Author: steve
Introduction
As a member of the leading brand of new energy vehicles, IDEAL Automobile has survived the tough winter, successfully gone public, and achieved mass production and delivery. More recently, on May 25th, 2021, IDEAL Automobile released the all-new 2021 IDEAL ONE, which has attracted a great deal of attention. As the top new energy vehicle company in terms of individual vehicle delivery volume and the earliest to achieve profitability, IDEAL Automobile has also been the subject of numerous contradictions and controversies. With more and more tech companies and traditional automakers entering the automotive industry, competition is becoming increasingly intense. Will IDEAL Automobile, with its highly targeted customer base, be able to survive and stand out in this increasingly competitive market? Can the all-new 2021 IDEAL ONE help IDEAL Automobile turn the tide?
The Silence of the Shanghai Auto Show
During the Shanghai International Auto Show, thousands of automakers held 138 grandiose press conferences to compete with each other. Among the top three new energy vehicle companies, NIO unveiled the ET7 and XPeng unveiled the P5. Only IDEAL Automobile remained “low-key” and did not participate in the event or release any new products.
So far, IDEAL Automobile only has one product, the IDEAL ONE. In contrast, NIO has four products, and XPeng has three, including the new vehicles launched at the auto show.
Today, the competition in the new energy vehicle industry is becoming increasingly fierce and can be broadly divided into three types: the radical pioneers led by Tesla, conservative cross-industry players from traditional automakers, and emerging new energy vehicle companies. Among the domestic new energy vehicle companies, NIO and XPeng have received the most attention, while IDEAL Automobile, despite being the first to achieve profitability, seems to be struggling to keep up with the continuous impact of NIO and XPeng’s new products. As the founder of IDEAL Automobile, Li Xiang has years of product management experience and multiple entrepreneurial experiences. It can be said that the target audience and user profile of IDEAL Automobile have been very clear from the beginning, which is middle-aged men who need to balance family and driving pleasure and have sufficient funds to try the novelty of new energy vehicle companies. However, why does IDEAL Automobile seem to have a good start but lack follow-through?
Controversial Extended Range Hybrid Technology
From the beginning of its founding, IDEAL Automobile’s positioning has been very unique. In terms of technological development, when other companies chose pure electric or plug-in hybrid routes, IDEAL Automobile directly chose the extended range hybrid technology that no one cared about. What is extended range hybrid technology? In fact, IDEAL Automobile has repeated it many times on the official website. In short, it includes two points:- First no oil, then no electricity. When using oil, there is always enough electrical power to provide strong power output.
- The engine directly drives the motor after generating electricity, and the excess electricity is only charged into the battery.
Basically, this is what Li Xiang said: the battery is equivalent to memory – fast speed, and the range extender is equivalent to a hard drive – large capacity. The most important thing for memory here is speed, corresponding to the battery’s discharge power (and response delay). The battery’s discharge power is positively correlated with the remaining electricity, so it is ideal for the ONE to turn on the range extender at 30% to ensure smooth power response. Another derivative setting is that the ideal ONE must use up the oil first and only the electricity last.
The result of such a non-routine strategy, whether it will be embraced by the market, time will tell. From the current evolution path of battery technology and the (never) depleting speed of petroleum, the future prospects for range extenders are very broad. Even in the distant future, fuel cells are also a potential range extender. Therefore, Ideal’s approach to automobiles can be said to be visionary. How to make good use of this time difference advantage is an important consideration for Ideal’s future development.
New release: the 2021 Ideal ONE
After missing the window for releasing new cars at the Shanghai Auto Show, Ideal finally released the all-new 2021 Ideal ONE in late May, instantly causing a wave in the car circle. The main reasons for the great attention paid to the new Ideal ONE are as follows:
- The perceptual chip EyeQ4 was cancelled, and Horizon Robotics’ Journey 3 series chip from domestic AI chip manufacturers was adopted, with two blocks, one for redundant backup;
- The first mass-produced 8 million pixel perception camera was adopted to ensure the ability to perceive vision over a larger range and with higher accuracy.
For the first point, adopting domestic chips is definitely a huge upgrade. It is well known that the perception solutions related to assisted driving for newly released cars in the market are basically occupied by Mobileye or Nvidia. However, there is a natural drawback to this, for example, Mobileye’s hardware + software + solution is very closed, and they firmly control the technology in their own hands. Moreover, it often takes a very long time to meet the demands of their clients, which puts the clients in a very passive position. However, the situation will be greatly improved by adopting domestic chips. At least, the localization, adaptability, and user feedback of the algorithm provided by Horizon will be qualitatively improved.
In addition, the newly released LI ONE is equipped with an 8-megapixel camera with a wide angle, which has the advantage of a wider viewing angle. It has an absolute advantage in dealing with scenes such as cutting in and out, and sharp turns. According to online reviews of new cars, the newly released LI ONE with a wide-angle camera can easily pass through the sharp curve “Devil’s Bend” without any pressure, which shows that it has made a significant improvement over its previous model.
Conclusion
For LI Auto, after experiencing its peak in the market, continuously launching products that can withstand market testing is the most important factor to come out on top in the competition. After the launch of the new LI ONE, the level of market acceptance will still need to be tested over time. Nevertheless, the strong alliance between new domestic car manufacturers and new domestic chip manufacturers is still an excellent signal. Foreign powerful component manufacturers may be gradually replaced in the future, and several new domestic manufacturers will continue to lead the trend. We hope that ultimately the victory in this hard-won battle will belong to our domestic 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.