XPeng shows facelift version of P7 electric sedan

Chinese car manufacturer Xiaopeng has unveiled the facelift of the P7, its Tesla Model 3 competitor. The new version of the electric sedan will be called P7i in China, although the European name will remain unchanged. A LiDAR system, better performance, and faster charging are new for the facelift.

The XPeng P7 was released in 2020 and was immediately compared to the Tesla Model 3 thanks to its sedan body shape, impressive driving range for the price, and its X-pilot autonomous driving function. Now, the Chinese manufacturer has given the P7 some updates to keep its performance up to speed with the competition.

Faster acceleration, faster charging

The XPeng P7i, or the ‘new P7’, as it will be called in Europe, gets an updated drivetrain, adding some performance. The base model with rear-wheel-drive sees its acceleration from 0-100 km/hour improve from 6,7 to 6,4 seconds, while the all-wheel-drive variant now makes the same sprint in 3,9 seconds instead of 4,3 seconds.

And it’s not just the acceleration: the charging speed has improved, too. Fast charging is now possible up to 175 kW, up from 90 kW, allowing a charging pit stop from 10% to 80% in 29 minutes. The XPeng G9 SUV charges even faster, up to 480 kW, but that flagship SUV uses an 800 V architecture, while the cheaper P7 sticks to a more conventional 400 V battery system.

Finally, the P7 facelift gets a LiDAR option to support its X-pilot (semi-)autonomous driving function, powered by two NVidia Orin NX processors, which are purpose-built for self-driving cars. In addition, the infotainment system gets the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855A system-on-chip.

From €49 990

XPeng is already shipping the updated P7 to Europe, with delivery centers coming this year in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The Dutch prices for the P7 start at €49 990 for the RWD Long Range model (576 km WLTP), climbing to €59 990 for the AWD Performance (505 km WLTP) and up to €69 990 for the fully-equipped AWD Wing Edition (505 km WLTP). Deliveries for new orders are expected from June 2023.