I am honored to be one of the first 10 centralized delivery owners of RisingAuto R7 in Shanghai, and I was invited by Garage 42 to talk about why I chose RisingAuto R7.
I work for a state-owned enterprise and run a third-party testing company that mainly focuses on metal material testing.
How did you get to know RisingAuto?
RisingAuto is a relatively new brand that was established just over a year ago.
I started paying attention to new energy vehicles only in the first half of this year. If I consider buying a gasoline-powered car, it would be quite difficult to obtain a Shanghai license plate.
At first, I test drove some new energy brands, including XPeng, Ji Ke, NIO, and others. In September, I started preparing to order a car. At that time, a friend of mine was an owner of RisingAuto ER6, and he told me that RisingAuto was about to release a new car. So I searched for it online, saw the appearance of the car, and thought it was pretty cool. Later, when I saw the video about RisingAuto’s assisted driving by Garage 42, I was impressed.
Plus, this year, buying RisingAuto can receive a subsidy of 20,000 yuan – 10,000 yuan from Jiading and another 10,000 yuan from RisingAuto. The subsidy will be refunded next year, so I decided to buy it this year without renting the battery, and the final land price is around 260,000 yuan.
What do you think of pure electric and hybrid vehicles?
I am actually a pure electric vehicle enthusiast. I usually drive only short distances, and rarely have medium-to-short distance requirements. During the Chinese New Year holiday, I would travel about 500-600 kilometers to go home. I purchased RisingAuto’s long-endurance version, which is marked for 600 kilometers, and it should have no problem running 400 kilometers. It can be planned very comfortably, and I have no pursuit of ultra-long endurance.
As for range anxiety, since this is the first time I’m purchasing a new energy vehicle, I’m not sure how far it can go. Right now, if the dashboard shows about 100km, I would start to look for a charging station. But I’m not too worried about charging in Shanghai as there are plenty of charging stations available.
In terms of daily use, I mainly use it for commuting, picking up and dropping off my wife for work, and some short distance trips within the city. There will be mid to short distance trips during Chinese New Year.
The property management in my residential area does not allow for the installation of charging stations, so I will mainly rely on external DC fast charging stations. Of course, if there are more battery swap stations in the future, it will become more convenient and I can consider swapping batteries.
Currently, the only RisingAuto battery swap station I know of in Shanghai is in Anting, Jiading. If there are more stations with cheaper battery swap prices in the future, I might consider swapping batteries.
As for configuration, I chose the advanced version without LiDAR. The LiDAR version will be delivered later. In order to receive subsidies and get the car sooner, I decided to choose the 4D millimeter wave radar option. Several media outlets have tested it and the actual experience is not bad. And it’s already available for use.
For color, I chose a low-key and steady-looking dark gray exterior and a brown interior for easy maintenance. I’m a bit worried about a white interior getting dirty and black feeling too hot in the summer.
Regarding other brands:
- XPeng (XPeng): I tried the P7 model but felt that I needed a larger car. However, I was attracted to their NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot) advanced driving assistance system.
- Nio: My budget was not enough for ES6. Without considering battery leasing, choosing any car can cost around 400,000 RMB. I plan on driving it for at least 5 to 6 years, so I did the math and found that leasing batteries for 4 or 5 years would cost more than buying them.
- Li Auto: I think a car with an engine cannot be considered a new energy vehicle. Therefore, I did some research but decided not to consider Li Auto for now. Maybe I will consider it in the future if they come out with a pure EV model.
- Jidu Auto (Xpeng and Geely’s EV joint venture): I was too late in placing my order and their benefits and discounts were not as good as before. So, I gave up.
The most attractive feature about RisingAuto R7 for me is Huawei’s AR-HUD. The first time I experienced it, I was blown away. Which other company’s HUD can be so large that you can watch movies on it? And the information on the HUD display is so comprehensive that you almost don’t need to look at other screens anymore. But since my previous car didn’t have this feature, I will need to get used to it by spending more time looking at the HUD.### Three-Screen Display for EQS
The three-screen display is stunning. It’s the first time I’ve seen such a large seamless design without any visible seams or joints. With three screens and a HUD, there are a total of four screens at the front of the vehicle, which completely subverted my perception of cars.
Advanced Driver Assistance
As one of the few domestic car companies that can provide advanced driver assistance features upon delivery, I am very proud. Unlike other car companies that always sell futures and only offer the most basic ACC and LCC functions upon delivery, FlyFun’s navigation-assisted driving function, which is part of the first echelon of new power in the industry, is available upon delivery, which really impressed me. I hope city driving assistance functions will be available next year.
Expectations for FlyFun
My main expectation is for FlyFun to quickly expand the scale of its battery swapping stations and build a complete and convenient energy replenishment system. Additionally, it is important to protect the rights of early car owners and not betray old car owners like some other brands.
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.