The model will be launched in the second quarter of 2023 with a battery pack capacity of 140 kWh and an energy density of 200 Wh/kg.
(Image credit: Zeekr)
Geely's electric vehicle (EV) brand Zeekr's Zeekr 001 with CATL Qilin Battery will have a range of 1,032 kilometers, the latest regulatory documents imply.
A version of the Zeekr 001 was included in several documents released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on December 19, including a list of models allowed to be sold in China and a list of new energy vehicles (NEVs) exempt from purchase tax.
The information shows that the Zeekr 001 is powered by a ternary lithium battery pack with a capacity of 140 kWh and a CLTC range of 1,032 km.
The pack has an energy density of 200 Wh/kg and weighs 727 ± 21 kg, the information shows.
The model's length, width and height are 4,970 mm, 1,999 mm and 1,560 /1,548 mm, respectively, and the motor is a permanent magnet motor with a peak power of 200 kW.
The vehicle weighs 2,345 kg and consumes 14.9 kWh per 100 km under CLTC conditions.
The information does not directly mention Qilin Battery or CATL, but it is clearly the battery pack that the model is equipped with.
CATL officially unveiled the Qilin Battery, or CTP (cell to pack) 3.0 battery, on June 23, claiming to bring a new level of battery system integration.
The Qilin Battery allows volume utilization to exceed 72 percent and energy density to reach 255Wh/kg, supporting vehicles with a range of 1,000 kilometers, the company said at the time.
It is worth noting that Qilin Battery is a CATL innovation in battery pack construction, not in battery chemistry. This means that ternary batteries as well as lithium iron phosphate batteries can both use this pack structure.
On August 27, CATL announced that Zeekr is the first vehicle brand in the world that will use its Qilin Battery and that the Zeekr 009 MPV will be the first vehicle in the world to carry the Qilin Battery. The Zeekr 009 went on sale on November 1 and deliveries will begin in January 2023.
Zeekr's only model currently in delivery, the Zeekr 001, will use an ultra-long-range version of the Qilin Battery and will be the world's first production model to carry the 1,000-kilometer Qilin Battery, CATL said at the time.
Deliveries of the Zeekr 009 with the Qilin Battery are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023, while the Zeekr 001 with the battery will be available in the second quarter of 2023, Zeekr said later.
The Qilin Battery-powered Zeekr 001 will be the second electric vehicle with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers to be sold in China, with GAC Aion, GAC's NEV subsidiary, starting sales of the ultra-long-range version of the Aion LX Plus on January 5 as the first.
GAC Aion said in January that the Aion LX Plus, with a 144.4 kWh mega-capacity battery pack, has a range of 1,008 kilometers and is priced at RMB 459,600.
The company said at the time that the pack had an energy density of 205 Wh/kg, making the model the longest-range production vehicle in the world.
Notably, the regular version of the Aion LX Plus started at about half the price of the ultra-long-range version at RMB 286,600, and was ahead of the curve in terms of hardware setup, including LiDARs.
GAC Aion's 1,008km range model looked more like technical marketing than delivery to consumers. The company has not updated information on the extra-long-range battery pack since then.
It's not clear how much the Zeekr 001 with Qilin Battery will cost, but it's expected to be much higher than the regular version.
Zeekr currently offers four versions of the Zeekr 001, two of which start at RMB 299,000 and the other two at RMB 349,000 and 386,000 respectively. These models have a CLTC range of 536 km to 732 km.
Zeekr delivered 11,011 vehicles in November, up 447.3 percent from 2,012 vehicles in the same month last year and up 8.8 percent compared to 10,119 vehicles in October.
On December 16, Zeekr announced the delivery of its 70,000th vehicle. It is currently seeking to go public in the US.
On December 12, Reuters cited three people familiar with the matter as saying that Zeekr has secretly filed for a US IPO aimed at raising more than $1 billion.
Zeekr is seeking a valuation of more than $10 billion, which would be the first major US IPO of a Chinese company in a year and a half, the report said.
Zeekr filed a draft registration statement for a possible initial public offering (IPO) with the SEC on December 7 on a confidential basis, Geely said on December 13.
