Xiaomi had announced in 2022 that it would venture into the electric vehicle segment with the launch of its first such EV, scheduled for sometime in 2024. According to a new report, the electric vehicle codenamed ‘Modena’ has been spotted testing in snowy and icy weather conditions in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, as suggested by leaked images revealed by the publication. According to the report, the Chinese manufacturer could be testing the electric vehicle’s battery performance in extremely cold conditions and the effects of such conditions on the vehicle’s range.
According to the report by ArenaEV, Xiaomi’s upcoming and first-ever electric vehicle has been spotted undergoing testing in extremely cold weather conditions at a location believed to be in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The report, citing a Chinese blogger, also suggested that Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had joined the Xiaomi testing team for this. The company’s president has previously been spotted expressing his enthusiasm to push the electric vehicle project towards its goal, the report added.
The company executive had earlier also shared Xiaomi’s first progress report on the Xiaomi Pilot Technology autonomous driving project. The company had pledged to invest RMB 3.3 billion (nearly Rs. 3,897 crore) and hire over 500 experts from across the world to develop the in-house autonomous driving technology.
Xiaomi is expected to invest another RMB 2 billion (nearly Rs 2,400 crore) in the second phase of the project. This project includes ten upstream and downstream enterprises in the field of autonomous driving. Xiaomi is expected to be responsible for key sensors, actuators and domain controllers, among others.
Xiaomi Pilot Technology project is working on building a fleet of 140 test vehicles in the first phase. According to the ArenaEV report, Xiaomi had previously used BYD Han cars as test vehicles for its Xiaomi Pilot Technology tests. However, the company was recently spotted testing its own vehicles on Chinese roads, and that’s when the codename Modena came into the picture, the report added.
The latest images suggest that the Xiaomi Modena electric vehicle will be a sedan, and will feature an aerodynamic shape, complemented by a long hood and a sloping roofline that gently slopes towards the rear of the car. The images also suggest ubiquitous retractable door handles and LiDAR sensors on the roof of the vehicle.
The Xiaomi Modena is expected to come in three variants, with the first two entry-level models using BYD LFP “blade” batteries while the top-of-the-range model is expected to feature a CATL Qilin battery. Meanwhile, infotainment on the Modena is expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest 8295 chips that offer 30 TOPS of NPU computing power, the report said.
As per the report, Xiaomi is expected to price the electric car between $38,350 (approximately Rs. 31,20,500) and $51,650 (approximately Rs. 42,02,600).
