Last September, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun got people very excited (on twitter) by the prospect of soon having another range of electric cars consistent with “affordable”. At the time, people were talking about a Xiaomi EV (electric vehicle) worth around $20,000 that might hit the market in 2024.
Recent rumors are now mentioning a price starting at $38,000 and well above those for fancier options. That’s quite a price hike, but it seems more realistic when we’re talking about a sedan (codename Modena) that would be attractive and competitive with rivals like Tesla and others.
Of course, it remains to be seen which battery and motor options will be offered and how good the build quality is. Xiaomi has an excellent track record of building technology products with great value. They have successfully entered many markets with various everyday electronic products, so we cannot discard any EV product.
If the same philosophy could be applied to electric vehicles, they could achieve something big. However, we will have to wait and see because electric vehicles, unlike many devices and even smartphones, are still the subject of intensive research.
However, the market is rapidly evolving to a point where electric cars are a well-known product with an excellent supply chain that allows new entrants to build a car using largely existing designs.
Rumors of 400V or 800V batteries seem credible, but we wonder if Xiaomi will actually include both Qualcomm and NVIDIA (Orin X) chips as the rumors claim. Accompanying the latest round of spec rumors is the reported sighting of a cloth-covered prototype near Xiaomi’s research facilities.
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