Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On November 11, Chinese new energy vehicle maker XPENG announced the launch of the industry’s first-ever crowdfunding campaign for a chip upgrade, running from November 11 to December 12, 2024.
According to the company, the crowdfunding effort will be conducted on a model-specific basis. Once the target number of backers for a specific vehicle model is reached, XPENG will commence the preparation work for the respective upgrades.
The company stated that if the crowdfunding is successful, XPENG will notify users via its app with details about the subsequent services. However, refunds will not be available, and the funds raised will immediately go towards R&D. In the event of a failed crowdfunding effort, the collected funds will be refunded via the original payment method within 15 business days, marking the end of the campaign.
The pricing for the chip upgrade is as follows:
Cockpit chip upgrade: Priced at 4,999 yuan, this upgrade involves replacing the 820A chip with the 8295 chip and increasing the memory to 16GB.
Smart driving chip upgrade: Priced at 19,999 yuan, this upgrade includes switching from a single Orin chip to a dual Orin configuration, boosting the smart driving computing power to 508 TOPS.
XPENG noted that the decision to initiate this crowdfunding was driven by demands from long-time users for chip upgrades. The company conducted extensive technical and commercial evaluations before proceeding. Given the high R&D costs associated with hardware upgrades for smart driving and smart cockpit features, XPENG opted for the crowdfunding approach. The project involves redesigning relevant controllers, adapting software systems for both smart driving and in-car systems, and conducting comprehensive software-hardware integration testing and full-vehicle trials. The entire upgrade process is expected to take around 10 months, requiring an investment of 300 person-months and a total R&D budget of 9 million yuan.
