Leapmotor T03 is a great small electric car
Leapmotor started the deliveries of its electric sports car the S01 roughly a year ago, but recently this Chinese startup launched a more affordable electric car, the T03 that could be perfect for the European car market.
With a NEDC range of 403 km (250 miles) – that translates to a WLTP range around 300 km (186 miles) – this electric car is eligible for the full Chinese government subsidy of 22.500 yuan (2.742 euros).
Prices after subsidies
- Standard Edition: 65.800 yuan (8.018 euros)
- Comfort Edition: 71.800 yuan (8.749 euros)
- Deluxe Edition: 75.800 yuan (9.237 euros)
Prices before subsidies
- Standard Edition: 88.300 yuan (10.760 euros)
- Comfort Edition: 94.300 yuan (11.491ย euros)
- Deluxe Edition: 98.300 yuan (11.978 euros)
If you’re trying to guess how much this electric car could cost in Europe, notice that in China electric cars continue to be exempt from a 10 percent sales tax through the end of 2022.
With a standard VAT of 20 % (average in Europe) and without any government subsidies the price of the Deluxe Edition could increase from 11.978 to 14.374 euros.
Leapmotor T03 interior
Basic specs
- Seats: 4
- Length: 3.620 mm
- Wheelbase: 2.400 mm
- Width: 1.652 mm
- Height: 1.577 mm
- Luggage capacity: 210 L
- Weight: 1.087 kg (Standard Edition), 1.088 kg (Comfort Edition) and 1.122 kg (Deluxe Edition)
- Vehicle warranty: 3 years or 120.000 kilometres
Powertrain
- Electric motor: 55 kW with a maximum torque of 155 N.m
- Maximum speed: 100 km/h (limited via firmware)
- Range (NEDC): 403 km (250 miles)
- Battery capacity: 36,5 kWh
- Battery energy density: 171 Wh/kg
- Battery chemistry: NCM 811 battery made by CATL
- Battery warranty: 8 years or 150.000 kilometres
- TMS:ย Intelligent liquid heat management system (heating + cooling)
- DC fast charging: 30-80 % in 36 minutes
- On-board charging: 30-80 % in 6 hour
- System efficiency: up to 92,3 %
For the European market the maximum speed would have to increase to 120-130 km/h.
Leapmotor T03 powertrain
The image above demonstrates the beautiful simplicity of electric cars and why they can be cheaper to produce than ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) cars. A production line that assembles electric cars is much simpler, faster and efficient.
Anyway, what makes the Leapmotor T03 a much better alternative to similar Chinese electric cars such as the BYD e1, ORA R1 and ORA R2 is the impressive and vast safety equipment available in the Deluxe Edition.
It also receives OTA (Over-the-Air) software updates. The last one was two weeks ago.
Safety equipment of Deluxe Edition
- Disc brakes on front and rear wheels
- 11 ultrasonic sensors
- 1 face recognition camera
- CCS Cruise Control System
- LDW Lane Departure Warning System
- SLIF speed limit identification system
- DFM fatigue driving warning system
- FCW Front Collision Warning System
- ACC adaptive cruise system
- LSF low-speed following system
- AEB automatic emergency braking system
- LKA Lane Keeping Assist System
- APS Intelligent Parking System
The high-tech Deluxe Edition seems perfect for the European electric car market, it has many safety features that are rare in small cars, the only things missing are a cobalt-free battery and an annual production of one million units…
It would also be nice that the electric motor instead of being attached to the front wheels, was on the rear for better turning circle, just like the Renault Twingo ZE. This is especially important in city cars.
More info:
Such an awesome car.
I have a lot of respect for what the engineers at these small Chinese companies can create.
Same respect for their engineers from me…
In the EU they should be able to compete with them but the US auto companies will probably need the goverment to protect them from superior competition…
America simply lacks the culture to compete now days…
Small crossover priced perfectly for most families with 1-2 children. 300 km WLTP range is ideal for many. May be once we have to stop if we take a longer trip. For a trip beyond 500 km, we may have to use another car or rent a car. For โฌ 14K, you have a lot of cash left in your pocket which you can use for renting a car for such long trip.
Hatch space is very small at 210 liters. Probably rear seats should be folded to carry bigger items by compromising on 2 seats.
Kandi is going to launch similar vehicle in USA. Few such models will force VW, PSA, Renault groups to launch BEVs at right price instead of selling compliance vehicles.
The Kandi does not look like it can compete with the Leapmotor spec wise as it is only has half the power and less range and does not look nearly as clean and sharp…
This looks about like a perfect city car…
No ridiculous amounts of power to shred your tires like my Chevy Bolt has…
I was going to turn on Teen Drive like some cars have to limit the acceleration and tire shredding but it does not have it…
This type of vehicle is called kei-car or mini-car in Japan and such vehicles comprise 1/3 of all vehicles sold (cars, vans, suvs, buses & trucks).
Chinese generally buy vehicles larger than these, but in BEV segment these types of vehicles are becoming popular because of smaller battery and lower cost.ย
Baijun, Ora, Chery EQ and now Leapmotor T03 is the 4th vehicle that we know of. Dashboard is clean and simple and I hope this helps them keep the cost low.
This car only confirm my assumption, that Dacia Spring will have big troubles in EU if they not redesign its powertrain and battery close to 300km WLTP range. Also VW ID.1 concept for 2025 with 24 kWh and 36 kWh optional battery is only a wet dream. They also need to rethink it to at least 36 kWh base capacity and 45 kWh optional.
I guess it’s a question of price and availability.
The Dacia Spring can have a WLTP range of 200 km and sell well if priced at around 15.000 euros (before government incentives) and the delivery time isn’t long.
Nonetheless, the Renault Twingo ZE and Dacia Spring are backup cars that the Renault Group will only actively sell if the more profitable ZOE isn’t enough to reach EU emissions targets.
How do you know which one is more profitable, or what Renault’s sales strategy is?…
1 thing this shows is CATL is making NCM 811 battery at higher volume and affordable price and thats why this crossover could be priced so affordably. It will be interesting if they can reveal at least the price range like $100 – $110 or $110 – $120 for their NCM battery.
๏ปฟ
That is a very interesting point. I’m kind of surprised that 811 cells are being used in small affordable EVs. I expected them to be used first in larger long range vehicles because they have better energy density, so they can make higher kwh fit in the vehicle. I also thought that 811 cells needed more careful thermal management than the 523 or 622 cells because they were not as stable. But maybe not? It’s a very good sign that they are economical enough to be used in a cheap EV like this.
Higher-density cells are usually cheaper, since they need less material and less manufacturing effort… (Unless it’s a completely different chemistry, like LFP.)
Also, requirements on density (especially volumetric) are actually *more* demanding in a small car to still get a decent range…
Battery sales news.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-supplier-lg-chem-largest-081557150.html
2020-H1 battery sales
LG Chem Ltd. 83% increase to 10.5 gigawatt-hours.
Samsung SDI Co. 35% increase.
SK Innovation Co. 66% increase.
CATL 28% decrease to 10-gigawatt hours
Panasonic 32% decrease to 8.7-gigawatt hours.
Subsidy cut in China must have impacted CATL sales.
Rodrigo Melo also shared some interesting information on that subject.
1) LG Chem’s EV battery business is profitable, unlike what currently happens with other Korean battery cell makers such as Samsung SDI and SK Innovation. Mostly thanks to its plant in Europe (Poland).
2) LG Chem now controls 70 percent of European EV battery market.
3) LG Chem is increasing annual production from 64 to 100 GWh before the end of this year.
https://res.heraldm.com/content/image/2020/08/02/20200802000152_0.jpg
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200802000104
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200731000541
Gotta love the misleading cropping/scaling happening on that last SNE Research graph, with SKIโs 4.1% share appearing 5 times smaller than ASECโs 4.4%.
Even AESC is wrongly spelled as ASEC, I already contacted the author of the article and the chart was removed to be revised.
T03 sold a decent 698 units in its initial launch month of 2020-06 in China.
https://carsalesbase.com/china-leapmotor-t03/
@Pedro Lima
Can you please cover yesterdays reveal of Cadillac Lyriq. They mentioned 300 miles of range, but did not give more details about pickup speed, battery options, price …
Thanks Famlin, there was a press release last month (July 13) stating that 1.133 units of the T03 were already sold since its debut. At least that’s what I understand from the Google translation…
https://www.leapmotor.com/news/news-detail.html?id=528
As for the Cadillac Lyriq, it’s still too soon for details, I’m also curious about its NCMA battery…
By the way, 739 units were sold last month, therefore 1.437 units in two months (June and July).
https://twitter.com/DKurac/status/1290551557025497089
Your calculation to make the price in Europe is very poor
I agree, importing them from China would make them more expensive.
My goal was just to show how much a good electric car like this could cost if built locally in Europe.
It would be more expensive though if built locally in Europe…
How i purchase in Pakistan really great machine…..
For a moment I had the 500 FIAT electric version to dream for, a good copy for what I can see, the only difference is from and made in china, a proof of good taste for good design.
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Engaging and thought-provoking, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!