Changan recently announced that it will launch Deepal S7 electric SUV on June 25, and deliveries will start five days later on June 30. As usual for Deepal, the S7 will come in three versions: all-electric, EREV, and hydrogen. The price will be 169,900 – 239,900 yuan (24,200 – 34,400 USD).
Deepal (Shenlan, 深蓝 in Chinese) is an EV brand under the state-owned Changan Auto. It is positioned above the native Changan brand and under the high-end Avatr brand, which Changan jointly owns with battery maker CATL.
Deepal S7 is the brand’s second car after the SL03 sedan launched in July last year. It is a mid-size crossover SUV designed by automotive design veteran Bertrand Bach, who works as global Chief design director at Changan and has experience from GM or Volkswagen. The vehicle sits on Changan’s EPA1 platform (don’t confuse it with Geely’s EPA platform that underpins Lotus Eletre) and has a drag coefficient of 0.258 Cd.
The dimensions are (L/W/H) 4750/1930/1625 mm with a wheelbase of 2900 mm. It is 9mm wider and 1 mm higher than the Tesla Model Y, with which S7 will compete in China.
A 175kW electric motor will power the EREV version, while the EV will feature a 190 kW engine. The 0-100km/h acceleration is 7.5 and 6.7 seconds, respectively. Additionally, the EREV has a 70 kW 1.5 ICE that is not connected to wheels but works as a generator for the battery.
The battery for the all-electric version will be ternary (NMC) supplied strangely not by CATL but by China Innovation Aviation. The capacity remains to be revealed, but Changan already announced S7’s range would be 620 km CLTC with a consumption of 14.2 kWh/100km. For EREV, two versions will be released with 121 km and 200 km CLTC ranges, respectively.
The car features 20 or 21-inch wheels, NID3.0 driving assistance software, a massive 15.6″ central control screen, and AR-HUD. There is also a 12″ screen for the co-pilot hidden inside the sun visor – exciting but not a very common solution; we will keep an eye on review once the car start deliveries.
Deepal S7 cars are currently being manufactured at the Nanjing facility, boasting a remarkably high level of automation. Changan, the company behind the production, has implemented 215 robots in their welding lines, resulting in an impressive automation rate of 98%. Similarly, the painting workshop utilizes automation to a significant extent, reaching a rate of 70%. Notably, the assembly accuracy of the S7 vehicles achieves an impressive precision of 0.5 mm. Moreover, Changan has established 11 rigorous quality control measures across all stages of the manufacturing process.
