The Xpeng G3 is on its way to Norway. The first 100 cars were put on board a ship this week in China and the company says it looks forward to seeing them on Norwegian roads come November. Xpeng is a young car company, having been founded by He Xiaopeng in 2014, but it has solid financial backing from Alibaba. It has sold more than 22,000 of its G3 vehicles in China since sales began in late 2018. Here’s the video of the cars being loaded aboard.
The G3 is available with two batteries — a 66.5 kWh pack with 520 kilometers of range (NEDC) and a 50.5 kWh pack with 401 kilometers of range (NEDC). Both versions feature a 145 kW electric motor driving the front wheels. Those numbers should translate into approximately 230 miles of range for the car with the larger battery and 180 miles of range for the car with the smaller battery in EPA testing, assuming the cars ever come to the American market. Xpeng has big export plans but the current geopolitical situation between the US and China may discourage the company from dipping a toe in the American market anytime soon.
The G3 is a middle of the road kind of car. It is stylish without breaking any new ground in the automotive design world. It has adequate acceleration but nothing special at 8.5 seconds to 60 mph and a so-so top speed of about 106 mph. What is does have going for it is a lower selling price than many of its competitors and an awesome amount of digital technology not found in cars costing much more.
In China, the G3 sells for between $21,000 and $29,000 after incentives. According to Xpeng, prices in Norway will start at 358,000 NOK ($37,667 US). Norway does not use sales incentives, as such. Instead it exempts electric cars from many of the fees that can add up to a third to the sticker price when buying a conventional cars. By comparison, the Tesla Model 3 starts at 384,900 NOK ($43,721.74) and the Model Y will be significantly more expensive. Yes, the Teslas will have faster acceleration and somewhat longer range but you get what you pay for and with the G3, Norwegians may find they can get what the need. And if they do, the car will come with digital goodies that rival those found in Teslas in every respect.
Zachary Shahan did an in-depth review of the G3 recently and said it is basically a supercomputer on wheels rather than a car with its computing power grafted on after the fact. If that reminds you of a certain electric car company in California, you’re not alone. The G3 will be the first production car to use the Nvidia Xavier supercomputing platform, but it adds its own Xmart OS and XPILOT 2.5 Advanced Driver Assistance System on top of the Nvidia platform.
What really has people excited about Xpeng is its P7 sedan, which rivals the Tesla Model S in almost every department including range but sells for about half as much money. The G3 is a competent electric SUV with robust technology at a good price. Marry the capabilities of the P7 with the basic goodness of the G3 and Xpeng could have a world beater on its hands.
