Car making newcomer I·T BOX introduces EVs for ride-sharing industry
Beijing (ZXZC)- I·T BOX, a newcomer to the automaking industry, held a brand release ceremony on December 15th and introduced its first two EV models targeting ride-sharing market.
BM-400; photo credit: I·T BOX
The company unveiled two models, the BM-400 dedicated to the ride-sharing market and the BM-600 for the car rental market. The BM-400 is expected to start mass-production in 2023, while the BM-600 starts in 2024. According to I·T BOX, the BM-400 model has already landed 42,000 inclined orders so far.
Photo credit: I·T BOX
Notably, the I·T BOX vehicles adopt an innovative “L” shaped seating arrangement, with no passenger seat in the first row, only one seat in the second row, and the typical three seats in the back row. The company designed the space to accommodate passengers’ large cargo, pets, and wheelchairs on board.
Photo credit: I·T BOX
Being a business-end driven product, the I·T BOX vehicles are designed with self-maintenance capabilities. The company said that roughly 75% to 80% of the minor scratches could be repaired by changing the covering parts, including the front and rear bumpers. Drivers of the vehicles can easily change the parts by themselves, significantly lowering the maintenance costs.
I·T BOX stressed that although the car-making process is outsourced, the supply chain, on the other hand, is fully controlled by the company.
Moreover, with the ride-sharing scenario in mind, the vehicles are built with only two doors. Apart from the door to the driver seat, there is only a slide door on the right side of the car for getting on/off the vehicle.
The BM-400 comes with two trims, one with 420km of NEDC range and another with 530km. The designed annual production capacity of the model will total 100,000 units.
The BM-600 offers an up to 600km NEDC range, with a designed annual production capacity of 50,000 units. Besides the high-end rental car market, the BM-600 also expects potential plans for the Robotaxi market.