Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has recently shared some interesting tidbits with the media, offering a more precise timeline for the tech giant’s automotive arm’s launch of its tri-motor SU7 Ultra. Additionally, the billionaire CEO spoke about Xiaomi Automobile’s willingness to lose money upfront to expand its portfolio to markets in Europe and become a top-five automaker in the world.
Becoming a top five automaker in the world is a lofty goal for an automaker that is a mere three years old, but Xiaomi Automobile has the backing of an electronics manufacturing powerhouse in Xiaomi Inc. as well as the support of its CEO Lei Jun, who has already pledged to invest $10 billion in the BEV development venture.
Xiaomi is trying to do something Apple teased but could never really get moving on – transitioning from a smartphone behemoth to a bonafide competitor in the EV market. Xiaomi Automobile’s track record is short but quite promising so far.
The Chinese automotive arm developed its flagship model, the SU7 sedan, faster than expected. The SU7 launched in late 2023 and locked in over 50,000 orders during the first 27 minutes it was on sale. The company has since had to bolster its assembly lines and production targets to keep up with demand, all while developing additional BEV models as an encore.
In July, Xiaomi announced a new 1,548hp Ultra trim of the SU7, coming in the first half of 2025. Xiaomi Automobile also already has a second bespoke model in development that will compete against the Tesla Model Y, possibly in markets around Europe and beyond.
Xiaomi CEO hints at expansion plans to Europe and beyond
As pointed out by CnEVPost, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun shared some company updates via livestream earlier today, including a clearer timeline of when customers will see the arrival of the production version of the aforementioned SU7 Ultra. Per the video, the 1,548 horsepower four-door sedan will launch in China in Q1 of 2025.
Because the BEV is so powerful, Jun said each build will leave Xiaomi’s production facility in “beginner mode. ” Drivers must complete and pass a step-by-step exam to unlock the vehicle’s full performance, to “unleash it.”
While Xiaomi initially focuses on its two variants of the SU7 in China, expansions to Europe might soon be in the cards. The automaker had the SU7 on display in Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games, where Lei Jun said it would be available globally, without sharing a specific time frame on when that might happen.
Xiaomi also recently took the SU7 Ultra to the world-famous Nürburgring track, reaching a top speed of over 350 km/h (217.5 mph). Although it only has one EV on the market, Xiaomi’s CEO has big goals for the automotive arm, previously stating a target to become one of the world’s top five automakers in 15 to 20 years. It’s possible, but it will cost a lot of money to get there, something Xiaomi executives are aware of and don’t seem phased by.
In a conversation with Bloomberg TV, Xiaomi CFO Alain Lam confirmed plans for global expansion, including Europe, but was realistic about the pending costs to get there:
We are more focused on our growth than profitability at this point. We do believe scale will bring profit in the future. Right now at this point I only have one SKU, it’s far away from what we call profitability. We need to continue to invest in this business.
Per Xiaomi’s Q2 2024 financial report, its automotive arm recorded an adjusted net loss of RMB 1.8 billion ($252 million) and delivered 27,307 SU7 BEVs in China. Those delivery numbers should grow in the second half of the year as Xiaomi has completed its assembly line expansion and has twice increased its production targets for the year, which now sits at 120,000 units.
Before Xiaomi becomes a top automaker in Europe and beyond, its immediate focus will remain on China, as it should. Lam again spoke:
We do have the global expansion in mind, although right now we are trying to fulfill all the demand from customers in China.
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The State of Michigan has announced a new partnership with wireless EV charging specialist Electreon and Commercial EV manufacturer Xos, Inc. Together, the companies have secured funding from the state to expand wireless charging availability for commercial vehicles, including UPS trucks in Detroit.
It’s been nearly a year since the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the City of Detroit, and Electreon ($ELWS) unveiled the first wireless EV charging roadway in the United States.
Michigan installed Electreon’s wireless inductive-charging coils (seen below) on 14th Street in Detroit between Marantette and Dalzelle streets to charge EVs equipped with Electreon receivers as they drive on the road.
At the time. MDOT and Detroit officials said the road would be used to test and perfect Electreon’s wireless EV charging technology in a real-world environment before “making it available to the public in the next few years.”
While the public will not be able to take advantage of wireless charging just yet, commercial EVs are gaining access thanks to a new partnership between Electreon, Xos ($XOS), and the State of Michigan.
Michigan progresses as US wireless EV charging leader
When Michigan announced the first wireless EV charging road in the US last year, officials shared hopes that the Great Lakes State and the city of Detroit could become leaders in the innovation and and deployment of such nascent technology.
Following a press release from Electreon, the State of Michigan confirmed details of the new partnership, which now includes commercial EV developer Xos, Inc. as well. The new commercial partnership is supported by $200,000 in funding from the Michigan Mobility Funding Platform (MMFP), building off the state’s “Make it in Michigan: economic strategy, developed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to invest in the state’s people, places and projects.
Through the partnership and coinciding state funding, Electreon will extend its wireless EV charging network and use cases in Michigan. Additionally, Electreon’s technology will be integrated into delivery step vans from Xos in order to “demonstrate wireless charging technological value and its potential to lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) in the electrification of commercial truck fleets.” Stefan Tongur, vice president of business development for Electreon, elaborated:
We’re excited to demonstrate how Electreon’s technology can optimize electric fleet usage and showcase the seamless integration of wireless charging into daily fleet operations, minimizing downtime and enabling charging across time and location. We’re proud to do this work in Michigan, a state fostering innovation and sustainable transportation solutions.
In addition to expanding wireless charging on Detroit’s first “electric roadway,” the Michigan project will enable the installation of stationary wireless charging at a UPS facility in Detroit. Xos co-founder and CEO Dakota Semler also spoke:
We are proud to partner with Electreon and support UPS to demonstrate the potential of wireless charging in commercial fleets. This innovative approach will revolutionize how we power our electric vehicles and drive fleet electrification forward.
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The iconic British luxury automaker is undergoing a major brand overhaul. With its official debut around the corner, Jaguar’s electric 4-door GT, the first of its new series, was spotted testing on British roads. The new images give us a closer look at what we can expect from the revamped Jag brand.
Jaguar’s new electric GT makes its first appearance
After building internal combustion-powered sports cars for over 75 years, Jaguar will become an all-electric luxury brand from 2025.
The company announced earlier this year that it will start fresh with an entirely new range of EVs. After killing off the F-Type, E-Pace, XF, and soon the F-Pace SUV, we are finally getting our first look at what the new branding will look like.
Jaguar’s new electric 4-door GT was caught testing on British roads. The camouflaged prototypes reveal a radically different look than the Jag models we are accustomed to.
You can see one of the biggest changes is the low-riding, extended silhouette, as opposed to the crossover SUV and sedan models like the F-Type and I-Pace, Jaguar’s first EV.
The front and rear bumper designs also appear much more aggressive and bold than previous models.
Jaguar’s electric GT is being put through the paces ahead of its debut. It has already completed tens of thousands of testing miles (virtual and real-world) and will soon hit public streets worldwide.
The new model will be built in Solihull, UK, where Jaguar recently ended production of its gas-powered models.
It will be the first to ride on Jaguar’s new JAE (Jaguar Electric Architecture), which will underpin its upcoming lineup of high-end luxury EVs with prices over £100,000 ($130,000). The electric GT will have a range of over 434 miles (700 km) and upwards of 575 hp, making it Jaguar’s most powerful car of all time.
Jaguar will debut its Design Vision Concept at Miami Art Week on December 2, 2024. Next Summer, it’s expected to make its official global debut ahead of deliveries in 2026.
What do you think of Jaguar’s new design based on what’s shown? Are you excited about the brand overhaul? Let us know in the comments below.
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Tesla has pushed a new (Supervised) Full Self-Driving update with the promised end-to-end neural networks for highway driving.
However, it’s only for newer vehicles.
“End-to-end” is what Tesla refers to as neural net-powered AI driving the vehicle from vision to controls rather than the controls being explicitly coded. It’s already the case in all widely released versions of (Supervised) Full Self-Driving (FSD) for city driving, but not for highway driving, which uses another software stack.
Tesla originally planned to deliver it for highway driving in October, but it was only delivered to a small number of vehicles.
In its latest AI roadmap, Tesla said that it would come the first week of November instead.
Now, Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of self-driving and AI, said that the latest release with end-to-end highway driving (v12.5.6.3) has been widely pushed to HW4 vehicle owners:
With the latest release (v12.5.6.3), FSD is using end-to-end neural networks for driving across highways, city streets and parking lots, and has now shipped widely for AI4 vehicles. Highway driving should be smoother, more natural and even safer than the previous explicit control stack. Check out the different driving styles to set speed and lane change preferences. Enjoy and let Tesla AI know if you have any feedback.
However, there’s no word for the millions of HW3 vehicle owners.
In fact, the only thing promised to HW3 vehicles, which Tesla now called AI3, in its last roadmap is this:
Improved v12.5.x models for AI3 city driving
As we have often reported this year, Tesla has reached the limits of the HW3 computer and now needs to optimize the code with every release despite still being far from its promise of unsupervised self-driving.
Electrek’s Take
This is annoying cause I could really use end-to-end on my HW3 car. I am on v12.5.4.2 and it has been a regression from v12.5.4.1 for me, especially on highways.
Yesterday, it almost drove me off-road when taking my highway exit, which is always a bit shaky because it is a short exit and FSD often swings itself into it. It’s a bit awkward, and my girlfriend never likes it, so I disengage FSD before taking the exit when she was with me, but this time, she wasn’t, and I had the new update.
It again swung left before going right into the exit, but this time, it went way too far, and I was in the shoulder by the time I took control.
I took this exit hundreds of times with FSD and it’s the first time it did that.
I am starting to think we won’t see much more improvements to FSD with HW3 cars and there’s no retrofit computer in sight.
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