Xiaomi to launch its new YU7 this week as a potential game-changing SUV
About one year after first catching wind that EV newcomer Xiaomi Automobile was working on an SUV we’d come to know as the YU7, the company is finally set to launch the new model in China. This will be a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y and has the potential to reimagine the all-electric SUV market in China.
It’s pretty wild to think about the massive success (and growth) Xiaomi Automobile has had in four years since the Chinese smartphone developer announced it would also start building BEVs. Much of that early clout in the market has come from its flagship model, the SU7 sedan, which hit the market in 2024 and saw 200,000 customer deliveries in a lightning-fast 119 days.
Shortly after launching the SU7, Xiaomi shared that it was already developing a second model—an all-electric SUV to compete against the Tesla Model Y in China. By June 2024, we had our first spy images of the SUV, followed by news in December that it was called the Xiaomi YU7.
Other than some images (one of which you can peep below), Xiaomi’s details of the YU7 have remained light. Following the December 2024 naming announcement, some of the core details of the SUV became available via a regulatory filing in China.
That filing said the Xiaomi YU7 measures 4,999 mm in length, 1,996 mm in width, and 1,600 mm in height and has a wheelbase of 3,000 mm. The SUV weighs 2,405 kg (5,302 lbs) and can reach a top speed of 253 km/h (157 mph). The lone model in the filing featured front and rear motors with a peak power of 220 kW and 288 kW, respectively. A Lithium-ion ternary battery from CATL will power those motors, but its capacity was unknown at the time.
At that time, Xiaomi also said the YU7 would launch in June or July of 2025. According to a recent Weibo post from the young automaker, the new SUV will officially be unveiled this week.
Xiaomi YU7 will be unveiled in China on May 22
Per the post, Xiaomi intends to officially unveil its new YU7 SUV during a product launch event in Beijing on May 22. The event will mark a “new beginning for Xiaomi’s 15th anniversary.” In addition to the YU7 debut, Xiaomi will launch its first mobile system on a chip (SoC) called the “Xring O1,” the 15S Pro smartphone, and the 7 Ultra Tablet.
We hope to learn more about the Xiaomi YU7 during this event and see if the tech company can confirm some of its 2024 regulatory filing specs. Launching the YU7 earlier than initially targeted fits Xiaomi’s mode of operation, but it could also be a strategic move from an optics perspective.
The debut of an exciting new vehicle could offer a new and positive topic of conversation surrounding the Xiaomi Auto brand, as it has faced a significant amount of public backlash in China following a SU7 crash that killed three people in late March.
As a result, SU7 sales have slightly decreased, but the young automaker continues to deliver over 20,000 BEVs to new customers month after month. The YU7 should only bolster those numbers when deliveries begin. We’d imagine that will be soon following the May 22 unveiling, scheduled for 7 PM Beijing time. Stay tuned.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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