Author: Tian Hui
In the automotive industry, there are too many imitators.
On August 11th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology publicized the models of “Road Motor Vehicle Production Enterprises and Products Announcement” (the 347th batch). The biggest highlight of this batch announcement is the gathering of the “long-lost brothers” of Hongguang MINI EV – too many similar models.
It’s hard for non-professionals to distinguish the following three models.
From left to right, the three models are Wuling Hongguang MINI EV, Chery New Energy QQ Ice Cream, and Voyah Automobile.
After the popularity of Hongguang MINI EV, similar products of the same type quickly rushed into the market. In this batch of car announcements alone, there were 14 mini cars declared.
In terms of the overall situation, there were 310 new energy vehicles declared in the 347th batch of car announcements, including a total of 63 passenger cars, 5 more than the previous announcement.
In terms of new cars, SAIC Audi Q5 e-tron, BYD F5, Lynk & Co 09PHEV, and Aiways U6 made their first appearance.
In terms of batteries, the number of ternary lithium battery-matched models surpassed that of lithium iron phosphate batteries again, and Funeng Technology entered the supply systems of Ora and GAC Toyota.
Why bother copying?
Among all 14 mini electric vehicles, there is a trend towards similarity in appearance design.
Among them, the trend of similarity between the appearance design of Hongguang MINI EV, QQ Ice Cream, and Voyah is more obvious.
In terms of parameters, the Chery New Energy QQ Ice Cream and Voyah are both positioned as mini-cars, but with slight differences. The QQ Ice Cream is designed with two doors and four seats, while the Voyah is designed with four doors and four seats.
In terms of vehicle length, the QQ ice cream car is 2980 mm long with a wheelbase of 1960 mm, which is similar to the Hongguang MINI EV.
The Lingtu model is longer, reaching 3390 mm, and the wheelbase is also extended to 2275 mm.
In this batch of applications, not only these two micro electric vehicles are included. Dongfeng, SAIC, Zhidou, Ora and others have also applied for their own micro electric vehicles, but each model has different positioning.
Overall, micro cars can be divided into two types: two-door cars under 3.2 meters and four-door cars above 3.2 meters, which are two different markets.
After the hot sales of Hongguang MINI EV, various car companies have launched related products targeting the elderly walking aid market, but there is a significant phenomenon of homogeneity among the products.
In the future, the development of micro electric vehicles can refer to the development rules of the K-Car market in Japan, and seek a way out in product differentiation, in order to find a foothold in the rapidly changing market.
Buy a plug-in hybrid for 80,000?
In this announcement, BYD declared the plug-in hybrid model F5, and there are rumors that the price of the car may be as low as 80,000 yuan.
From the appearance, the F5 adopts the white body of the Qin Pro. What is special is that the front design style of the car is neither the Dragon Face style of the Wangcha series nor the design style of the DM-i series such as Qin PLUS DM-i. Instead, it has its own unique style.
From the optional accessories, the car can be equipped with ACC millimeter wave radar and front camera, but it may destroy the overall design effect of the front of the car.
In terms of parameters, the BYD F5 adopts a 1.5L naturally aspirated engine, which is the exclusive engine for DM-i technology. The thermal efficiency can reach 43%.
In terms of the three-electric system, the BYD F5 adopts a 132kW motor and blade battery.
In the “Catalog of Car and Ship Tax Reduction and Exemption” published in conjunction with the automobile announcement, the capacity of BYD F5’s power battery pack is disclosed. The BYD F5 uses an 18.316 kWh power battery pack to achieve a pure electric range of 101 kilometers under the WLTC test cycle.
WLTC test cycle is closer to real-world driving conditions compared to the NEDC test cycle, and test results are lower than those of the NEDC test cycle.
The similar BYD Qin PLUS DM-i has a minimum starting price of 105,800 yuan, but only has a pure electric range of 55 kilometers (under the NEDC test cycle). Therefore, based on the disclosed information of announcements and “Catalog of Car and Ship Tax Reduction and Exemption”, this batch of declared BYD F5 models may be the high-end models.
There are rumors in the market that BYD F5 will be sold at an ultra-low price of 80,000 yuan on BYD’s e-commerce platform. However, judging from the car model number, F5 does not belong to the e-commerce platform, but to the public sales field of BYD.
Therefore, in the future, BYD F5 is more likely to enter the public sales field and be sold to ride-hailing and taxi companies.
SAIC Audi has declared five Q5 e-tron models in this batch of announcements.
SAIC Audi Q5 e-tron is built on the MEB platform and has a conservative exterior design, lacking common elements of electric vehicles such as through-style daytime running lights, and following the design style of Audi gasoline vehicles.
In terms of parameters, SAIC Audi Q5 e-tron has a length of 4876mm, a wheelbase of 2965mm, and can accommodate 6 or 7 people.
In terms of power, there are three total power configurations, which are 132kW single motor, 150kW single motor, and 80/150kW dual motor.
Depending on the curb weight and power parameters, SAIC Audi Q5 e-tron may have two power battery capacities and three ranges. Judging from the situation of its sibling model, Volkswagen ID.6, the pure electric range of SAIC Audi Q5 e-tron low-end model 35 e-tron may be around 430 kilometers, while that of the high-end single motor model 40 e-tron may be around 590 kilometers, and that of the top-equipped four-wheel drive model 50 e-tron may be around 510 kilometers.# Ai Chi Motors declares the Ai Chi U6 Model in this announcement.
The Ai Chi U6 has a length of 4805mm and a wheelbase of 2800mm, featuring a fashionable sloping design.
As for the powertrain, the announcement reveals that the Ai Chi U6 will be equipped with a lithium-ion battery. According to online rumors, the Ai Chi U6 will utilize CATL’s CTP battery with a high energy density, providing a NEDC range exceeding 650km.
Lynk & Co declares the 09 PHEV Model in this announcement.
The Lynk & Co 09 PHEV is positioned as a mid-size SUV with a length over 5 meters, a wheelbase near 3 meters, and an exterior design that adopts the Lynk & Co family style.
In terms of powertrain, the Lynk & Co 09 PHEV adopts the 2.0T engine and electric motor to form a plug-in hybrid system. This hybrid system has been applied to the Volvo XC90 T8 model and has mature technology.
He Chong Auto, GAC Mitsubishi, and GAC Toyota declare the Z03, Attiva, and iA5 Models based on GAC AION Y, GAC AION V, and GAC AION S in this announcement.
GAC AION’s GEP2.0 pure electric vehicle platform has a fast model expansion speed. The GAC AION series includes LX, V, S, Y and other models, which have rapidly expanded to GAC Toyota, GAC Honda, GAC Mitsubishi, and NIO, proving that self-developed pure electric vehicle platforms can achieve fruitful results.
Proportion of Three-element Battery Cars Increases
In terms of power batteries, the number of vehicles equipped with three-element batteries has increased. In this announcement, the number of three-element battery vehicles exceeds that of iron-phosphate battery vehicles.
Due to the existence of 14 mini electric vehicles in this batch of announcements, which often use lithium iron phosphate batteries, it can be seen that lithium ternary batteries still dominate in small and medium-sized cars after excluding mini electric vehicles.
However, the dominance of ternary batteries is changing. Models like Chery’s new energy Ant, positioned as a mid-size SUV, have also declared lithium iron phosphate battery models for the first time in this batch of announcements.
With benchmark carmakers such as Tesla and BYD returning to lithium iron phosphate batteries, more lithium iron phosphate battery models may be seen in the future.
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.