SF Motors Offers A Glimpse Into The Future With Its SF5 & SF7 Concepts

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Tonight, SF Motors announced its first two vehicles, the SF5 & SF7.

With these two vehicles, SF Motors claims it has created a driving experience that measures up to the best high-performance cars on the road today. The cars are built around the company’s integrated powertrain, enabling long range, fast acceleration, and exceptional driving control.

The design philosophy of these cars is rooted in human-centered design, and includes intelligent technologies that focus on autonomous driving, connectivity, and the Human Machine Interface (HMI).

The company’s SF5 model exemplifies those design principles with its intuitive interface, smart air suspension, fastback silhouette, accelerated roofline, Sigma-shaped lights, and integrated charge port opening.

Led by Founder and CEO John Zhang, says in the press release: “Tonight, I am both humbled and proud to say that SF Motors is creating a new generation of intelligent electric vehicles, drawing upon a truly global business model, decades of manufacturing experience, and the wisdom of Silicon Valley’s brightest minds. SF Motors is in a perfect position to move the entire EV industry forward … and this is a race everyone can win.”

Fast Facts about the SF5 and SF7

The newest launch from SF Motors offers the following features:

• Proprietary powertrain delivers 1000 horsepower and a 0–60 MPH time in sub 3 seconds
• Targeting “protective autonomy” safety technology by 2020
• System users LiDAR to handle typical driving tasks even in adverse weather and road conditions

SF Motors is strategically positioning itself with EV manufacturing capability in two of the world’s largest automotive markets — the U.S. and China.

The first vehicle will be available for pre-order by the end of 2018, and hitting the road in 2019

SF Motors CTO, Yifan Tang says, “Our team has accomplished so much. From the creation of our ‘protective autonomy’ technology to our e-powertrain, battery, and motor achievements, we are expanding our footprint as a global OEM and a vertical integrator. And, as much as we thrive on research, our technology is meant for the roads, not the lab.”

Cars That Are Thrilling, Aware, Stunning

The guiding design principles for SF Motors are to develop vehicles that are thrilling, aware, and stunning. As we’ve written about before, not everyone chooses an EV because they care about climate – it’s going to be the incredible acceleration, the improved driving experience, and other features that really sway folks to make an EV purchase. SF Motors Chief Engineer Thomas Fritz says, “It is the intentional symbiosis of power and performance that we’ve achieved here that will inspire confidence and excitement as soon as you’re seated in one of our cars.”

SF Motors is working to create vehicles that are thrilling to drive and stunning in appearance. But it’s more that form and function: the awareness built into the vehicles is imperative.

Being embedded in Silicon Valley’s spirit of innovation and rapid iteration allowed the company to make significant advances in their core technology on two fronts: electric and intelligent.

Some of the other technologies that SF Motors has created include:

• A flexible motor system allowing vehicle design using one, two, three, or four motor configurations. At the top end, the powerful four-motor system will deliver over 1000HP, meaning vehicles can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 3 seconds. The company’s motors, motor controllers, and gearboxes are key to this, with peak power ranging from 100 kW to 400 kW.
• In order to provide greater driving convenience and ease range anxiety, SF Motors has developed a range-extension platform with a highly efficient, high-power onboard generator. This feature further extends the driving range for the company’s vehicles.
• SF Motors has developed its own proprietary battery cells, with a leading energy density and a long cycle life.
• SF Motors has also developed a patented battery pack system, enabling range of more than 300 miles (EPA) or 500 km (NEDC). The patented battery pack system design puts safety and reliability first, leveraging an advanced Battery Management System (BMS), liquid-cool thermal management system, and unique mechanical structures.
• The company is also experimenting with next-generation battery modules that will integrate directly into the vehicle chassis. This design will also support rapid manufacturing using laser welding to connect the battery cells.
  
• In keeping with its focus on sustainability, the company is advancing a battery recycling strategy, developing energy storage products to find second applications in homes and offices, and enabling the batteries which power its vehicles to live a second life.
  
• To ensure full control over performance optimization, the company has developed all its electronic controllers in-house. These controllers use advanced, unique algorithms to enable instantaneous all-wheel-drive torque vectoring. The company’s secure gateway unit provides a constant protection barrier for the vehicle’s data and over-the-air software updates.

Growth of the Company

While they have been working for the past two years, they have recently started testing their autonomous technology on the open roads. Other milestones include acquisition of manufacturing plants, research centers, and new headquarters from Silicon Valley to Beijing.

The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley but their global R&D centers in the United States, Germany, China, and Japan attract top talent in the industry, and their industry partnerships already include Bosch, Dürr, Siemens, University of Michigan, and more.

Dedicated to moving the EV Industry Forward: “Everyone wins with the wider adoption of EV technology.”

In order to scale for wider adoption of electric vehicles, SF Motors is working to share their strengths. To bring together the industry, they will be sharing their powertrain with others that share their vision; they promise to be a leader in the industry and reach new markets by sharing their local market understanding and global manufacturing network. Finally, they will work to incubate new technologies with select partners and move them from incubation to production.