XPENG-W, why "Fu Yao"?

The Shanghai Auto Show has opened, and major automakers are showcasing their strengths, while new carmakers are also "pulling out all the stops"!

On Tuesday, April 18th, XPENG-W unveiled the XPENG-W G6, a super-intelligent driving sedan SUV that fully competes with Tesla at the exhibition.

It is worth noting that, for XPENG-W, the significance of the G6 may be more important than just a new product: this is the first new car under XPENG-W's SEPA 2.0 "Fuyao" technology architecture!

Image source: Autohome

Before the G6 was unveiled, XPENG-W founder He XPENG-W held another press conference, detailing XPENG-W's latest global intelligent evolution architecture - "Fuyao".

In He XPENG-W's view, "Fuyao" is the technical foundation for XPENG-W's next decade, which has spent more than 5 years exploring and investing more than 10 billion yuan. Its core purpose is to adapt to the product development, technology iteration, and system construction in the new intelligent automobile battlefield, and can shorten the development cycle of new models by 20%, with the highest degree of component commonality based on architecture reaching 80%.

As a result, "XPENG-W will release about 10 new cars in the near future, and the efficiency will be very fast, the quality will be far better than before, and the cost will be lower".

In short, "Fuyao" is platform-based car manufacturing, which can be seen as the best solution for reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

To be more specific, how should we understand XPENG-W's move?

First, let's look at the technical features

XPENG-W said that "Fuyao" is the ultimate technical architecture before achieving unmanned driving, which can solve various problems such as intelligent experience, assisted driving, and range anxiety.

Specifically, Zhineng Auto summarized it as follows:

1. Adopted the global 800V high-voltage SiC silicon carbide platform, which is to achieve all high-voltage components such as power batteries, electric drive, power supply, compressors, etc. with global 800V.

2. Standard 3C battery cells, compatible with 4C battery cells, charging rate increased by 50% (faster charging; fastest charging 5 minutes, range 200km).

3. The 800V XPower electric drive platform adopts 8-layer HairPin flat wire and high-efficiency electromagnetic scheme, ultra-high power density SiC (silicon carbide) advanced packaging technology, ultra-low viscosity and active lubrication control technology, etc., making the motor's highest efficiency reach 97.5%, and the comprehensive working condition efficiency of the electric drive system reaches 92%.

4. The power density of the electric drive reaches the industry-leading 2.5kW/kg, reducing the weight of the whole vehicle, improving driving control and endurance. Adopting the integrated design of mechanical, electrical and hydraulic coupling, advanced flat wire/oil cooling technology and lightweight coaxial transmission technology, the high power density increases the utilization of space and improves the cabin space.

5. The X-HP intelligent thermal management system is a system that integrates heat pumps, motor waste heat recovery, fog prevention sensors, and dual-temperature zone air conditioning technology. The entire series is equipped with a heat pump system, which can effectively solve the problem of low-temperature energy consumption, improve winter endurance by 15%, and at the same time improve the heat dissipation capacity and charging speed of the battery, ensuring the thermal safety of the battery system.

6. The existing and planned factories of XPENG-W will be fully transformed and upgraded to adapt to the Fuyao 2.0 architecture.

Looking at the Industry's Internal Competition

Before looking at XPENG-W, let's first recall the absolute leader of new energy vehicles, Tesla.

One reason why Tesla's gross profit margin is frighteningly high is because of its modular manufacturing of vehicles - each component of the vehicle has its own module, which can be combined in different ways to create different models.

An article from Autohome pointed out that the invention of modular automotive platforms is a revolution in compressing manufacturing costs.

On the one hand, the flexibility brought by modularity makes the pace of product launches more controllable.

On the other hand, platform and technology reuse can accelerate economies of scale. The more products born on the same platform, the lower the marginal cost. The R&D and fixed asset costs of the platform will decrease with the depreciation of each car, while reducing the cost of production processes and personnel training.

From the above two aspects, modular manufacturing is a must-have course for new car makers.

Specifically for XPENG-W, this new force had not previously considered the compatibility of different vehicle architectures, so the product pace was slow and R&D costs were constantly increasing.

With "Fuyao", XPENG-W's various vehicle models are no longer lacking in synergies, but can carry out the reuse of technical components, innovate while reducing costs.

Autohome further stated that the mass production of the SEPA 2.0 Fuyao architecture, to some extent, indicates that XPENG-W has achieved phased results in the development of electrification and intelligence, and will enter the platform and systematic mass production stage next.

In XPENG-W's view, the manufacturing logic of "having more children is better for fighting" in the past is no longer feasible. Car companies must re-examine the product iteration pace, platform system efficiency, and how to develop products quickly and at low cost. This is the key to winning the competition in the future.