Xiaomi SU7 sells like hotcakes, but test cars crash at the same pace

Xiaomi launched its first electric vehicle, SU7, on March 28 in Beijing. China’s Apple Car received nearly 90,000 firm orders 24 hours after launch, which means it is basically sold out in 2024. Deliveries will start by the end of April.

The EV has already hit 59 showrooms in 28 cities nationwide where test drives are available, attracting large crowds. Some customers evenwait until 3 am to drive it. Moreover, Xiaomi handed the SU7 to many lifestyle influencers for driving reviews.

With so many Xiaomi SU7s on the streets, negative narratives started to emerge. Videos and pictures of Xiaomi’s sedan crashed and accidents spread over Chinese social networks. In one of those videos, the driver of the Aqua Blue SU7 loses control of the test vehicle and crashes into the side wall. Before that, he performed inexperienced driving; however, modern EVs should be able to handle that and not allow such a dangerous maneuver.

This points out the failure of the vehicle traction control software. The well-debugged TC system must sense wheel slip and adjust torque via motor or targeted brake application. Based on the video, Xiaomi’s TS system is far from advanced, although it is unclear whether this is due to SW or HW.

For example, Tesla would most likely not allow such an unsafe maneuver. This is not because Tesla’s regular TC would be better, as all systems just measure driven wheel revolutions per minute (RPM) and react when those get too high, as the wheel slips, leading to a reaction delay.

The reason is Tesla has a second TC system for motor traction control. The data from the electric motors are used to measure the actual wheel grip, which gives the possibility to react when the wheel loses traction but isn’t slipping yet. This has its limit, so the regular TC is also used; however, it can yield remarkable results.

Another video shared by Inside China Auto shows the Xiaomi SU7 wearing Radiant Purple with defective air suspension, transforming the testing vehicle into the unintentional lowrider.

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SU7, this time one that looks like the air suspension has deactivated