On August 13th, Li Auto officially launched the nationwide charging map. Li Auto integrated third-party charging station data and did not invest in its own charging stations.
- Fast and convenient experience
By clicking on the charging function, you can quickly find a suitable charging station according to distance, price, and other conditions.
The function of contactless payment and instant charging was also applied to simplify the cumbersome process of charging.
- Credit points
Li Auto also launched the charging credit point function where 10 points can be redeemed for 1 yuan of charging service fees. Sufficient credit points can fully offset the charging service fees. (Charging fees = electricity fees + service fees, and credit points can only be used to offset the service fees)
Paving the way for pure electric vehicles
During a previous earnings conference call, Li Xiang mentioned:
This year and next year, including the L9, there will be three new products, including a brand-new extended-range product and EV high-voltage platform products. Next year, Li Auto will have 200,000 to 300,000 new products.
The three-car plan mentioned by Li Xiang does not completely match the vehicle model plan in this Hong Kong Stock Exchange recruitment document, but one of the cars is clearly an MPV.
Recently, the spy shots of Li Auto’s pure electric MPV have also been exposed. Therefore, the launch of the charging map is not only to accumulate user feedback for the subsequent development of pure electric vehicles, but also to pave the way for the subsequent launch of Li Auto’s own charging stations.
Li Auto’s power replenishment system
At the 2021 Global New Energy and Intelligent Automotive Supply Chain Innovation Conference held in October 2021, Sun Guangmin, Vice President of Li Auto and person in charge of the charging network, mentioned Li Auto’s conceptual ideas and solutions in the charging field.
Ideal Automobile has created a three-tier charging network for user applications:
-
Slow charging is suitable for high-frequency use scenarios such as home charging and company use (fully charged in 10 hours).
-
The medium-speed charging scheme is suitable for mid-short-term stay in widespread destinations, with a charge time of 4 hours.
-
The high-voltage fast charging scheme, with the key technical indicator of charging for 10 minutes and a range of 400 km, aims to achieve a supercharge power of 400 kW.
Final Words
As of August 1, NIO has established 1,048 battery swapping stations in China, while XPeng has recently launched its own 1,000 charging stations.
Although Ideal has avoided the huge investment in energy supplementation in the early stages by relying on the advantages of extended range, it is imperative to build its own energy supplementation system. Compared with its competitors, the later-starting Ideal still needs to build its own energy supplementation network. Let us wait and see.
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.