Chinese EV startup Zeekr has announced that its new 001 sedan is now in production. Zeekr is part of the Geely Holding Group which also owns Volvo and Polestar. The first deliveries of the Zeekr 001 will start in China this weekend. Zeekr is a more luxury-focused EV brand, unlike Polestar which is more mass market.
This launch comes on the back of the announcement of the sustainable experience architecture which is an open-source chassis base. There are more EV brands under the Geely umbrella including Lynk & Co, Geometry will still be upon the same chassis
Zeekr intends to compete with Tesla in China. While it is part of the Geely holding group in July, Geely pulled out as a majority shareholder in the brand, though it still has control of other subsidiaries. It even features Intel Capital CATL as investors.
There was a ceremony at Zeekr’s intelligent factory which even features a 5G network, 300 automated welding robots, and other production systems which are being continuously self optimized using AI.
The 001 EV features 400 kW of power with 768 nm of torque with a dual-motor system. It can do 0-100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds and can halt from the same speed in 34/5 meters. The impressive bit is that Zeekr is saying its Z-Battery architecture can charge from 0-80 percent in 30 minutes and can deliver 526-712 km of NEDC range.
It also shared its first set of over-the-air updates to further improve Zeekr assisted drive system after the first deliveries. It has an approximate cost of between $44,000-$56,500.
10 Zeekr Spaces planned in China that will join two already opened facilities in Hangzhou and Tianjin. Zeekr is also planning on opening 360 kW charging stations across 10 Chinese cities this year.