Tested the Zeekr 001 — A Chinese EV That’s Still Ahead of Its Time

Tested the Zeekr 001 — A Chinese EV That’s Still Ahead of Its Time

It is already a 5-year-old car by now, but especially for the price, it is very good. Zeekr is the latest brand from Chinese automotive conglomerate Geely. It was founded in 2021, and 001, a large pure electric Fastback, was its first model. It has been sold in China for about 5 years, but it has just become available in Europe, where I have come to live with it for a week. This is not equal to the new, only Chinese model, but this five-year-old Chinese EV is still feeling ahead of the pack in Europe. The new 001 you can buy in China today is a renewed model with an upgraded 800 volt architecture; it charges faster and more European 001 is an old 400 volt version and lacks the improvements seen in the Chinese version. That sounds like a reason to shrug and go back to seeing the used Taycans.

It feels like a lot of high-quality cars for a starting price of € 58,500 here in Romania. Before driving it, I thought of the 001 as an alternative budget to the Porsche Taikan Sport Turismo in many ways. But after spending some time with it, I realized that it's not trying to imitate Porsche or any other brand, it may be a premium brand built around precision engineering, but it's more than just a Porsche rival. It's not perfect, and there are some things I want to change about it, but it should worry about legacy luxury brands.

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It Looked Expensive

The Zeekr001 is a Chinese car built in China, but I feel very little Chinese about it. This is because it was designed in Sweden, home to Geely brand Volvo and Polestar. The 001 has a distinctive LED daytime running light streak, with headlights hidden behind the smoke panel below, making it look sporty and a bit sinister (especially if it's all black, like my tester). The car looks taller than in the photo. Even though it is almost the same size as the Porsche, it's amazing how big it looks close to the Taikan Sports Turismo as it looks like a size-class vehicle on top.

The Zeekr has a width of 1.3 inches (3.3 cm), a height of 6.1 inches (15.6 cm) and a wheelbase of 118.3 inches (3.005 m), which is 4.1 inches (10.5 cm) longer than the Porsche wheelbase. These numbers explain why the Zeekr sits much higher and why the rear seats have much more capacity. It's about the same height as the Makan EV, but it can well hide the extra height when viewed from the side. My tester had an optional height-adjustable air suspension that transforms the look of the car when set to its low settings.

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But the best part of the design is its rear end. The sporty, sloping fast-back rear end has a full width light bar with a cluster of blade elements that lights up individually, giving it a very sleek look. Of course, it has animation when you lock and unlock it, using extensive rear lighting to full effect. The privilege tester of my best range came with some impressive diamond-cut 22-inch wheels, a phantom black look and really, I thought it made the car look a little more modest than some of the lighter available shades, but people couldn't take their eyes off it. I got a couple of thumbs from a few people on the sidewalk. When was the last time you drove something with this attention from an established premium brand?

It Feels Expensive

My privileged trim Tester had everything you could ask for. There are even more expensive sports edition trims, but they do not add extra toys. Orange brake calipers, unique 22-inch wheels, orange interior theme, etc., just bring cosmetic changes. The car I drove was a black and gray interior with copper detailing, with little to criticize. Only the steering wheel has real leather, but the animal-friendly alternative used throughout the cabin feels good and does not spoil its luxurious aspirations.

The steering wheel is comfortable in the hand and looks sporty, while the Prong's 2 touchpad looks like a bad idea. Just touching the area on either pad will show the function of the head-up display, and over time you will learn where to press to raise or lower the media volume, but that just seems unnatural.  Adjusting the driving position to fit my six-foot frame with long legs, I had to have a seat closer to the pedal than I felt comfortable because it just didn't come as close to me as I wanted that there wasn't enough reach adjustment for the steering column. I could have used the extended thigh support to feel even more comfortable.

But this was not a deal breaker and after a while I got used to driving positions. It's not as good as a BMW or Porsche, where you can sit much lower and get the steering wheel much closer, which is what you want if you are an avid driver. Overall, the fact that the driving position of the 001 is closer to the crossover than the sports car. I'm not a big screen fan stuck in the middle of the dashboard. But you need to use one in 001 for most car features. When switching menus, it sometimes hangs for seconds, but the 15-inch unit looks and runs fine, with good graphics and minimal lag. It should run smoothly, too, because the car gets a little bigger and better OLED screen in China which has more processing power.

I must give the backseat a shout, it was great. The franchise electrically tilts the rear backrest just enough and allows you to recline to really relax on long trips. The rear seats are also heated, and there is a 7.7-inch touch screen where you can adjust the climate and media settings or change the color of the surrounding lighting.

It's Packed Full of Punches.

You would expect an electric car the size of 001 to be heavy, and you would be absolutely right. With its large 100 kWh (94kWh usable) NMC battery and dual motor setup, it weighs just over 5,300 pounds (2,410 kg), its 544 hp and 506lb-ft (686Nm) output (courtesy of two identical 272 hp motors). That's why you get it from 0- 62mph (100km/h) in 3.8 seconds. The dual-motor 001 jumps up to 363 miles (585km) in WLTP ratings, or 7.2 miles (62km) if you can use a single-motor 272 hp variant that sprints to 385mph in 620 seconds.

Unlike the new stablemates, the highest charging power of 800 volts EV, the European 001 does not have 400 volts, and the peak charging speed is 200kW. That's not a bad figure, and between 30-10% in 80 minutes is still a good thing. There is a kit of Zeekr shelves that you want to expand to the 800-type turbocharger upgrade of the 001. Depending on how you drive, you may find yourself charging 001 quite often, especially if you take it to the highway or speed limit. Before I took out the car on a faster road my average was just driving around town about 2.37 miles/kWh (26.2kWh/100km), i.e. 220 miles (360km) on a full battery.

It drops to 2.15 miles/kWh (29 kWh/100 km) and is doing a constant 80.7 mph (130 km/h). At that pace, you'll be lucky to get 190 miles (305 kilometers) on a full charge doing highway speed limits during the winter. After some highway time, I pulled into a 350 kW charger. I pre-adjusted the battery for about 24 minutes before I connected it with a state of 10% of the charge. It started charging at 110 kW, peaked at about 145 kW, reached about 40%, then tapered down to 75 kW or less by the time it reached 70%. They are average results and are below the evaluated figures. Again, that upgraded model will help here.

Comfort Meets Handling

There is a little bit strange about the power supply of 001. Unless in sports mode, even when you step on the accelerator pedal, the power is only gradually supplied, which makes it feel slower and less responsive than some burning cars. Even in sports mode, you still get this gradual wind, but it does feel much faster and every bit as powerful as the statistics suggest. It is not intended to surprise you with insane acceleration. The suspension of 001 was impressive. My best range tester had a height-adjustable adaptive air suspension that ironed road defects remarkably well, even with the 22-inch wheels that come as a privilege standard.

The car was good at dipping bumps and even going on bad roads. The suspension went about its business in a very quiet way. It was quieter than most Mercedes-Benz cars with a similar set-up I had recently done. Tightening and lowering the suspension changes the way the car feels, making it surprisingly sharp and sporty. You can carry a lot of speed through the corners of the 001 and it can feel smaller and lighter than it is, giving you the confidence to push it a bit on the curved stretch of the tarmac. It's not as good as the BMW i5 Touring M60, but it's sportier than any other Chinese car I've ever driven and has its own character.