GM’s Chinese joint venture SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) has released the Wuling Zhiguang EV kei car, designed for private and commercial commuting. It is a compact car of 3.6 meters with sliding rear doors, four seats, a 30 kW e-motor and a 17.6 kWh LFP battery pack. It will hit the market soon.
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Wuling is the third most popular domestic car brand in China. The main sales driver is the Hongguang Mini EV two-door city car. Wuling’s cumulative sales volume from January to October 2024 was 685,744 units. Now Wuling has released its latest product, which targets both the residential and commercial markets. It’s the Zhiguang EV. In the future, it will adopt CATL’s battery swapping technology.
More about Wuling Zhiguang EV
Wuling officials and Chinese media are calling the Zhiguang EV a kei car. However, the body length is longer than the Japanese standard for such vehicles, so the Zhiguang EV is simply styled like a kei car. It has a boxy body shape with sliding rear doors, small 13-inch wheels and small overhangs. The exact dimensions of the Zhiguang EV are 3685/1530/1750 mm, with a remarkable wheelbase of 2600 mm.
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The interior of the Wuling Zhiguang EV is as basic as possible. The entire cabin is covered in gray plastic. The metal frames of the doors are partially visible. The roof and pillars of the Zhiguang EV are also made of exposed metal. The car’s center console has one LCD instrument cluster and physical controls for the AC and music adjustments. The Zhiguang EV has a two-spoke steering wheel without buttons. The center tunnel has a rotatable gear lever, buttons for the electric windows and a handbrake.
The Zhigung EV’s second row of seats is even simpler. There is a sofa for two people (without headrests!) that folds into a flat floor. The doors of the car have manual windows. Once again we see many bare metal surfaces. The Zhiguang EV offers only the features you need most.
Wuling Zhiguang EV Specifications
The Wulign Zhiguang EV is light. The curb weight is 892 kg, 193 kg less than the Smart Fortwo EQ. It’s an understandable number, considering how basic this car is. The Zhiguang EV is equipped with a 17.6 kWh LFP battery pack from Gotion or RSPK manufacturers. It powers a single TZ155XZ230 electric motor in the rear axle, good for 30 kW (40 hp). The top speed of the Zhiguang is 100 km/h.
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In the future, the Zhiguang EV will become compatible with CATL’s Evogo battery swapping network. It will essentially upgrade the car’s battery, as Evogo works with scalable Choco-SEB packages. They use cell-to-pack technology with an energy density of 160 Wh/kg. A single Choco-SEB block has a capacity of 26.5 kWh, suitable for a range of 200 km.
The Wuling Zhiguang EV will soon appear on the Chinese market. Its price tag is yet to be revealed. It will probably be slightly more expensive than the smaller Hongguang Mini EV. We expect the price to start around 50,000 yuan (6,900 USD).