(Yicai Global) June 19 -- Li Auto announced that the Chinese electric vehicle startup will launch its first battery electric vehicle by the end of this year.

The Mega will cost more than CNY500,000 (USD70,000) each and become the best seller among passenger cars in the same price bracket, the Beijing-based automaker said on its official Weibo account on June 17.

Li Auto’s cars now on sale are all equipped with an extended-range hybrid power system, priced at about CNY300,000.

On June 17, Li Auto also held its Family Tech Day at which it announced that it had developed a battery that can run for 400 kilometers on a 9.5 minutes charge at its high-voltage platform.

“Li Auto’s 800-volt high-voltage pure-electric platform will lead the charging speed into the so-called fifth-generation era from the second-generation era, and this will hopefully enable EVs to replace fuel-powered vehicles on a large scale,” said Liu Qiang, head of Li Auto’s driving power development.

The company also has started to upgrade its super-charging network, aiming to narrow the average distance between highway stations to less than 100 km by 2025, with each able to recharge nine to 20 vehicles per hour, comparable with gas stations.

In addition, Li Auto unveiled its self-developed automatic charging robots that can re-energize cars without human input.

On top of that, the automaker said it built a new-generation multi-modal human-machine interaction technology system based on large natural language-processing model Mind GPT.

During the Family Tech Day, Li Auto also showcased its navigate on autopilot for commuters that does not rely on high-precision maps. With the new function, drivers can train their vehicles on their commuting routes for a week and then get them to cover the preset course automatically.

Editor: Futura Costaglione