This Affordable EV Could Smoke Tesla’s Model S on Price and Range

There’s a new Model S killer coming to the market and believe it or not, it’s being made by none other than Huawei.

For those who’ve never heard of the Chinese brand, Huawei is mostly known for its phones, though it has dabbled in EVs before. And if the Luxeed S7 is any indication, Huawei is getting a lot more serious about EVs.

MORE THAN JUST SMARTPHONES

Huawei is working with Chery Automobile for this latest EV brand called Luxeed. For its inaugural EV, it’s hard not to see the inspiration for the S7 since it looks like a mish-mash between the Model S, the Lucid Air, and the Porsche Taycan. The Luxeed S7 runs off Huawei’s 800V platform though, allowing for impressive fast charging that gets you up to 267 miles with a 15-minute charge.

The Luxeed S7’s Pro model is its most affordable with a starting price of $35,000. The entry-level model gets around 550 km, or around 341 miles, on a rear-wheel drive configuration. You can upgrade to the Max trim that gets you a bigger battery and 705 km of range, or around 438 miles, along with a more expensive price tag of $40,800.

If you’re looking for the most range possible, the Max Plus model gets 855 km, or around 531 miles, off a single charge and still comes in a decent price of $45,000. The top trim is its Max RS version that comes with a dual-motor AWD configuration and can go from 0 to 62 mph in around 3.3 seconds. You’ll be paying at least $49,300 for this model, while still getting a decent range of 391 miles.

Of course, all these ranges were done through the optimistic CLTC standards. We can expect way more realistic range estimates if Luxeed ever has to go through the EPA’s testing. Even so, the S7 could still offer a competitive range against the Model S’s max of 405 miles.

OVERSEAS COMPETITION

Huawei’s head of the automotive division, Richard Yu, compared the Luxeed S7 to Tesla’s Model S several times during the launch event in China and it kind of makes sense — the new EV has the Model S beat on some key specs. The long-range model gets around 531 miles and clocks in at that’s about half the starting price of a Model S.

Luxeed started preorders for the S7 earlier this month, claiming to have received more than 20,000 preorders already. Deliveries to Chinese customers are expected to begin next year, but there’s no sign that the S7 will be coming to the U.S.

Considering Huawei smartphones have been banned from the U.S. since 2019, we’re not expecting the company to start offering its EVs stateside. It may be unfortunate for us, but at least it still puts pressure on Tesla’s presence overseas.