XPeng P7 First Drive: China’s (Better-Built) Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S was a two-year-old car when Chinese auto execs Heng Xia and Tao He got together with tech billionaire Xiaopeng He in 2014 to found the electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng. Five years later, at the 2019 Shanghai Show, Guangzhou-based XPeng unveiled its homegrown Model S rival, the P7 EV sedan.

The latest XPeng P7 is one of three EVs the automaker now has on sale in China, all built on the company's own platforms and featuring its own end-to-end software architecture. The P7 is already being marketed in Norway, and XPeng plans to launch the sedan in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands in the second quarter of 2023.

A fourth XPeng model, a midsize SUV called the G9 that will feature a fast-charging 800-volt electrical architecture and a Lidar-supported autonomous drive system, is due to go on sale in China this fall. The G9 is widely believed to be under consideration for launch in the U.S.

Move fast and break things—Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's motto is one Silicon Valley's tech bros love to invoke to explain why Tesla deserves to be worth more than any run-of-the-mill automaker like Volkswagen or Toyota or Hyundai. But Tesla needed 17 years to get four models into production and into showrooms. Eight-year-old XPeng is moving so fast it makes Tesla look like General Motors.

The XPeng P7 is built on a bespoke EV platform, known internally as "Edward," that was co-developed with Porsche. It's a conventional skateboard design, with multi-link suspension front and rear and an 80 kWh battery pack between the axles. Behind the standard 19-inch alloy wheels, which are shod with 245/45 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires, are Brembo brakes.

The entry-level P7 RWD Long Range is powered by a single rear-mounted e-motor that develops 263 horsepower and 288 lb-ft of torque. Our tester, the P7 4WD High Performance, packs a total system output of 424 hp and 483 lb-ft, thanks to the addition of a 161-hp e-motor that drives the front wheels.

The P7 is 5.6 inches shorter overall than the Model S but rolls on a wheelbase that's 1.6 inches longer. The XPeng is also slightly narrower and taller than the Tesla, and, unlike the Tesla, it's relatively light for an EV of its class—XPeng claims the single motor RWD Long Range weighs 4,380 pounds, while the dual motor 4WD High Performance is claimed to tip the scales at 4,623 pounds. That's almost 200 pounds less than a dual motor Model S.

XPeng claims a range of up to 329 miles on the WLTP test cycle for the RWD Long Range, and a 0-60 mph acceleration time of less than 6.9 seconds. Claimed WLTP range for the 4WD High Performance is up to 292 miles, with a claimed 0-60 mph acceleration time of less than 4.5 seconds. (Note: EPA range is usually 20-30 percent lower on average than the WLTP quoted figure.) The P7's 80 kWh battery pack will accept up to 90 kilowatts on a DC fast charge, which allows it to go from five- to 80-percent charge in about 51 minutes, according to Xpeng.

Neither version of the P7 threatens the Tesla Model S in terms of outright range or performance. But to airily dismiss this Chinese EV because of that is to miss the point. Entirely.

It may not be a world-beater, but the XPeng P7 is one of the most impressive new cars we've driven this year. It has, of course, the punchy, silent acceleration you expect from a contemporary electric car, but what makes it stand out is how refined everything else about it feels, both at low speeds around town, and when cruising on the highway.

Noise levels—wind, tire, and mechanical—are impressively low. The ride is good, though in truth the well-maintained roads of our test drive hardly exercised the suspension, other than over the occasional speed hump in the suburbs near XPeng's Dutch headquarters, which elicited some mild secondary body motions. Choppy surfaces induced occasional pattering from the tires, but impact harshness was well-suppressed.

The steering is reasonably accurate and well-weighted, and the transitions between regenerative and mechanical braking are smooth. The P7 has just two regen modes —high and low. High regen delivers near-one-pedal driving capability, while low regen gives the car a slowing effect similar to lifting off the gas in a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle with an automatic transmission.

In Norway, the XPeng P7 4WD High Performance costs less than two-thirds the price of a dual-motor Tesla Model S Long Range. In U.S. dollars, using the conversion rate current at the time of writing, that would make it a $53,000 car.

You get a lot of EV for that money. Standard equipment includes a panoramic roof, heated front and rear seats, and the choice of black, beige, or red Nappa leather trim. The digital dash is a 10.25-inch screen, and the central touchscreen is a 15-inch unit. Standard driver assistance systems include adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, forward collision warning, and autonomous emergency braking.

It's easy to see the influence of the Model S in the XPeng P7's design. One area where the Chinese automaker has followed Tesla's lead a little too closely is the HVAC system, where all the functions—right down to setting the direction of the air vents— are controlled via the central touchscreen. As in Teslas, this requires taking your eyes off the road to go through a menu to do something that's easily done without looking or thinking in a HVAC system with physical buttons.

The fit and finish throughout is superior to the Model S, though. Exterior panel gaps are more consistent and trim pieces better aligned, and the interior looks and feels plusher. But what makes the XPeng P7 perhaps more of a threat to the Tesla is not the hardware, but its software.

"This is a software-defined car," says Piotr Chmielewski, XPeng's head of EV Charging in Europe, who points out that company co-founder Xiaopeng He—XPeng is a contraction of his name—made his fortune in software before deciding to get into the auto industry. Sound familiar, Elon?

A Polish software engineer, Chmielewski says XPeng is the only automaker other than Tesla to use an end-to-end software architecture. The architecture is used on all XPeng models, and Chmielewski believes this software stack will give the company's products a competitive advantage over the long term.

As on its other models, XPeng's XSmart operating system (initially Android-based but now highly evolved and unique) controls the P7's driver assistance systems, dubbed XPilot. The XSmart OS also controls the car's connectivity functions, infotainment systems, and its nascent AI capabilities, including a "Hey XPeng" voice activation function and smart navigation setup. It also allows for a wide range of over-the-air updates and remote vehicle diagnostics.

It's Tesla-level stuff, though some of the P7's standard XPilot functions, most notably the lane keep assist, don't feel quite as well-resolved in terms of their operation. It's all in the software tuning, said Chmielewski, who noted our test car was running Chinese-spec software. He added that a team is already at work on tweaks to suit European operating conditions.

The XPeng P7 is a graphic example of the new reality of the auto business in the EV age. In the past, the cost and complexities of developing and optimising internal combustion engines and suitable transmissions meant newcomers faced huge challenges in terms of delivering vehicles that performed as well as those from companies with long experience building automobiles—look how many years it took Toyota and Honda and Hyundai and Kia to become established in the U.S. as legitimate alternatives to GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

However, EV powertrains are inherently smooth and quiet, and deliver plenty of easy driving torque. There are no pesky calibration issues in terms of driveability or to meet emissions and fuel economy targets. Making a car that's instantly competitive with mainstream rivals from established automakers has never been easier.

The XPeng P7 proves the point. The way it looks and feels and drives means it would be right at home on any driveway in America right now, with no excuses needed. Were the P7 to be launched here, with software updated to suit the U.S. operating environment and American consumer tastes, and priced as competitively as it is in Norway, it would shock the automotive establishment. Tesla included.