Feifan F7 comes with free battery charging and swapping for life

Feifan, or Rising Auto as the company is known as well, announced the first pre-sale of its brand new 5-seat medium-to-large EV. The vehicle is meant to go on sale by the end of March, but the company is offering a small batch of the Feifan F7 to the most eager customers.

Apart from rather attractive pricing starting at just over $41,000 for the entry trim, the company is offering fascinating incentives to those who are willing to put the deposit down. The most interesting is the free re-charging or battery swapping for life - as long as the owner doesn’t go over 1,500 kWh per year.

The second incentive comes in the form of the Rising Pilot ADAS system, which normally is optional. This system makes use of 32 sensors, LiDAR and 4D high definition radar combined with cameras to make the assisted driving experience much safer.

The additional incentives include three years of traffic information for the onboard Rising OS and navigation system, low interest finance, additional RMB 4,000 when the owner wants to sell the car back to the company, and a RMB 10,000 subsidy with 40,000 points that can be exchanged for various products.

Financially it is a very interesting offer, especially that all the buyer needs is a lowly RMB 77 deposit - that’s just over $11. So, what is the Feifan F7?

It’s a 5 meter long, 5-seat and 5-door EV from Rising Auto, a brand owned by SAIC. At 3 meters of the wheelbase and 2,180 kg kerb weight, this is not a small car. There are two versions available, powered either by a single or dual-electric motor setup.

The RWD version has 250 kW of peak power and delivers 450 Nm of torque which is enough for a 0 to 100 km/h sprint in just 5.7 seconds. The AWD option adds a 150 kW electric motor to the front axle, that ups the total torque output to 700 Nm and shaves off 2 seconds from the 0-100 km/h sprint.

The single motor version comes with LFP battery that apparently is good enough for 600 km of range, while the AWD version comes with a ternary battery pack with higher capacity. Claimed range for this vehicle stands at 666 km, and although we know the CLTC is highly optimistic when it comes to testing electric cars and estimating their range, the Feifan F7 has another trick up its sleeve.

The car has a surprising low drag coefficient of Cd=0.206. That’s as good as Mercedes EQS and slightly worse than Lucid Air but it puts the Feifan F7 right at the top of most aerodynamically efficient electric cars out there and that is one heck of an achievement. Does it make the 666 km range possible though? Until we know the capacity of the battery, it’s not possible to answer that question but it’s better to remain sceptical.

The interior of Feifan F7 is an experience on its own. With 2 sq meters of glass roof and 41-inch triple display in the front, the car certainly delivers on visuals. The seats look comfortable and thanks to the 3-meter wheelbase there’s oodles of leg room in the front and at the back.

Infotainment is supported by Snapdragon 8155, there are 16 speakers and tons of storage. The trunk has 466 liters of cargo space and there is additional, although small frunk. There is a small screen for the rear passengers, in the style of Tesla Models S and Model X, and the overall impression is of a high-end EV.

It is surprising then to see that the car starts at RMB 280,000 ($41,200) and goes up to RMB 350,000 ($51,500) for the AWD version. When we add to it the free charging for life, this car starts making a lot of sense. It reminds us of the Tesla Model S when it launched with free Supercharger use for life as well. With the backing from SAIC, really nice design and good pricing, can the Feifan F7 become the Model S of China?

Via