai Automobile, Li Xiang, founder of Che Hehe, Liu Qiangdong, Jingdong CEO, Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO, Ma Huateng, Tencent CEO, and Zhang Lei, founder of Gaosheng Capital. Founding investors, in the future will provide users with test ride experience.
The EP9 has four high-performance motors and four independent gearboxes. The maximum torque of a single wheel is 1480 Nm, the acceleration from 0 to 200km/h is 7.1 seconds, the speed is 313 kilometers, and the maximum output power of the vehicle is 1,360 horsepower.
What is the concept of 1360 horsepower? The average family car is 100 to 200 horsepower. Ferrari LaFerrari, which is also known as the three giant cars, and the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 have a maximum power of 800 to 900 horsepower.
According to Zhu Jiang, from the point of view of truly defined products, the nearest EP9 is Ferrari's FXX, both of which are special supercars built for the track.
In the past few months, the EP9 has broken the record of electric vehicle lap speeds on a number of classic tracks around the world, including the Nurburgring North Central Circuit in Germany with high-performance vehicle touchstones. In May of this year, the EP9 created the fastest time in the New Zealand lap 6 minutes and 45 seconds.
It should be noted that Porsche 918's fastest lap here is 6 minutes and 57 seconds, while Lamborghini Huracán Performante's record is only 6 minutes and 52 seconds.
At the track carnival in Zhuhai, Zhu Jiang, Wei Li’s vice president of automotive marketing explained that the EP9 can break the record of the New North track:
The EP9 weighs 1.7 tons and the body relies on powerful aerodynamics and a fully-automated chassis that allows the EP9 to generate 2.4 tons of downforce, which is equivalent to twice the downforce generated on an F1 car.
In addition to using a full carbon fiber body, the EP9 is quite minimalist in interiors in order to be more consistent with racing settings. The most prominent in the car is the four LCD screens. The traditional lever is replaced by the adjustment knob of the driving mode.
Weilai's logic is that if it can occupy a high position on the Nurburgring speed lap and win a ranking in the top competition, then this car company will at least be considered as reliable in R&D.
Test ride EP9
*The numbers from left to right are: heart rate, lateral acceleration and speed
Weilai limited the speed of this test to 190km/h.
The straight-line acceleration of pure electric vehicles and the “stimulating feeling†produced by them are believed to have been experienced by Tesla.
While on the EP9 with a torque of nearly 1,500 Nm, although the speed is limited, the acceleration process is unreserved.
Test ride EP9 is what kind of feeling?
At the scene, many people's first feeling after getting off is dizziness and paralysis. Although the four-point seat belt was securely fixed to the seat, the EPG's 1.4G lateral acceleration during the cornering still allowed the test rider to be shaken in the copilot position.
Click to see the test drive video
In addition to brand marketing, Weilai’s investment in the track is more for technology.
Zhu Jiang stated that Wei Lai’s idea of ​​building a product is “from the track to the roadâ€. The technologies used in the Formula 9 E-Formula E race to the EP9, such as the battery management system, and the replacement of electricity instead of charging, will all appear on the ES8 and later models of production vehicles introduced at the end of this year.
The ES8 is a mid-to-large SUV with an all-aluminum body and standard air suspension. At present, there are two types of models on the market equipped with such configuration: First, Range Rover, and second, Tesla ModelX. However, the starting price of both vehicles is more than 1 million.
It is understood that in accordance with Weilai's definition of products, ES8 will have the performance of Tesla, the quality of Lexus, and the price close to Highlander (about 300,000 yuan).
According to Weilai’s timetable, the company plans to launch the ES8 with autopilot in the Chinese market in early 2018 and launch the unmanned electric vehicle in the US market in 2020.
At present, Weilai has 2,000 employees from 40 countries and 13 R&D centers around the world. From Formula E, EP9, EVE concept car to mass production SUVES8, Weilai is pressing Tesla with the challenger. However, if we want to make quick achievements in a short period of time, we still have to keep the time for the Wei.
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