In PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, players with a level-three backpack can carry more supplies, increasing their chances of winning, even getting the coveted “chicken dinner”. The Aiways U5, unveiled yesterday, is an electric SUV that features a built-in level-three backpack, which seems almost like cheating.
In addition to being the latest entrant in the fiercely competitive Chinese electric vehicle market, the Aiways U5 is also making strides in addressing the issue of range anxiety. Aiways CEO Fu Qiang touts an “user-centric” philosophy, which is more easily said than done, as Bruce Sewell, the former senior vice president and general counsel at Apple famously said.
Facing increasing competition in the pure electric vehicle market, many consumers are reluctant to buy one due to range anxiety, with some saying that they won’t buy an electric car until the range reaches 1,000 kilometers. Aiways attacks the issue through two methods: A/B battery packs and lightweighting.
Until now, new automakers have offered various solutions to the range anxiety issue. Tesla and BYD have worked on drastically improving energy density, lightweighting, and reducing wind resistance. NIO has introduced battery-swapping technology, CarEasy offers range extension through gasoline engines, and XPeng Motors boasts fast charging technology. Other companies have been promoting their range by boasting how far they can go at a constant speed of 60 km/h.
However, Aiways has devised the A/B battery pack, a solution that can be seen as cheating. The U5 comes in two versions: one with a 53 kWh battery, and another with a 63 kWh battery, each accompanied by an additional “energy extension” B battery pack. The B battery pack, consisting of six modules, fits snugly underneath the cargo floor, freeing up trunk space. According to Aiways CTO Wang Dong, the B battery pack adds another 100 kilometers to the car’s range, which is above 560 kilometers according to Chinese standards. The installing process for the B battery pack is made convenient through a real-time leasing and home installation service, and each B battery module weights less than 20kg.Yes, Ai Chi’s only standard package for all models is Package A, and Package B is not standard for the entire vehicle and can only be leased and installed. Why is this strategy adopted?
I will try to talk more deeply about the issue of range anxiety. In fact, most gasoline car owners do not have a correct understanding of the psychological safety level of the range that electric cars can cover.
Is it really comfortable to drive less than 500km on a single charge? What about long-distance road trips?
First of all, we must admit that long-distance road trips are indeed real needs. On the other hand, for more than 90% of users, 90% of their trips during the car’s lifespan are short-distance commuting, rather than long-distance traveling that requires higher range.
The conclusion drawn after selecting the two 90% scenarios is: For most users, running out of battery during a trip is a very rare event.
On the other hand, it is undeniable that range anxiety is a real issue. Any new car company should not expect consumers to compromise the convenience of gasoline cars for the driving experience of electric cars. Consumers favor a better user experience, and in all aspects, it should surpass gasoline cars.
However, not every company has the three-electricity accumulation and first-mover advantage like Tesla and BYD. Many solutions to range anxiety require a large investment of financial and human resources to research and develop, such as NIO’s battery swapping and Chehejia’s range-extending technology.
At the same time, with the layout of high-power charging infrastructure and the increase in energy density of batteries, the scenario where range is insufficient, which originally had a very low probability, will be further compressed.
Therefore, for other new car companies, the goal is to eliminate range anxiety for users at the lowest cost while comprehensively considering the maturity of the industry chain. Ai Chi’s Package B is currently the lowest cost option.
When Package B with 18kWh-21kWh is added, the range of Ai Chi U5 will increase from a range of 460km in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s test to 560km. The Tesla Model S 100D, starting at a price of 950,000 RMB, has a range of only 579km.
Another advantage of leasing Package B as a phased solution is that it is light in terms of the model. As the charging network becomes more perfect in the later period, the range anxiety will almost disappear, and Ai Chi can easily withdraw from this part with very little investment.
Do not say that this is a matter for car companies and has nothing to do with users. The cost of investment made by car companies has to be paid by someone.
What is “user-centered”? To achieve a balance between cost and experience while meeting user needs.
Lightweight
It was mentioned earlier that the two not-so-impressive indicators of Package A are 53kWh and 63kWh. Does Ai Chi invest less in three-electricity and vehicle engineering with Packages A and B?Comparison of curb weight: Tesla Model 3: 1730kg, Aiways U5: 1750kg. The weight of an A+ grade SUV and a B-class car with industry-leading lightweight capabilities is quite self-explanatory.
To elaborate further, we have previously introduced Aiways’ battery module development here:
Aiways named their battery patent technology “Sandwich”, which refers to the battery module. The most important filler in Aiways sandwich structure is a layer of insulating board, which is the core secret of their battery technology.
Because an additional layer of insulating board is added, the cooling board will not bear the pressure and impact from the battery module directly, and this lightweight and thin-wall design reduces the weight of the cooling board by 3-4 kg. Finally, Aiways battery pack has achieved an energy density of 170 Wh/kg, entering the first tier of battery energy density.
What does this concept imply? Not to mention the new car-making forces, the benchmark for the new domestically produced EV, BYD Tang EV 600, has an energy density of 161Wh/kg. So even though the Aiways U5 will not be on the market until Q4 next year, it will still remain in the first tier in terms of energy density.
Another highlight is the U5’s body structure, which has a steel upper and aluminum lower.
Because Tesla and NIO have already done all-aluminum, leaving a misconception for ordinary people that “only all-aluminum body can be truly lightweight”, but industry insiders know that material selection is never just black or white; the appropriate one is always the best. The most typical example is the Audi A8, which once pioneered the all-aluminum body in the industry. In the fourth-generation model, hot-formed steel is used extensively in the most stressed parts of the body frame, increasing the weight by 51kg, and the aluminum ratio is reduced to 58%.
What problems are solved by the U5’s upper steel and lower aluminum structure? On the one hand, it significantly improves safety with five-star ratings in the C-NCAP 2018 tests for frontal, side, and partial overlap collisions. On the other hand, it significantly reduces maintenance costs, as the repair cost of steel is significantly lower than that of aluminum, which is beneficial to consumers. At the same time, the curb weight of 1750kg indicates that the upper steel and lower aluminum structure also achieves excellent lightweighting.
This is the characteristic of the Aiways R&D team: “having many ideas on how to build a high-quality pure electric vehicle and having many achievements.” A/B packaging is a good pattern innovation, but Aiways has also achieved good R&D results in the fields of whole vehicle and electrification engineering.
Considering that Aiways is a latecomer to the new car camp, the investment in technology is particularly critical because once there are many products and homogenization occurs, the comparison of technical capabilities will become more prominent.
Product Information
In the era where appearance is everything, let’s first take a look at some pictures of the vehicle’s design. Some people say that the Aiways U5 and NIO ES8 look alike, but the evaluation of ES8’s design is also polarized. So, for these two types of vehicles, is appearance controversial?
I want to mention two small design details.
First, from the front end, the U5 only has one camera and even lacks a front radar. Isn’t it unacceptable for a new vehicle in 2019 to not have hardware for ADAS systems?
Actually, the millimeter-wave radar module of the U5 is hidden beneath the logo and above the camera after repeated adjustments to the paint thickness by Aiways and its supplier without affecting the radar’s effective operation under the premise of ensuring vehicle safety, making the design “look cleaner“.
Secondly, the car does not have a specially made opening for the charging port. The U5’s charging port is located in the air intake grille below the right headlight facing the side of the vehicle, making it easy to charge. The design rationale was also to make the car’s surface more pure without unnecessary lines.
“The proportion and posture of the car have been rigorously reasoned to create a quality feeling with very smooth and simple lines,” said Luo Dongfei, Vice President of Aiways Design.
Here are some parameter information:
- Vehicle platform: Built on the MAS platform developed by Aiways
- Motor power: 140kW
- Battery pack: 53kWh/63kWh (+18kWh-20kWh)
- Range: 460km (+100km)
- Peak torque: 315N.m
- Vehicle specifications: 4680/1880/1680
- Curb weight: 1750kg
Moving further, in terms of driving scenes, the U5 is equipped with automatic driving assistance systems and one-button panoramic automatic parking; in-car entertainment, the U5 supports voice interaction, remote services, multi-segment interconnections, travel services, vehicle management, personal customization, social entertainment, and innovative services…including eight intelligent cockpit systems. OTA is essential, but whether the entire vehicle OTA is supported is not explicitly mentioned by the official.
With new car production reaching today, the intelligence of the entire vehicle is not unimportant but too important that it becomes a basic operation. What’s the point of building a car if you can’t even get the car’s system right?
Finally, let’s talk about the Aiways team, Fu Qiang and Gu Feng, one has served as Volvo’s global vice president and sales company president and CEO, and the other has served as CFO of SAIC Group. These two have a deep background in the automotive industry. Yesterday, when they were speaking on stage, the chairman of NIO, Lu Qun, Dachen Cars Founder and CEO Shen Haiyin, Founder of ORA, Zhang Yong, Dai Dali, NIO Vice President Zhu Jiang, Shen Feng, Executive Vice President of EVStart Yang Shendong and Vice President of Xpeng Motors Liu Yilin were present at the event.Translate the Chinese text in Markdown format below into English Markdown format, in a professional way, retaining the HTML tags inside Markdown, and only outputting the result
This extensive network and experience can largely make up for Ai Chi’s weaknesses in latecomers. In April of this year, Ai Chi’s factory in Shangrao, Jiangxi completed the roofing of the stamping and welding workshop. According to the press conference, the factory will be fully integrated in January 2019, and the first batch of car owners will be delivered in Q4 2019.
There is also a milestone: Launching at the Shanghai International Auto Show in April 2019. The biggest suspense of the press conference was undoubtedly the announcement of the price. However, even without the announcement, a range of roughly 200,000-300,000 yuan could be guessed. Will customers buy it?
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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.