Today is January 10, 2022, which is also the traditional festival of Lapa Ba, and the new year has entered the second week, which means that the Spring Festival is getting closer and closer. Of course, the work continues, during this time the car companies are busy counting last year's annual sales and announcing good results. Among them, as the representative of the extended range electric vehicle in the new energy vehicle segment, Ideal 0NE, completed the delivery of 90,491 new vehicles from January to December last year, with an average monthly delivery of more than 7,500 vehicles. Among them, the monthly delivery volume in December reached 14,087 vehicles.
Such results are very good for an extended range electric vehicle that costs more than 300,000 yuan. In other words, the ideal 0NE has become the most popular choice for range-extended electric vehicles. So, does the success of the ideal 0NE mean that the "extender" is really fragrant?
About range extended electric vehicles, let's talk about some personal opinions
At present, if you want to talk about the mainstream of new energy vehicles, it must be a pure electric vehicle. However, due to a series of "problems" such as the endurance and charging of pure electric vehicles, many people have anxiety and are not at ease with electric vehicles. In other words, the connection from traditional fuel vehicles to pure electric vehicles requires an intermediate choice to "transition".
Therefore, the oil-electric hybrid model has become a relatively more "suitable" new choice at present. However, there are many kinds of oil-electric hybrids, such as non-plug-in oil-electric hybrids, which represent Toyota dual engines and Honda sharp hybrids; in addition, plug-in oil-electric hybrids are more popular than plug-in oil-electric hybrids. Because compared with the former, the "plug-in" model can be on the green card and enjoy the same new energy vehicle policy as pure electric vehicles.
Speaking of this, in fact, it is relatively clear, in addition to pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids are more popular, and the oil-electric hybrid of the two fields is more biased towards fuel vehicles, because it cannot be green. So, what is the significance of the existence of extended range electric vehicles? First of all, it can be on the green card, which is a big premise; secondly, it is fundamentally different in the driving form compared to the plug-in hybrid model.
Simply put, the range extender electric vehicle is more like a pure electric vehicle, because it is also equipped with an engine, and the engine of the extended range electric vehicle acts as a range extender (that is, an internal combustion engine), which does not participate in the direct drive of the vehicle, but only "supplies energy" for the drive motor, and supplies power to the battery pack.
To sum up, the advantage of extended range electric vehicles is that their driving experience is equivalent to pure electric vehicles, and with fuel tanks, so there is no problem of endurance anxiety. In the plug-in hybrid model, the engine will directly participate in driving the vehicle, so under certain working conditions, this pure electricity and fuel power connection is difficult to achieve "seamless".
However, the problem of extended range electric vehicles is also quite obvious, that is, running high speed is more expensive, because in high-speed working conditions, the energy consumption of the motor and battery will be higher, and the "pay" of the internal combustion engine will be more. There is no such problem in the plug-in hybrid model, because under high-speed conditions, the engine can drive the vehicle directly, and this is the most fuel-efficient working condition of the engine.
So, in the end, regarding the range extender electric vehicle, it cannot be said that it is a better choice, but it has a different experience. If the "extender" is really so fragrant, then the "plug- and mix-in" will not become the mainstream. In other words, from the perspective of overall practicality, it is better to insert and mix models, whether it is urban transportation or far-reaching doors, it is more "all-round".
The success of the ideal 0NE is not just one-sided
Then we talked about the above, from the perspective of market segmentation, "extender" is much more niche than "plug-in", whether it is the choice of products, or the actual sales, it is difficult to match the plug-and-mix models. So why is the ideal 0NE "on fire"?
I think the key lies in the accurate positioning of this car, which focuses on the large-space comfort 6-seat SUV in the price range of 300,000 to 350,000, and many people call it "Daddy Exclusive Car". As we all know, in recent years, in China, the demand for 6-seater and 7-seat models is quite large. Compared with 7 seats, the 6 seats emphasize comfort, so the ideal 0NE has a bit of a "precision strike" user demand in the product positioning.
We've also experienced this car before, and it gives me the impression that comfort is really good, from the chassis to the seats to the spatial performance. It can be said that its first and second rows are also enjoyed by the first class. If the two independent seats in the second row enjoy space and comfort, then what is the first row? There is no doubt that the four large screens of the center console, especially the entertainment video screen in front of the passenger seat, it is easy to grasp the hearts of the family, especially if there are children at home, it is even more difficult to refuse it.
What we mentioned above has nothing to do with augmentation. But these product highlights alone are enough for ideal 0NE to capture a considerable number of users. Avant-garde appearance, comfortable large space, high-tech sense of large-screen interaction, etc., I think these are important factors for the ideal 0NE hot sales.
So as a range-extended electric vehicle, is the "inner" of the ideal 0NE useless? Of course not, we also talked a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of extenders earlier. Below, let's combine the specific data to see how many points the ideal 0NE can score?
The current model on sale is 2021, which is optimized in many ways compared to the old model. It is worth mentioning that the launch of the 2021 model, compared with the 2020 model, has only passed 7 months. The 2021 Ideal ONE adopts a 1.2T engine as a range extender, the front and rear axles are equipped with drive motors, the comprehensive maximum power is increased from the original 240kW to 245kW, and the maximum torque is changed from the original 530N·m to 455N·m.
In terms of batteries, the capacity is still 40.5 kWh, and the actual usable capacity is 33.2 kWh. Due to the efficiency improvement of the rear motor, the energy consumption is reduced, and the fuel tank volume of the vehicle is increased (from the previous 45L to 55L). Therefore, under the condition that the battery capacity is unchanged, the total endurance (NEDC working condition) of the new model reaches 1080km, and the pure electric endurance (NEDC working condition) reaches 188km.
From this change, two key points can be seen, first of all, the change is aimed at the endurance that users care about, and has made targeted improvements, which is almost a big change and optimization made without replacement; secondly, as we said earlier, this time can be called a short-board change, only 7 months before and after. What does this mean? I think it is the ideal car's control of the market and user needs and pain points, and this timely response ability is also a major embodiment of product competitiveness. Simply put, taking the needs of users as the starting point and grasping market demand is naturally to seize sales.
Ah Chuan commented on the car
Regarding the evaluation of range-extending electric vehicles, I don't think there is an absolutely necessary relationship with the best-selling of the ideal 0NE. However, we have to admit that in the choice between fuel vehicles and pure trams, the range increase is a new attempt. Traditional car companies, including Nissan, have not also launched e-POWER power (similar to range extender power) in China. It can be seen that this special oil-electric hybrid mode has its merits. Take some ideal 0NE car owners around them, some of them use this car as a pure fuel vehicle to drive (basically no charging), and some use it as a pure electric car to drive (often fully charged with pure electric mode drive), this "oilable and electric" form, can also be regarded as the advantage of extended range electric vehicles.
Finally, to mention, the Ideal 0NE is a range-extended electric vehicle, and it's also a large six-seat SUV. From the perspective of user demand, the market seized by ideal 0NE is not only new energy vehicles, but also the fuel vehicle market such as Highlander, Encore Banner and Tuon. A little attack, multi-line combat, is this considered to be the ideal 0NE "trick"?