All we know is that Xiaomi will launch its own electric car in the coming years. This will be Lei Jun’s last major project. Recently, he revealed that Xiaomi’s first engineering vehicle has officially rolled off the assembly line.
We should also note that too many videos have been leaked on the net showing the so-called Xiaomi Engineering Vehicle. However, none of them are true.
Also read: Apple Car vs Xiaomi Car
In August this year, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi’s autonomous driving technology had entered the testing stage. He also showed a live video of the road test. The video demonstrated the company’s autonomous driving technology algorithm and full-scene coverage capabilities. At that time, Lei Jun said that they would test over 140 vehicles in the first phase of Xiaomi’s autonomous driving technology development. The goal is to enter the first camp in the industry in 2024.
Xiaomi is heavily investing in its electric car project
Xiaomi invested 3.3 billion yuan ($460 million) in research and development in the field of autonomous driving in the first phase. The company established a top-level research and development team of more than 500 people.
Xiaomi will build a vehicle factory in two phases in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. The cumulative annual output of the factory is expected to be 300,000 vehicles, and the production capacity of the first and second phases is 150,000 vehicles. In 2024, Xiaomi’s electric vehicle should go into mass production.
Moreover, we know that the first electric vehicle by Xiaomi will be a sedan. It is going to use the lidar developed by Hesai Technology. The highest package version will cost around 300,000 yuan ($42,000).
In this regard, Xiaomi’s first car will have two configurations, high and low. The low-profile models plan to use a 400V voltage platform, and the high-profile models plan to use an 800V voltage platform. The low-profile models will use Fudi’s lithium iron phosphate blade battery. The high-end models will come with CATL Kirin batteries.