The electric motors of the new Xiaomi car outperform Tesla, Porsche, and thermal engines

After several months of rumors, Xiaomi finally unveiled its SU7 electric sedan. The latter is equipped with a new ultra-technological electric motor, which once again proves thermal cars are far behind. Xiaomi allows itself to do better than Tesla with its Model S Plaid.

As specified by the Chinese media Auto Home, Xiaomi's V6 and V6s engines were developed jointly with Inovance Technology. On the other hand, the V8s engine, the most powerful, would have been completely developed internally by Xiaomi. The Chinese manufacturer has filed 155 patent applications for this engine, of which 60 have already been accepted. This proves Xiaomi's enormous ambitions for electric cars.

Article from December 29, 2023: Today, almost all manufacturers offer at least one electric car in their catalog. But that's not all, because, in addition to Chinese brands, certain companies specializing in tech also want to try their luck in this market. This is for example the case of Huawei and Baidu, a sort of equivalent of Google in China. But that's not all.

An incredible engine

And for good reason, Xiaomi also wants to get a piece of the pie and even has the ambition to enter the top 5 electric car manufacturers. For the moment, the latter is for the record dominated by Tesla, however closely followed by BYD which could take its place by the end of 2023. But this does not frighten Xiaomi, which has just officially raised the veil on its first electric car.

The latter bears the name SU7 and had already been shown a few days earlier after photos leaked on the internet. But now it is finally showing itself in all its forms, while the Chinese firm has also detailed all of its on-board technologies. And it is an understatement to say that they are numerous, to shake Tesla as well as its rivals BYD and Nio. But what interests us here is the sedan's electric motor.

For good reason, the latter was designed by the manufacturer, normally specialized in smartphones, and is available in several versions. The first is the HyperEngine V6 but has absolutely nothing in common with the six-cylinder thermal block. This develops a power of 299 horsepower according to the AutoHome website, for a torque of 400 Nm and with a 400-volt architecture. The slightly more efficient version, V6s, claims 347 horsepower and 500 Nm, with an 800-volt architecture. Maximum revs are announced at 21,000 rpm for both.

But that's not all, because customers will also be able to benefit from an even more efficient version a little later. This is the HyperEngine V8s, which displays a maximum power of 578 horsepower and a torque of 635 Nm with a maximum speed of 27,200 rpm. The latter will be launched during the year 2025 and is a real concentrate of technology and know-how on the part of the engineers of the brand from the Middle Kingdom.

Finally, a third engine, still in the research stage, using carbon, would be capable of reaching a maximum speed of 35,000 rpm. Never seen. For comparison, the Tesla Model S Plaid is “limited” to 21,000 rpm while the Porsche Taycan Turbo is limited to 16,000 rpm (but with a two-speed gearbox).

Read: Xiaomi SU7: The Tech Giant's Electrifying Entry into the Automotive Arena

Interesting technology

Indeed, the Chinese site It Home gives us some additional information on these three very high-performance electric motors. The latter uses a new laser-wound rotor technology. But what does this consist of? The manufacturer uses carbon fiber on the rotor of its electric motor, which is wound and solidified using a laser, for greater precision.

According to the firm, this method makes it possible to obtain a higher efficiency rate than standard electric motors. Thus, the HyperEngine V8 of the Xiaomi SU7 displays no less than 98.11%, or less than 2% losses, which is excellent. Especially when compared to a heat engine, whose efficiency never exceeds 45%. That is, much of the energy is lost as heat, and not put into propulsion. Which means you have to produce a lot more for the same result.

It is also to optimize efficiency that the three engines developed by the manufacturer display a very high maximum speed. The power density of the V8s is displayed at 10.14 kW/kg according to laboratory tests. Compare this with the 6.22 kW/kg of the Tesla Model S Plaid engine. All this then allows the electric sedan to go from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.78 seconds, with two motors, to compete with the Tesla Model S Plaid and its 2.1 seconds thanks to three motors.

The SU7 also features a CTB (cell-to-body) battery, with LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) cells integrated directly into the chassis. Two capacities will be offered, namely 73.6 and 101 kWh, for a theoretical range of up to 800 kilometers according to the Chinese CLTC cycle. The launch date of this new arrival which will compete with the Nio ET7 and the BYD Seal has not yet been announced at the moment.