Geely Zeekr 001 FR has a thing called 'Raikkonen mode'

2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen may have long retired from Formula One, but that has not stopped him from seeking the thrill of speed in other disciplines.

Aside from being the Team Principal of the Kawasaki Racing Team's motocross squad and having a one-off race at NASCAR earlier in the year, the man they call “The Iceman” is now trying his hand at developing performance EVs with Geely's Zeekr brand.

Raikkonen has been named Zeekr's Chief Performance Adviser, and his first project was to help make the 001 FR stronger, faster, and smarter. Zeekr's engineers want to make it known that a Formula One champion had a hand in developing the 001 FR, as they even had a driving mode named after him.

They call it the “Raikkonen mode”, which basically serves as the most extreme drive mode for the 001 FR. It unlocks the power output of the 001 FR to 1300 PS and changes other parameters of the vehicle based on the inputs given by Raikkonen himself. In this mode, the Zeekr 001 FR can reach 100 km/h in just 2.02 seconds.

But apart from the special drive mode, the Zeekr 001 FR's 100 kWh battery gives it a range of up to 550 km using the CLTC cycle. Its 800V architecture also allows rapid charging from 10 to 80% in just 15 minutes.

The Zeekr 001 FR has its production limited to just 99 cars each month and costs 769,000 yuan (around PHP 6 million) in its home market.