After months of rumors and further confirmations from the company, the Xiaomi SU7 has been hatched in December 2023 with the goal set to wrest technological superiority from the largest companies in the sector of the automotive industry, one of the most demanding that exists. This first electric car is the result of a very strong commitment to its own innovation that began in 2021 and had one of its culminating moments when it presented it at the last edition of MWC in Europe.
But since saying it is not the same as living it and while the company decides whether or not to sell it outside its borders, at EL ESPAÑOL – Omicrono we went to Beijing, the capital of China, where Xiaomi has the SU7 production line. Around the facilities we have climbed aboard a test unit to find out for yourself what this car is like which promises to be the first in a long saga.
And, in addition to being the first approach in the automotive sector, the vehicle has a very important deployment of other technologies as essential as they are new for Xiaomi. For example, the autonomous driving that they have been boasting about since they began delivering the first units or its integration into the summit of a device ecosystem It’s almost unfathomable.
VIDEO | We get on the Xiaomi SU7 Max, the electric car with the fastest acceleration of the brand
The company connects and brings all of this together under the umbrella of Human x Car x Home, a concept that seeks integrating the car as another interconnected technological element in daily life. “By integrating people, cars and homes, our goal is to create end-to-end interconnectivity beyond anything possible today,” said Daniel Desjarlais, Xiaomi’s chief communications officer, during his presentation at the same MWC in Barcelona.
The operating system is responsible for all this interconnectivity. HyperOS developed by Xiaomi itself and was born to appear in each of the devices in the catalogAccording to the company itself, the car is just one of more than 800 million devices in the ecosystem worldwide, spread across 200 product categories and covering 95% of usage scenarios.
The integration is so fine that you can control the air conditioning from the car or turn on the living room lights. Also some more advanced functions such as view security cameras installed in the house on the vehicle’s central screen. The possibilities tend to be endless and more will be added as Xiaomi integrates the operating system into more devices in everyday life.
Maximum acceleration
After a tour of the first part of the car factory and a thorough explanation of the interior of the SU7 by an engineer, it was the turn of Experience electric acceleration for yourselfThe specific variant is the Max, which features a pair of onboard motors, 4WD, and the highest power (664 horsepower) currently offered by Xiaomi.
Xiaomi SU7 Max at the brand exhibition at the factory
Beijing, China)
There is a quote attributed to Finnish driver Hannu Mikkola that goes something like this: “You are thrown forward so hard that you think a 5-ton vehicle has just hit you from behind. It’s unbelievable!” Mikkola was referring to his Audi Quattro S1 Group B rally car that he used in the 1980s, a car that could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.1 seconds. The Xiaomi SU7 Max is even faster only that.
The aforementioned Max version of Xiaomi SU7 manages to reach 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds. When the driver selects the mode launch control (launch control, in English), the feeling is even more extreme than that of this rally car from the 80s.
The scenario chosen for the test was follow this Xiaomi in the same premises where the factory is located of electric. It is 2.5 kilometers long and is designed for this car to reach up to 120 kilometers per hour and includes a total of 18 different road conditions. This is the same place where each of the units that come off the production line undergoes its final test before being marketed.
Once off the circuit and inside the vehicle, the Xiaomi SU7 stands out with its large 16″ central touch screen which is reminiscent of other brands like Tesla. However, the Beijing manufacturer has also integrated a small 7-inch screen behind the steering wheel where the driver can check some essential information.
Interior of Xiaomi SU7
Beijing, China)
The driving position does not represent any major innovations compared to those found in other vehicles, except the design of the central console where there are a few buttons as well as those located under the main screen. In some electric cars and even those with combustion engines, minimalism has been taken to such an extreme that there is not a single button or action in the driving position, everything is done using the touch screen.
What is striking is that low rear seat height. The rear part of the cabin lowers too early and anyone taller than 1.85 meters will touch their head on the roof. Something to take into account. In terms of space, its large 517-liter rear trunk and another 105 liters at the front, the latter with drain, also stand out.
autonomous driving
Beyond the dynamic test, during which the car behaved as expected thanks to the all-wheel drive, the interior and exterior are full of sensors to ensure the autopilot functions. Xiaomi has a couple of versions called Pilot Pro and Pilot Maxwhich have nothing to do with the version of the car.
The Xiaomi Pilot Pro has similar specifications to the autopilot developed by Tesla. Use only the built-in cameras and distributed across the entire length and width of the car to provide this driving assistance. It is only available in the basic version of the car.
The different parts that make up the chassis of the Xiaomi SU7
Beijing, China)
On another side, Pilot Max system adds LiDAR radar to the cameras of the previously mentioned version. Two processors are responsible for managing this data, one in the case of Pilot Pro— Nvidia Orion Drive with 84 TOPS of computing power in each.
There The base variant of the Xiaomi SU7 has 700 km of autonomy according to the approval in China with a single 295 horsepower engine. It is exactly the same as the SU7 Pro, the difference being the battery that can provide up to 830 kilometers. This is the version with the most efficient range of the entire range.
Even if The real jewel in Xiaomi’s crown is the SU7 Max, courtesy of the Ultra prototype. This vehicle, as we mentioned at the beginning, has the largest technological deployment of the Chinese company and integrates a pair of motors – one per axle – that provide up to 664 horsepower in combination and up to 838 NM of torque. It has an integrated 101 kWh battery signed by the Chinese company CATL that offers up to 800 km of autonomy.
A few weeks after the launch, Xiaomi has already accumulated over 100,000 orders from China aloneThe company only sells its electric cars in its home country and its international expansion plans are not yet known.
The price of the basic version of the SU7 is 27,600 dollars, the Pro with the longest battery life in the range is 31,000 dollars and the Max version is 38,000. This relatively small price difference – especially if we take into account the specifications – makes the best-selling model the most powerful of all those that the brand currently owns.
