Photo: Leapmotor
Is it possible to buy a new flagship electric sedan for just $27,000? It is, but only in China. The Leapmotor C01 is, at least on paper, a Tesla Model S killer, and yet it comes with a price of a modest city car. It won’t be coming to the U.S., and we don’t know if this is good or bad.
Leapmotor is one of the newest (and least known) EV makers from China which, along with BYD, NIO, Xpeng, and others, is trying to make a living in the bustling Chinese car market. They recently launched their flagship sedan, C01, which surely impresses with a very competitive price of less than $30,000. For a 16.5-ft (5,05 meters) long Tesla Model S killer, this is quite a feat. Even though the Leapmotor C01 will not be sold in the U.S., it makes you wonder how it’s possible to sell an advanced electric sedan and still make a profit.
The first thought that comes to mind is, “they’re Chinese, they build things quite cheap,” but this is not the case anymore. The production may be quite efficient, but it still costs a lot of money to develop and build an electric vehicle from the ground up. And certainly, the C01 does not lack in the technical department. With a 542-horsepower dual-motor configuration and a 90-kWh battery, this is as close to a Tesla Model S as possible.
The Leapmotor C01 does not lack innovation either. The cell-to-chassis technology allows the battery cells to be integrated into the body of the car, eliminating the need for a separately installed battery pack. This goes even beyond Tesla’s structural battery. And with an air drag coefficient of 0.226, the C01 will not lack efficiency either. Depending on the configuration, the C01 has a range of between 500 km (310 miles) and 717 km (445 miles), which sounds impressive even though China uses NEDC data that is overly optimistic.
The electric drive unit is oil-cooled and has an 88.5% combined efficiency. It only weighs 85 kg (187 lbs), and Leapmotor claims it was built to last more than a million kilometers (621,000 miles). And with a 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) time of just three seconds, the C01 is no slouch either. Inside, everything is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, which runs the three screens. Face recognition is used to identify the driver and personalize the settings. Up to 25 settings are automatically associated with the user according to their habits.
The first thought that comes to mind is, “they’re Chinese, they build things quite cheap,” but this is not the case anymore. The production may be quite efficient, but it still costs a lot of money to develop and build an electric vehicle from the ground up. And certainly, the C01 does not lack in the technical department. With a 542-horsepower dual-motor configuration and a 90-kWh battery, this is as close to a Tesla Model S as possible.
The Leapmotor C01 does not lack innovation either. The cell-to-chassis technology allows the battery cells to be integrated into the body of the car, eliminating the need for a separately installed battery pack. This goes even beyond Tesla’s structural battery. And with an air drag coefficient of 0.226, the C01 will not lack efficiency either. Depending on the configuration, the C01 has a range of between 500 km (310 miles) and 717 km (445 miles), which sounds impressive even though China uses NEDC data that is overly optimistic.
The electric drive unit is oil-cooled and has an 88.5% combined efficiency. It only weighs 85 kg (187 lbs), and Leapmotor claims it was built to last more than a million kilometers (621,000 miles). And with a 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) time of just three seconds, the C01 is no slouch either. Inside, everything is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, which runs the three screens. Face recognition is used to identify the driver and personalize the settings. Up to 25 settings are automatically associated with the user according to their habits.
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