XPeng Inc. has unveiled its new flagship, the full-electric G9 smart SUV, at the 19th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition. It is the company’s fourth production model, and the first conceived and designed for both domestic Chinese and global markets.

Built according to international safety and environmental protection standards, and incorporating Xpeng’s latest software architecture and hardware platform, the G9 boasts “ultra-high” intelligence and industry-leading charging capability. It is the company’s first production model to incorporate the X-EEA 3.0 electronic and electrical architecture, the latest XPilot 4.0 advanced driver assistance system, and the new generation XPower 3.0 powertrain and supercharging system.

“Our G9 flagship smart SUV represents a new level of sophistication with a global perspective and is an essential part of our exploration of smarter, safer, greener, and sustainable mobility,” said He Xiaopeng, CEO and Chairman of Xpeng.

“G9 is our first model to be conceived and developed from the ground up for both the international and Chinese markets, demonstrating our commitment to the international markets and bringing our most sophisticated designs to our customers worldwide,” added Henry Xia, Xpeng Co-founder and President, from Auto Guangzhou.

The SUV is designed for C-NCAP and E-NCAP five-star safety standard performance and the stringent EU WVTA (Whole Vehicle Type Approval) vehicle certification standards. In line with Xpeng’s drive for greener, safer, and more sustainable mobility, the G9 meets the requirements for EU 3R certification, an international benchmark for environmental protection requirements, with a reusability rate of over 85%, and a recyclable rate of over 95%.

The G9’s design continues the Xpeng brand cues especially in front with its “X Robot Face,” complete with the characteristic daytime-running-light positioning. However, there are sharpened details and a LiDAR unit in each of the headlights. Other key design details are a high horizontal waistline running the length of the body, rear-slanting A-pillars, short front and long rear overhang, plus 21-in aero wheels.

The company’s XPilot 4.0 proprietary advanced driver assistance system is said to be the first to deliver full-scenario-assisted smart driving from vehicle start-up to parking—marking an important step toward achieving future autonomous driving. The enhanced hardware is said to significantly increase perception capability on top of its market-leading multiple-perception fusion platform.

The system is built on a new-generation hardware platform, with 508-TOPS (tera-operations per second) computing power supported by two Nvidia Orin autonomous driving SoC (system-on-chip) units. Input from an 8-million-pixel front-view binocular camera and 2.9-million-pixel side-view cameras (covering front, rear, left, and right views) feed the highly integrated and expandable domain controller.

The G9 is built on Xpeng’s new X-EEA 3.0 electronic and electrical architecture, an industry-leading platform deeply integrating hardware, software, and communications architectures to achieve greater simplicity, powerful performance, and high upgradable flexibility. The architecture consists of a centralized supercomputing platform and local control modules.

The vehicle software suite has been structured in layers—system software platform, foundation software platform, and intelligent application platform—for faster development and iteration of functions such as advanced driver assistance, voice vehicle control, and other smart functions.

Xpeng says that the G9 will be China’s first model to implement a Gigabit Ethernet communications architecture, supporting multiple communication protocols and allowing vehicles to transmit and receive big data faster. This significantly boosts its support for advanced driver assistance, smart cockpit, and firmware over-the-air upgrades.

The X-EEA 3.0 architecture not only upgrades its software at a higher speed but also enables the G9 to perform self-diagnostics for greatly improved vehicle safety. Benefiting from its ability to synchronously upgrade multiple domain controllers, G9’s firmware OTA upgrade can be completed as fast as 30 min without interrupting vehicle operation and driving. Once the G9 restarts, its upgraded features are fully implemented.

G9’s vehicle’s power distribution is 100% controllable across all systems, allowing accurate and efficient distribution according to usage, greatly reducing energy consumption in powered-off, starting, and standby modes.

The new-generation XPower 3.0 powertrain has China’s first 800-V high-voltage mass-production SiC (silicon carbide) platform, which is able to charge up to 200 km (124 mi) of range in just 5 min with a maximum energy efficiency of over 95%. To fully optimize the 800-V SiC platform, Xpeng is also rolling out lightweight 480-kW high-voltage supercharging with more than 670-A capacity, IP67 protection, and safety monitoring—for a safer and more convenient charging experience for customers.

Xpeng says it currently has the largest supercharging network among all Chinese auto brands, with 550 branded supercharging stations and 1734 free supercharging stations nationwide in China as of the end of October 2021.