Just over a month ago, Xpeng, an EV upstart from China showcased their upcoming G9 that offered 480 kW of ultrarapid charging in a ground-up passenger EV SUV. Now Xpeng has officially launched this highly anticipated EV in its home market.
What makes this EV the fastest charging EV and would we see this technology in Australia anytime soon?
Driving range of up to 702 km
At the recently held Xpeng G9 online launch event, Xpeng revealed the range of this popular EV SUV of up to 702 km on the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC). That’s for the long-range 702E variant. This would be able powered by a single motor mounted at the rear of the EV.
The CLTC range is generally 15% higher than the WLTP range which is used in Australia so the WLTP range would be closer to 600 km mark on the long-range variant.
The standard range model has a 570 km CLTC range and starts at $44,000 USD for the local Chinese market. That’s just under $67,000 AUD given the current exchange rate.
First model from Xpeng with 430 kW charging capability
The Xpeng G9 is the first EV from the brand that is based on the 800V high voltage platform.
It’s capable of charging the car at up to 430 kW and utilising the new 480 kW ultrarapid chargers the company is now starting to deploy. These chargers can charge this EV from 10% to 80% in 15 minutes.
At the time of launch, only the 650X performance edition is supporting this ultrarapid charging while the other models are still able to get from 10% to 80% in 20 minutes.
For comparison, the Hyundai Ioniq5, the Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60, all of which are available in Australia, offer an 800V charging system and can offer 10% to 80% of charge in 18 minutes at the right charger.
0 – 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds
The fastest versions of the G9 SUV are the 4WD models that can accelerate to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds.
That’s just a tad bit slower than the Model Y Performance which we are yet to see customer deliveries of here in Australia.
It’s great to see new technologies being introduced in larger SUV-sized EVs which many buyers in Australia prefer. Over 50% of all vehicles sold in our local market last year were an SUV so if this EV was to come to Australia, it would be quite popular amongst family car buyers.
Xpeng currently sells cars in various European countries including Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. The brand has a clear aspiration to launch in many other markets including right-hand markets like ours in Australia.
The demand for well-designed EV SUVs is certainly here. We only have to look at the thousands of orders Tesla has on their Model Y. Any new entrants with ground-up EVs like the Xpeng G9 would be well received and help in reducing transport emissions on our roads.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.