SHANGHAI – U POWER, a Chinese Smart EV technology startup, has recently debuted its two product lines including UP SUPERBOARD and UP SPACE concept car on its first-ever UP DAY event.
Paul Li, Founder and CEO of U POWER, said, “The new car-making 1.0 era witnessed automakers committed to turning fuel vehicles into EVs. As skateboard chassis technology becomes mature, the auto industry will usher in the new car-making 2.0 era. There will be more cross-industry players entering the game with no industry experience required. Automobiles will evolve to a smarter, more customized, purpose-driven mobile intelligent space. U POWER will lead the whole industry into the new car-making 2.0 era.”
The UP SUPER BOARD is upgraded from the skateboard chassis, developed to meet the rapidly changing customized experience. It upgrades the traditional vehicle development from “integrated” to “independent”. UP SUPER BOARD integrates core capabilities of smart EVs, including the E-propulsion, suspension, braking, steering, smart driving and thermal management. Development of a new model with UP SUPER BOARD will be 6-12 months faster, greatly lowering the cost and entry barrier. UP SUPER BOARD redefines the basic principles, technical guidance and supply chain of automobile R&D.
The UP SUPER BOARD integrates four leading technologies, namely: chassis-by-wire, ring-network based EEA with pluggable design, CTC battery system, and highly integrated thermal system. As a platform-based software and hardware integrated operating system, UP SUPER BOARD empowers automakers with the potential to create high-quality smart EVs with a driving range of more than 1000 km and computing power of more than 1000 TOPS, meeting the future demand of Level 4 plus autonomous driving. This allows automakers to focus more on styling, space and intelligent user experience and operation.
The three UP SPACE concept cars are built on the same UP SUPER BOARD. They demonstrate to the industry the great advantages of the skateboard chassis in terms of styling creativity and space layout. The skateboard chassis structure frees up space in the front trunk, allowing the UP SPACE to have extremely high space utilization. Take the unique UP SPACE 02 Super MPV for example, it has the exterior length of an A-class car yet offers the ride experience of a C-class MPV, with even more legroom and a sense of sportiness and luxury which is rarely seen in an MPV.
At present, U POWER has created five different styles of UP SPACE on the same standardized chassis, covering a wide range of passenger and commercial vehicle product categories, including sedan, MPV, SUV, pickup and van. This demonstrates the capability of the UP Super Board, i.e., empowering automakers to quickly launch a rich product portfolio in a shorter development cycle.
The first prototype of UP SUPER BOARD is now completed and entered the dynamic tunning stage. The UP SUPER BOARD has demonstrated the ability to drive autonomously following pre-defined waypoints within HD map, proving its potential to support high-level autonomous driving functions.
As the only high-speed skateboard chassis technology company in China, U POWER received a Pre-A+ round of financing led by Bosch China’s Boyuan Capital in October 2021 at a valuation of RMB 1.5 billion.
