Zeekr will be an energy provider but Geely did not clarify how.
Geely released the first official pictures and technical specifications for the Zeekr 001, the Lynk & Co Zero Concept production version. What seemed to be an April Fool’s prank is finally more palpable, but there are aspects of the car and of the company that we still fail to understand.
According to Geely, the Zeekr 001 will be the first electric shooting brake in China. That will only be the case if Porsche fails to sell the Taycan Cross Turismo there before Geely starts delivering the 001 in October 2021. The Zeekr should offer 700 km of range, but Geely fails to name which battery pack will provide that much range and under which driving cycle. It could be NEDC, it could be WLTP…
The Zeekr 001 is 4.97 meters long, 2 m wide, 1.56 m tall, and has a wheelbase of 3.01 m. Geely said it would offer 2,144 liters of luggage space, but that obviously refers to what the car can carry with the rear seats folded down. There’s nothing on the regular capacity for that compartment.
The electric shooting brake will have two battery pack options: 86 kWh and 100 kWh. The 700-km range probably comes from the biggest one, but Geely did not make it clear. It also said it would work with battery pack rentals, an idea Renault had for the Zoe and recently abandoned. It only makes sense for battery swapping, such as the one Nio offers.
Zeekr will apparently follow another strategy. Geely said the brand would be an energy solution provider, with its own high-speed Zeekr charging network across China, similar to Tesla Superchargers.
The plan is to build 2,200 charging stations with more than 20,000 chargers by the end of 2023. The fastest ones will reach 360 kW, and Geely suggests the 001 will be able to recover 120 km of range in five minutes with them.
Will it charge at 360 kW? The press release only implies that. If that is the case, the Zeekr probably works with tensions of over 900V despite using the SEA platform, which works with 800V. Lucid gave the Air that much voltage to stand up to 300 kW of charging speed.
