Recently, 01 Auto, a new energy smart heavy-duty truck company, announced the completion of 140 million yuan Pre-A round of financing. The release of this information marks that this start-up has successfully completed three rounds of financing in just one year since its establishment.
This round of financing was jointly led by Tianshan Capital and Lenovo Venture Capital, followed by Xinyi Capital, and Hanergy Investment served as the financial advisor. The funds will be mainly used for the continuous investment and construction of the mass production of the first batch of models, core subsystem research and development, autonomous driving algorithm research, and talent recruitment.
According to public information, 01 Automobile was founded in June 2022 by Huang Zehua, the co-founder, engineering partner and senior vice president of engineering of TuSimple, the former leading autonomous driving enterprise, and former general manager of Sany Heavy Truck, Beiqi Foton Dai Muller Vice President Zhang Hongsong co-initiated the establishment. As successful entrepreneurs at the top of their respective industries, this combination can be regarded as a model of the collision and combination of emerging autonomous driving and traditional truck manufacturing industry leaders.
The resulting 01 Automobile will be based on positive design, looking forward to high-level automatic driving, and providing green and efficient new energy smart heavy trucks. Zero One Automobile is committed to realizing full-stack self-research on core systems such as core powertrain, integrated thermal management, and autonomous driving technology, and uses software to define hardware, and uses data and technology to reconstruct the supply chain to achieve independent, safe, controllable and Structural cost optimization.
It is reported that the research and development of the 01 1.0 platform is progressing quite rapidly, and the first batch of products will be divided into two models, focusing precisely on the short-distance freight market that is most suitable for new energy heavy trucks. On the first-generation platform, Zero One has been equipped with key technologies such as self-developed segmented electric drive axle, vehicle thermal management system based on heat pump technology, wire-controlled chassis, high-efficiency battery layout, high-passability body structure, and linkage calculation of driving data. . While focusing on economy, efficiency, reliability and safety, multiple core indicators will refresh the existing industry-leading level and greatly improve the technical standards of domestic heavy trucks.
Both products are expected to achieve mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of 2023. With the transportation industry ushering in a huge transformation and upgrading window, and the development and application of electrification and intelligence have been fully proved to be the general trend in the passenger car market, the innovation and upgrade of the commercial vehicle track with clearer scenarios and clearer demands It will also quickly enter the public eye. Zero One Automobile has clearly made long-term planning and full preparations for this, extensively absorbing high-quality talents, continuously iterating products, and creating "software + hardware + data" competition barriers.
In the long run, can it quickly gain market recognition through the introduction of high-level talents, independent research and development and breakthroughs in core technologies, deep digging and understanding of target scenarios, and the cooperation of capital support and industrial chains, and eventually grow into a new energy smart company? The leader of heavy trucks deserves continuous attention and expectation.
Investors’ views: Regarding this round of financing, Cong Zhen, founding and managing partner of Tianshan Capital, said: “The pure electric heavy truck with positive design is the future of the industry, and it is also the track that Tianshan Capital values most as a fund focusing on investment in the hard technology field. One. We are very optimistic about Huang Zehua and Zhang Hongsong's combination of "smart driving + traditional manufacturing", and believe that they can lead the 01 team to the top.