AION V Plus – What is the Most Sincere Upgrade for the Annual Facelift?

What is the most sincere upgrade for the annual facelift of a car?

Traditional car companies might choose to enhance the car’s appearance or add new configurations, often resulting in insignificant upgrades.

But Guangqi Aion, a brand that is deeply rooted in traditional car companies but distinct from them, gives a special answer: ALL IN – give every technology that has reached the application stage rather than hold back for the next new car.

Upgrading from AION V to AION V Plus, there are a few hard parameters worth noting:

• Driving range: 702km in the new model;
• Charging: SPEED++ level, charging for 5 minutes can drive for 207km;
• ADAS: Ultravision summoning parking and intelligent navigation assistance.

Each of the above upgrades is already leading in their respective fields. In addition, AION V Plus has upgraded its appearance with an elongated body and new color schemes. The intelligent cabin experience has also been enhanced, with a 15.6-inch large screen and rich software ecology.

Guangqi Aion’s ALL IN for the annual facelift of AION V is undoubtedly worth looking forward to. But how does the actual driving experience of AION V Plus after the annual facelift perform?

In early September, as the north began to enter autumn whilst the south still faced summer heat, “EV Observer” briefly test-drove the car. It should be noted that the test drive car is still in the trial installation stage, and some aspects are still being upgraded.

ADAS Upgrades with Multiple Highlights

AION V Plus has upgraded to the ADiGo3.0 intelligent driving assistance system in intelligent ADAS, added the NDA intelligent navigation assistance system, and the Ultravision summoning parking function.

The Ultravision summoning parking function on AION V Plus requires route learning first, and then the vehicle can park according to the corresponding route. The function can be enabled on the phone, and the real-time monitoring screen is displayed on the phone.

Compared with other models equipped with the Ultravision summoning parking function, Guangqi Aion has added an A-for-B-use function in the development of the Ultravision summoning parking, which can copy the automatic parking function learned by car A to car B. Under the same scene and the same route, car B can skip the learning process and directly perform Ultravision summoning parking.At the test drive site, we had a detailed experience of the AION V Plus’s long-range summoning and parking feature.

Before starting the long-range summoning and parking, route learning is required in advance. The demo car available at the site has already learned the route. There are two partitions in the route, which simulate the walls in the garage and interfere with the AION V Plus.

During the process of long-range summoning and parking, AION V Plus continuously passes through two sets of simulated wall obstacles and smoothly arrives at the parking space after traveling for about 50 meters. The current parking method used by AION V Plus is backing into the parking space.

During the long-range summoning and parking experience, when encountering moving obstacles such as pedestrians, AION V Plus will automatically stop the car and continue parking after the pedestrians pass.

During our free test drive, we found that the long-range parking feature of AION V Plus can only learn the route with parking lines, and does not yet support route memory without parking lines. Currently, the long-range summoning and parking feature has been implemented in the AION V Plus and it will be able to provide cross-floor parking and sharing of parking routes learned by Car A with Car B in the future.

In terms of assisted driving, AION V Plus has been upgraded to ADiGO3.0 intelligent driving assistance system, which supports the NDA intelligent navigation-assisted driving feature.

According to the official website’s feature introduction, the NDA intelligent navigation-assisted driving system is based on the high-definition map data and the vehicle’s perception of actual road conditions. The system allows the vehicle to autonomously perform overtaking, lane-changing, entering and exiting interchanges, driving assistance in interchanges and entering main roads based on navigation guidance or surrounding traffic conditions.

In actual experience, in areas with high-definition map data, after setting the destination, when entering the highway section and turning on the Intelligent Cruise Assistance, the vehicle will determine whether the NDA intelligent navigation-assisted driving system can be activated.

After successfully activating the NDA intelligent navigation assistance system, it will be displayed in the instrument panel above the speedometer on the far left as an icon.

The NDA intelligent navigation assistance system of the GAC Aion Y Plus supports overtaking on both the left and right sides. However, during the test drive, due to road conditions, only left side overtaking was experienced. From the overtaking operation, the signaling, turning, and acceleration were relatively smooth, and overtaking was not a problem.

The NDA navigation assistance function also supports dodging large trucks when driving side by side. During the test drive, it was possible to feel the existence of this function by driving in the lane farthest from the large vehicle.

Currently, the NDA intelligent navigation assistance function of the GAC Aion V Plus is still in the testing phase and is expected to be officially launched in January 2022.

It should be noted that at this stage, the NDA intelligent navigation assistance system does not support the recognition of cones. When using this function, the driver still needs to maintain attention at all times.

Exterior and interior design closer to the family style

The exterior design of Aion V Plus no longer features the mech style of Aion V, but instead adopts the brand new family design language of Aion Y.

In terms of the front of the vehicle, Aion Y Plus adopts the interstellar head front end design, with the front of the vehicle extending downwards, presenting a rounded and full shape. The streamlined and wedge-shaped on both sides of the front are perfectly combined, presenting a bullet-like tension, giving people a feeling of being ready to go.

On the side of the vehicle, the waistline of Aion V Plus is complementary to the front of the vehicle, resembling the trajectory left by a bullet after being fired, enhancing the overall speed of the vehicle. At the same time, Aion V Plus also retains the hidden door handle design. The hidden door handle of the rear door is also connected to the taillight, presenting a stronger sense of lines.

In terms of vehicle length, Aion V Plus has also been extended. According to the vehicle data submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Aion V Plus has a length of up to 4650mm, with the main changes being made to the rear of the vehicle.

At the rear end of the car, AION V Plus has upgraded its tail lights with a brand-new design named “Universe Blade”.

The tail light extends from the rear door panel to the tail, with a sharp and angular design resembling a blade, and linked with hidden door handles, presenting a domineering sense.

In terms of details, AION V Plus adopts a split-style headlight design, which looks like two claws clasping each other, exuding a sharp and aggressive atmosphere, firmly grasping the visual focus.

In terms of car body color matching, GAC Aion has added two new colors, Galaxy Blackish Purple and Starry Green, and the Galaxy Blackish Purple color adopts a variable color car paint, which can display different colors under different lighting and angles.

In terms of interior design, the major change of AION V Plus comes from the 15.6-inch central control screen.

As for the interior color matching and material selection, AION V Plus adds a black-grey color matching, the material is not much different from the old one.

In terms of internal functions, AION V Plus has added two comfortable configurations, one of which is the audio system debugged by Tony Bongiovi. During the test drive, this audio system has a good performance in the high-frequency area.

The other important comfort upgrade is the ultra-large panoramic sunroof. The sunroof of AION V Plus reaches 2.2 square meters. The sunroof uses double silver-plated + Low-e insulating glass material, which has more than 10% higher insulation effect than same-level models.

During the test drive, the weather in Guangzhou was sunny, and the outdoor temperature reached 28℃. With the 21℃ air conditioning turned on, the occupants inside did not feel uncomfortable due to direct sunlight.

In terms of space, AION V Plus can be called a benchmark of the same level, thanks to the wheelbase of over 2830mm. Even if the rear seat passenger is a tall and stout man over 180cm, the legroom and headroom are relatively spacious.

Significant upgrade of the three-electric system

In terms of the three-electric system, the power of Guangzhou Automobile AION V Plus has been increased to 200kW, the endurance mileage has been increased to 702km, and the charging efficiency has also been improved.

After the motor power is increased to 200kW, AION V Plus feels light and fast in SPORT mode. Even with four adult men on board, AION V Plus still performs with ease when overtaking at high speed.

When driving in the city, AION V Plus has more precise steering and more linear braking. In terms of the kinetic energy recovery intensity, even if adjusted to strong kinetic energy recovery, the kinetic energy recovery intensity of AION V Plus is still weaker than other models. This may affect the endurance mileage, but it can improve the ride comfort of the rear passengers.

AION V Plus supports the I-PEDAL one-pedal driving mode. In this mode, stepping on the pedal makes the vehicle move forward, and when releasing the pedal, the vehicle has a noticeable drag and enters a strong kinetic energy recovery state. Unlike the one-pedal mode of other automakers, AION V Plus’s one-pedal mode does not support stopping.

In terms of ride experience, the front seats of AION V Plus are acceptable, and the rear seats have a good experience in most cases, but the bumpy feeling is more obvious when crossing speed bumps.In terms of range, AION V Plus will release three versions with ranges of 500km, 600km, and 702km respectively, equipped with 70kWh, 80kWh, and 95kWh battery packs.

In the test drive of the 702km range model, with four adult male passengers, 21℃ air conditioning turned on, all intelligent driving assistance functions enabled, and mainly driving on highways, AION V Plus actually traveled 74km, with a displayed range decrease of 94km.

In terms of charging speed, AION V Plus will release models that support both 6C and 3C charging speeds.

The model equipped with the 6C super flash charging technology was able to charge 207km in 5 minutes during actual testing, while the model equipped with 3C super flash charging technology was able to charge 114km in 5 minutes.

Currently, the super flash charging technology requires the use of the A480 super high-power charging pile developed by Guangqi AEA and Juwan Tech. The maximum charging power of this charging pile can reach 480kW.

A More Cost-Effective Choice

Since its debut, AION V has become a popular model for household electric SUVs due to its large interior space. However, the relatively small back design of AION V has affected consumers’ sensory impression of the car.

As an annual facelift model, AION V Plus has solved the problem of the previous version’s design and has added Guangqi AEA’s latest intelligent configuration, and further increased the range to 700 kilometers. The introduction of the oversized panoramic sunroof has also made AION V Plus more attractive to consumers.

According to official sources, the price difference between AION V and AION V Plus is not significant despite the major improvements in appearance and configuration. Therefore, AION V Plus is a more cost-effective choice in the household electric SUV market.

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.