Did you pay attention to the recent Shanghai Auto Show?
The most popular model should be looking up to the U8, right?
There are rumors in the world that this new car with a pre-sale price of 1.098 million yuan has received more than 10,000 orders in the first 3 days of the auto show.
Seeing such a grand occasion, those foreign-funded fuel vehicles that sell for millions of dollars may have a feeling of being dominated.
But the ideal among the new car-making forces may smile knowingly, because looking up to the U8 is an extended-range electric car.
However, Ideal Auto did not pin all its hopes on extended-range electric vehicles.
During the Shanghai Auto Show, Li Auto officially released the “dual-energy strategy”, preparing to let the extended-range electric and pure electric go hand in hand. So, can it do it?
Dual-energy strategy ideally opens up a new track
The million-dollar Yangwang U8 chooses an extended-range electric vehicle, bringing this questionable power solution into focus again.
But anyone who understands the auto market knows that Ideal Auto is the “number one contributor” to promoting the popularization of extended-range electric vehicles.
At present, all three models of Ideal Motors are equipped with extended-range electric systems. However, rumors that Ideal will take the pure electric route have been circulating for a long time.
On April 18, Li Auto officially released its dual-energy strategy. The so-called dual-energy refers to intelligence and electric energy.
The aspect of intelligence is well understood, and almost every mainstream new energy manufacturer is working hard in this direction.
The intelligence of Ideal Auto refers to the upcoming Ideal AD Max 3.0 urban NOA navigation assisted driving system, which allows intelligent driving to enter the urban scene from the high-speed scene. city.
The reason why this system is called “evolution” is firstly because it covers urban roads with more complex car scenes; Sensor fusion is used to realize the perception of road conditions.
It is worth mentioning that Li Auto also announced that Li Li AD Max 3.0 full-scenario NOA is free for life, even used cars are no exception.
I don’t know how Tesla, which is still selling the “self-driving package” thinks?
The “electric energy” strategy has more points to watch, because the “smart” strategy is only to strengthen, and the “electric energy” strategy is to create a new era in which ideal car extended-range electric and high-voltage pure electric go hand in hand.
The core of the ideal power strategy is the 800V overcharging solution, supplemented by the upgrade of the high-voltage electric drive system, thermal management system and overcharging network, which can achieve 400 kilometers of battery life after charging for 10 minutes.
At the same time, Ideal Auto also officially launched the Ideal 4C super charging station and super charging network.
According to Li Auto, more than 300 high-speed supercharging stations will be built by the end of 2023, and will be expanded to 3,000 by 2025, covering 90% of the national highway mileage and major cities across the country.
According to the dual-energy strategy, Li Auto plans to form a product lineup of 1 super period model + 5 extended-range electric models + 5 high-voltage pure electric models in 2025.
What is the purpose of an ideal car to change one’s own life?
A brand that has risen on the basis of extended-range electric vehicles and “combats the scholars” for the extended-range electric solution suddenly raises the pure electric model to the same level as the extended-range electric vehicle. How to do this?
In fact, this is not difficult to understand.
First of all, pure electric vehicles are the ultimate form of new energy vehicles in the future, and plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles are transitional products. There is no doubt about this, and it does not depend on the will of ideal cars.
Secondly, there are policy risks in extended-range electric vehicles. In 2023, Shanghai took the lead in introducing extended-range electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, no longer giving new energy licenses, which led to a sharp drop in the sales of ideal cars in Shanghai.
If other big cities follow suit, Li Auto needs to ensure that it has cars to sell in these important markets.
Third, the extended-range electric vehicle can be widely accepted from being questioned because it basically solves the problems of difficult charging, slow charging and insufficient cruising range that are common in current electric vehicles.
In this regard, it is the same as the rise of plug-in hybrid models.
But the problem is that these problems have been gradually solved.
At present, the cruising range of mainstream pure electric vehicles has exceeded 500 kilometers, and it is still improving. Even if a pure electric vehicle has a daily commuting mileage of 50 kilometers, it is no problem to charge it once and support normal use for a week.
If according to the planning of the ideal electric strategy, it can be charged for 10 minutes and the battery life can be increased by 400 kilometers, then the battery life anxiety will no longer exist.
When pure electric vehicles solve the battery life anxiety, the problem of high fuel consumption of extended-range electric vehicles will become prominent.
With the improvement of the cruising range of pure electric vehicles and the improvement of charging networks across the country, the advantages of extended-range electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles will become less obvious, and the market share will gradually decline. This is a normal trend in the development of the industry. It has nothing to do with the will of consumers.
The “dual-energy strategy” of Ideal Automobile, to put it bluntly, is to plan for a rainy day and follow the development trend of the industry. It is a relatively rational approach, and it also shows the maturity of the ideal manufacturer.
Pure electric, extended range and plug-in hybrid, what will the future look like?
The new pure electric track of Li Auto has a relatively large impact on the industry. It proves to a certain extent that Li Auto also agrees with the view that “pure electricity is the ultimate form of new energy”.
So, what will the future new energy market look like?
There are currently three main forms of new energy on the market: pure electric, extended-range and plug-in hybrid. The BEV (unplugged hybrid) promoted by Japanese manufacturers is generally not considered a new energy vehicle.
Pure electricity is the future, there is no doubt about it.
However, the comprehensive electrification of the automobile industry will be a relatively long process, and the Chinese automobile consumer market is a fairly deep market. Therefore, the market for transitional products such as plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles will also exist for a long time .
At present, the main shortcoming of pure electric vehicles is the issue of “endurance” and “energy replenishment”.
According to the general law of industry development, electric vehicles will take the lead in expanding in large and medium-sized cities in the eastern region, and then expand to the central and western regions and third- and fourth-tier cities with the gradual improvement of charging infrastructure.
This “expansion” time is the survival period of extended-range electric and plug-in hybrid models.
China has a vast territory, uneven development across regions, and large regional differences in the perfection of charging infrastructure, so this time will be relatively long.
Some time ago, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave such a prediction: in the next 5-10 years, the market share of extended-range electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles will gradually rise to about 40% or even 50%, and then the entire market will turn to pure The electric market shifts.
Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, also said that for ordinary home users, it is not appropriate to choose a pure electric model for the first car, so plug-in hybrids will have great potential in the next few years.
BYD is currently the only manufacturer in the industry that has achieved plug-in hybrid and pure electric dual drive. Now Ideal has also joined the ranks of walking on two legs. In the next few years, this will become the mainstream model of new energy vehicle manufacturers.