XPeng to launch an EREV platform in pivot away from pure electric cars

XPeng is a company that has only released fully electric vehicles in its entire existence, but its recent announcement signals it wants to branch out. It plans to introduce an entirely new EREV system that promises to revolutionize the segment. While EREVs are mainly popular in China and have tiny market share elsewhere Xpeng hopes to change that.

The new architecture promises to address the most common issues of current EREV, such as the limited electric-only range, unimpressive performance and the extra noise that the engine produces when charging the battery.

Xpeng says it can produce a vehicle that can run on battery for around 267 miles while the combined range will be 870 miles. Moreover, the battery pack will be 5C, enabling 10-80% charging in just 12 minutes using Xpeng's S5 superchargers.

The uphill performance problem will be addressed by introducing AI algorithms that would pre-heat the engine in mountainous terrains when the battery is running low.

The EREV system is called Kunpeng Super Electric System and the company plans to bring global models based on it. EREVs will likely find a place in markets with underdeveloped charging grids and with extremely low temperatures where battery efficiency falls dramatically.

Via