On April 8, Zhiji L6 was released as scheduled. As soon as it was unveiled, it showed its determination to surpass everything in the current "volume" of the auto market. From Zhiji's publicity of L6, it is not difficult to see Zhiji's confidence in the product strength of L6.
As the "culmination" of SAIC Zhiji at the current stage, Zhiji L6 has placed "technological equality" at the top priority since its birth. Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji, said in an exclusive interview after the press conference: "We believe that the supply chain and R&D capabilities of the national team of large manufacturers can allow users to truly enjoy high-tech products with 'technological equality' at a relatively low cost." From the performance parameters, Zhiji has indeed done a good job in the product strength of L6, and from the pricing point of view, the pre-sale price of 230,000 to 330,000 yuan, combined with a full range of powerful configurations, is also worthy of its determination to achieve "technological equality".
Zhiji, which continues to roll out technology, is changing the perception that high quality = high price, and is gradually narrowing the gap between advanced technology and the purchasing power of the general public.
After ten years of hard work, how did Zhiji make the chassis have "thoughts"?
If you want to find the most impressive product point of Zhiji L6, I believe many people will vote for the "Lizard Digital Chassis". The exaggerated rear-wheel steering and "sideways walking" in the promotional video are absolutely unforgettable. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the first mass-produced model in China that can achieve the "crab walking" mode.
This "crab-like" mode, which moves horizontally by rotating the front and rear wheels in parallel at the same time, and the minimum turning radius of 4.99 meters, which is about the same as the small car Volkswagen Polo, is most suitable for narrow roads and parking garages, as well as the most frequent pain point in parking, "side parking", especially reducing the length of the parking space required for side parking by 11%, which can be said to be fully practical. Moreover, compared with the on-the-spot U-turn function that relies on the reversal of the front and rear motors, this set of standard functions of the Zhiji L6 effectively lowers the price, allowing more people to enjoy the convenience brought by technology.
In fact, the advancement of Zhiji L6's "Lizard Digital Chassis" goes beyond this. It can achieve joint adjustment and control of dynamic performance in all dimensions through the coordinated management of the vehicle's three-axis six-degree-of-freedom movement. Its main chip processing speed is 2.5 times faster than the mainstream chips of the same category in the industry, and it processes nearly 2 billion more instructions per second, allowing the car chassis hardware to "shoot where it is pointed" according to the decision of the digital algorithm, changing the past working mode of "each doing its own thing" for the car chassis hardware, which is equivalent to installing a "super cerebellum" for the car.
In addition to crab driving, the "Lizard Digital Chassis" of Zhiji L6 can also perform better in other driving scenarios. For example, on roads with residual snow or water on one side, the vehicle's deviation is reduced by about 80%, maintaining driving stability to the greatest extent. On roads that require emergency avoidance, the response speed is 30% faster than the traditional ESP system, and the rescue can be completed in only 0.3 seconds. The reaction will be one step faster, which also means it is safer.
More importantly, this chassis system developed and controlled by SAIC supports OTA and digital iteration functions throughout the life cycle. It integrates multiple system control modules such as the intelligent four-wheel steering system, electronically controlled shock absorbers, air springs, and electric drives, freeing the hardware control strategy from the constraints of suppliers, and achieving rapid iteration through self-development and self-control, so as to "never fall behind" throughout the life cycle.
The underlying logic of Zhiji's emphasis on chassis and handling performance is just as Liu Tao said at the press conference. He estimates that it may take 10 or even 20 years for L5 autonomous driving to be commercialized on a large scale, and that humans and machines will need to work together to drive cars for a long time in the future. Therefore, he believes that the chassis is still the foundation of all car designs.
A range of over 1,000 km? Why can solid-state batteries subvert cognition?
Before Zhiji L6 released the "first generation of light-year solid-state batteries", the concept stock market was already very enthusiastic about this product concept. Zhiji's first generation of light-year solid-state batteries can achieve the industry's first quasi-900V ultra-fast charging function, and the capacity reaches 133kWh, which can achieve a CLTC range of more than 1,000 kilometers.
In fact, in recent years, many car companies have released solid-state battery products with capacities exceeding 100kWh or even close to 150kWh, but as of now, except for Zhiji, no brand has installed solid-state batteries in mass-produced models.
The biggest advantage of solid-state batteries is safety. Since solid electrolytes are completely non-flammable, there is no need to worry about the risk of lithium dendrites penetrating the diaphragm. In addition, the decay rate of solid-state batteries is slower than that of traditional lithium-ion batteries, and their stability at high and low temperatures is also better.
Of course, Zhiji's semi-solid-state battery obviously still has room for improvement, otherwise Zhiji would not have named it the "first-generation light-year battery". However, judging from the existing parameters, Zhiji's "first-generation light-year solid-state battery" is still powerful. For example, it can achieve ultra-fast charging of quasi-900V, with a peak charging power of up to 400kW, and a range of 400km in 12 minutes. Its energy density is as high as 368Wh/kg, which is significantly better than the current energy density of conventional lithium batteries of about 250Wh/kg. In other words, Zhiji's light-year solid-state battery can achieve a lower battery weight under the premise of the same battery capacity. This is of great significance for the lightweighting of electric vehicles.
What is even more significant is that Zhiji announced that the actual price of Zhiji L6 equipped with solid-state batteries will not exceed 330,000 yuan, which is only less than 30,000 yuan more expensive than models equipped with ordinary batteries. This is obviously of great positive significance for the realization of the era of solid-state battery parity in the future. Zhiji may have officially started a new round of technological innovation competition in power battery technology.
Everyone is talking about intelligence, so why can Zhiji enable security through intelligence?
Intelligence is definitely a keyword that has been mentioned most frequently by major car companies in recent years. We have indeed felt the convenience of travel brought by intelligence from the endless stream of intelligent configurations. However, Zhiji, which chooses "volume technology", now has some different views on in-vehicle intelligence from others, that is, using intelligence to enable safety.
Zhiji L6 is equipped with the future smart cabin composed of the new generation of IMOS 3.0 and the new electronic and electrical architecture, as well as the further advanced IM AD high-level intelligent driving. The whole series is equipped with NVIDIA OrinX and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 smart cabin chips, realizing the upgraded experience of the full integration of smart cabin and intelligent driving.
In daily use scenarios, to give the simplest example, when facing extremely obstructed vision such as heavy rain, Zhiji L6 can rely on the "full-frame digital cockpit screen" to open the full picture vision, and pioneered the DZT virtual-real space dynamic area tracking technology to achieve real-time tracking of traffic hazard information and highlight marking and prompts, helping drivers to judge road conditions and greatly improve driving safety. And when facing side parking spaces on the side of the road against the wall or narrow and crowded parking spaces, Zhiji L6's one-click AI driving function effectively solves the pain points of difficult parking and difficult exiting the warehouse. Even when facing a dead-end road with no parking spaces and full of obstacles, it can easily return to the original route with a one-click tracking function.
Zhiji L6 also has the city NOA that many brands are working on, and the entire series has the "mapless city NOA" capability. Zhiji has also given a clear time for the launch: the public beta of mapless city NOA will be launched in the second quarter, mass production will be launched in the third quarter, and nationwide mapless city NOA will be realized in the fourth quarter. More importantly, Zhiji L6's mapless city NOA has also made advance considerations for scenarios such as complex intersections and continuous extreme avoidance on narrow bridges at night, realizing the true meaning of "you can drive with navigation" and "easy to drive across the country."
As for the latest IMOS system, it is said that it will be closely integrated with the Apple and Android ecosystems, and complete the wireless car interconnection coverage of mainstream Android mobile phone brands, and 99% of mobile phones can be seamlessly connected. Then Zhiji also said that it will break the "brand wall" and allow users to freely choose to form a super terminal system for people, cars, and homes to achieve panoramic ecological interconnection.
Of course, Zhiji L6 also provides industry-first smart cabin gameplay, such as City Drive, which combines big data algorithms and location algorithm services with immersive interaction of MR instruments, and "Highlight Moments Car Log", which uses the intelligent driving domain camera to integrate cloud AI template editing to retain the highlights of the journey for users. It can be said that Zhiji not only makes the smart cabin more fun, but also makes the smart driving easier to drive. More importantly, it relieves the anxiety of driving skills with its all-round intelligent strength, bringing driving safety to a new level.
"Equal rights in science and technology" is both an attitude and a persistence
There is no doubt that Zhiji is serious about the "roll" technology, and behind the "roll" technology, what Zhiji wants to achieve is "technological equality."
Zhiji and the SAIC Motors behind it have a special persistence in technology. As a car company that insists on full-stack independent research and development, it will undoubtedly bear great cost pressure, but on the other hand, as long as the road of full-stack independent research and development is successful, the car company will no longer be constrained by the constraints of the supply chain, and can control costs while leveling the price of high-quality products, so that advanced scientific and technological achievements can cover more consumer groups.
It is SAIC and Zhiji's continuous exploration and accumulation of chassis technology that has made the "Lizard Digital Chassis" possible, and reduced the threshold for rear-wheel steering, a configuration that was previously only available on high-end models worth millions, to less than 230,000 yuan; it is SAIC and Zhiji's exploration of power battery technology that has brought solid-state battery technology from the laboratory to the market, and installed it on mass-produced models for the first time; it is also SAIC and Zhiji's unique insight into intelligence that has enabled Zhiji L6 to not only have an excellent intelligent experience, but also achieve intelligent empowerment safety that is rare in its class.
It is these "driving equality", "power equality" and "intelligence equality" that together constitute Zhiji's "technological equality". As Liu Tao said in an interview after the press conference: "We believe that the supply chain and R&D capabilities of the national team of large manufacturers can allow users to truly enjoy high-tech products with 'technological equality' at a relatively low cost."
As a national team of large manufacturers, Zhiji, standing on the shoulders of its predecessors, obviously shoulders a stronger sense of mission, which is to use good products with excellent technology at a sincere price, so that more people can enjoy the convenience brought by technology and make Chinese cars continue to move forward. Zhiji L6 is a solid step in this huge process.
