Author: Tang Yifan
At present, the acceptance of electric vehicles is much higher than that of the previous years, and it has become the first choice or exchange option for many consumers. For young people who have just entered the society, considering factors such as usage costs, electric vehicles are actually more suitable as their first car.
Speaking of lower-priced models, people may think of models such as Wuling MINI EV, Changan Benni EV, Ola black cat, white cat, Chery Little Ant, etc. Among them, Little Ant is a model with high visibility, with a starting price of only 59,900 yuan, which many people can accept.
Seeing this, do you think buying a Little Ant is all you need to be worry-free? Wait a minute, although the low-end Little Ant is cheap, if you want the configuration level to pass, you still need to choose the 70,900 yuan spirit version. But as long as you add less than 9,000 yuan, you can buy another more recommendable model, that is BYD’s Qin Pro.
Safety is not optional, be serious when buying a car!
The reason why Qin Pro with a higher starting price is recommended has many reasons, but the first one is the safety issue that we all care about.
Qin Pro uses BYD’s blade battery, which has the characteristics of high safety and long life. In the previous announced needle piercing test, there was no open flame or explosion, and the temperature was very low, showing excellent safety performance. The third-generation intelligent temperature control management system can regulate the temperature of the entire battery pack, thereby extending the battery life. Ultimately, the battery pack supports cycling charge and discharge for more than 3000 times, and supports driving mileage of more than 1.2 million kilometers. In terms of battery use, I think everyone need not worry.
In other aspects, Qin Pro has also made very sufficient preparations. For example, TPMS tire pressure monitoring system and CN95 class air conditioning filter. The former can monitor tire pressure in real-time, avoiding various dangers caused by tire blowouts, and the latter can effectively filter particles larger than 0.3 microns to provide a good air environment for the car.
If there is a rear-end accident, the abundant passive safety protection of Yuan Pro can ensure the survival space of the passenger compartment with high-strength body structure and multiple airbags for buffering. In addition, the sufficient high-voltage protection can also maximize the protection of battery safety and avoid accidents. It can be said that Yuan Pro has performed well in both active and passive safety.
This is not to say that Xiaomayi does not have relevant safety configurations, but it falls short of perfection like Yuan Pro.
Price is 9,000 yuan higher and size is one size bigger
The second reason to recommend Yuan Pro is space.
First, let’s take a look at the simple data comparison. The length, width, and height of Yuan Pro are 4375/1785/1680 mm respectively, with a wheelbase of 2535 mm; while the length, width and height of Xiaomayi’s body are 3200/1670/1550 mm respectively, with a wheelbase of 2150 mm, which is a typical micro-car body shape.
Not to mention that Xiaomayi only has a two-door design and the inconvenience of entering and exiting the back seat. The rear space can only be evaluated as “usable”, with small legroom and insufficient lateral space in the back seat. Therefore, it makes sense for Xiaomayi to be designed as a four-seater coupe.
As a 5-seater small SUV, Yuan Pro naturally has a very large advantage in terms of space performance. The extra 1.175 m body length and 0.115-meter width are fully converted into interior space. Compared with Xiaomayi, the rear of Yuan Pro has better lateral space and legroom. It’s not only about capacity but also about comfort.
More importantly, the seat of Yuan Pro is notably thick and comfortable, the soft filling is in line with ergonomics so that the comfort performance is significantly better than that of Xiaomayi’s thin seat.
### Intelligent Technology, the More the Better
Of course, the more interesting configurations that meet the needs of young people are worth mentioning.
The Ant has configurations and features such as 10-inch central control screen, wireless phone charging, voice recognition, online navigation, car WiFi, Baidu CarLife, and phone remote control, which are also considered as more interesting configurations. Although there are many of them, most of them are standard configurations in this price range.
On top of these, the Yuan Pro has added functions such as central control screen rotation, online application installation, online audio and video entertainment, smart key bracelet, phone Bluetooth key, phone NFC key, remote OTA upgrade, remote high-temperature sterilization, remote authorization to start the vehicle, and more. These configurations are not only rare in cars of the same price and level, but also not commonly equipped even in higher-priced models. By the way, now we can take care of all aspects of our daily life on our phones, and with the phone NFC key function on the Yuan Pro, we can achieve true keyless entry and keyless start. Come to think of it, this is quite sci-fi.
In addition, configurations such as 16-inch wheel hub, keyless entry, cruise control, LCD instrument, LED headlights, automatic air conditioning, etc. are all standard configurations on the Yuan Pro model. Whether from the perspective of “play” or “use”, the Yuan Pro is superior.
Affordable Price, No Compromise in Power
Finally, I don’t know if you have ever driven this type of micro electric car. These electric cars are designed specifically for commuting, and there are relatively large trade-offs in driving-related design.
The motor power of the Little Ant itself is not high, with a peak power of only 30 kW and a peak torque of only 120 N·m. Its acceleration ability is relatively weak, and the actual maximum speed only reaches just over 100 km/h and requires a long distance to accelerate. The small body size and light weight also result in poor stability performance of Little Ant at medium-to-high speeds, so it is not suitable for it to travel on fast roads or highways.
The situation is different for the Yuan Pro, which is equipped with a motor with a peak power of 100 kW, more than three times that of Little Ant, and a peak torque of 210 N·m. Its outstanding power performance allows Yuan Pro to accelerate from 0 to 50 km/h in just 3.9 seconds, which is 2 seconds faster than Little Ant. It can achieve quicker speed and overtaking. Of course, with the advantage of size, weight and suspension tuning, Yuan Pro will also show better stability in medium-to-high speed road conditions.
All these differences in driving performance are related to safety. Better performance and stability mean that drivers can drive the car more easily and comfortably, and pay more attention to the road, which improves the overall safety of the driving process.
Before the launch of Yuan Pro, the RMB 70,000 level was mostly occupied by small or micro cars with poor overall space performance and low configuration level. However, the launch of Yuan Pro officially broke this situation, with better safety performance, superior space and configuration performance, and better driving performance. All of these make Yuan Pro performance competitive with cars priced at RMB 110,000 or RMB 120,000. Compared to these small cars, Yuan Pro is a knockdown and a good bargain if you can buy one.
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.