Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, surprised the automotive industry by introducing its first electric car, the SU7, in March 2024. This move was unexpected, as many doubted that an electronics company without experience in car manufacturing could successfully enter auto production.

Xiaomi’s EV Factory

Xiaomi built a dedicated facility on the outskirts of Beijing to assemble its electric vehicles. The “EV Factory” is a highly automated facility in a state-designated economic and technological development area. Its layout resembles a smartphone assembly factory more than a traditional automotive production line. Most impressively, the factory is capable of producing one SU7 electric car every 76 seconds, which at full capacity equates to about 40 vehicles rolling off the line per hour.

Hyper Die Casting

The factory uses a Hyper Die Casting 79100 cluster, a system developed by Xiaomi that produces the car’s rear underbody from a proprietary die-cast titanium alloy. This process significantly reduces the number of components and welds required.

Automation

The factory boasts an impressive level of automation:

– 100% automation of key production processes in the body shop
– 91% overall automation rate
– 39 robots on the assembly line
– Fully automated painting process

Quality Control

Xiaomi has implemented advanced quality control measures:

– Lidar system with ±0.05 mm accuracy for defect detection
– AI-based detection system analyzing 28 high-resolution X-rays of die-cast parts
– Ultraviolet scanners for detecting external defects

Market Response

The SU7 met with overwhelming demand. Xiaomi received 88,000 pre-orders within 24 hours of launch, surpassing its original annual target of 75,000 units. The company has since revised its sales target upward to 120,000 SU7s by the end of 2024.

Conclusion

Xiaomi’s entry into the electric vehicle market demonstrates the company’s ability to leverage its expertise in electronics manufacturing to revolutionize the automotive industry. The highly automated EV factory with its impressive production speed of one car every 76 seconds and the strong market response to the SU7 suggest that Xiaomi could become a significant player in the electric vehicle market.

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