Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba has patterned with SAIC to create a new automotive firm Zhiji that will produce a range of all-electric vehicles. Making it possible was a $1.5 billion funding, which the company secured recently. The startup has also shown us two concept vehicles – a sedan (named IM) and a utility vehicle – which will go into production in 2022.
This new EV partnership emerged after Chinese search engine firm Baidu proclaimed to create electric vehicles with the help of Geely. Furthermore, Taiwanese electronics goods contract producer Foxconn also wants to develop vehicles and their parts in association with Geely.
Regarding Zhiji’s new EVs, we do not know much except that the concepts will debut at the 2021 Shanghai auto show. However, the automotive startup did tell us that they will offer two battery packs i.e. 93 kWh and 115 kWh created by SAIC in association with CATL.
Reportedly, these packs will offer an energy density of 300 watt-hours per kilogram, and a range of 600 miles as per the Chinese test cycle.
The sedan’s powertrain will hopefully yield up to 536 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque with a 0-60 mph time of fewer
than four seconds.
New vehicles from Zhiji will also come equipped with full self-driving tech such as Nvidia’s Drive AGX Orin computer chip, 15 cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars and five millimeter-wave radars.
Source and Images: MotorAuthority