[EV Vision Report] A few days ago, we said that in the future mid-size electric vehicle market, Tesla Model 3 will face challenges from BYD SEALs. But the author seems to have overlooked another model to be seen in this class, that is, Changan New Energy's C385 (internal codename) pure electric sedan.
The C385 car is an A+ class pure electric car according to the official positioning, and it is also the first pure electric platform model of Changan New Energy. However, at this stage, there is very little information about this model, only a small number of official pictures and road test spy photos are revealed, but if we comb through the details, we can still roughly interpret this car.
About the brand
Before talking about cars, let's first look at things about its brand "name".
Not long ago, Chongqing Changan New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. registered a new trademark, named Qiyuan Automobile, and at the same time, "Qiyuan Automobile User Service" also appeared in the WeChat public account, and its profile was: The official service number of Changan New Energy Automobile.
At the same time, in the latest issue of the Italian automotive design magazine "Auto & Design" published a large article on Changan design, in a paragraph about C385, a photo of C385 and the design team can clearly see the "Qiyuan" logo on the wheel hub, so this also seems to confirm the name of the new brand.
However, just when everyone speculated that the new brand released by Changan New Energy was officially named "Qiyuan Automobile", on March 14, the certification name of the public account suddenly changed from "Qiyuan Automobile" to "Changan Deep Blue".
So we can conclude that in the future, C385 will become the brand's first model in the name of "Changan Deep Blue", as to why it will change so quickly, we can only wait for the official explanation.
Appearance detail analysis
Let's talk about the value of the face
The C385 car can be said to adopt a new design style different from the past, and the closed front face is matched with the grille on both sides to make it more concise. Not only that, but the new car is also equipped with a very dynamic front lip and full of aerodynamic taste.
In terms of details, the headlights of the new car adopt the popular split design, and the LED daytime running lights located above are particularly sharp in shape, and after lighting, they are petal-shaped, which has a strong recognizability. The rectangular LED light group below also adds the interactive lamp language function to achieve deep emotional communication between the car and the user. And this is very geeky, it seems that the user portrait to be faced, but also gradually clear.
Interactive lamp patent diagram
In terms of side, the C385 adopts a sneaky body shape, in order to further reduce the wind resistance, the use of hidden door handles and low wind resistance wheel rim design, the overall style is more aggressive and dynamic. In terms of size, the C385 has a length, width and height of 4800 x1880 x1480mm, and a wheelbase of 2880mm.
Of course, in addition to the low wind resistance wheels similar to the official diagram, in other road test spy photos, you can also see other styles of wheels, a total of 5 kinds. So the question is, will the C385 launch 5 cars according to the configuration of the mileage and the number of motors? This will need to wait for further official disclosure.
In terms of the rear, the department adopts a very exaggerated design, a large size spoiler with a penetrating tail light group, taking into account the practicality and sense of technology at the same time, has a certain degree of recognition, and highlights the style of the sports car.
The taillights of this model are very complex, it is a very thick through-type taillight, and the interior of the light cavity is also very complicated, and there will be a good visual performance after lighting.
Interior detail analysis
At present, the layout of the interior of this car has not yet flowed out, and only through the detailed drawing of the road test spy photo, it can be seen that the central control of this car will be equipped with a large-size suspended central control screen, and its operating system may use Huawei's Hongmeng system. However, we can see from the latest patent released by Changan New Energy that this car may be equipped with a HUD head-up display with AR real-life navigation, which will enhance the use of the vehicle.
Intelligent technical analysis
According to the latest test car off the production line, this car is not equipped with a lidar system, and its main automatic driving assistance is mainly millimeter-wave radar + ultrasonic radar + visual camera.
According to the information, the C385 will be equipped with 5 4D imaging millimeter wave radars, 12 coded ultrasonic radars, 10 cameras, and a single camera pixel of 8 million. Among them, the front face of the car is equipped with 6 ultrasonic radars and a visual camera for round-view.
The 4D imaging radar is not revealed and is expected to be hidden in the car. Compared with traditional millimeter-wave radar, 4D imaging radar has more "vertical resolution" one-dimensional, has the ability to measure heights, will not confuse ground obstacles with air obstacles, and can classify static obstacles such as pile barrels, road signs, and overpasses; with 4D high resolution capabilities, detection distances of more than 300m, it can more effectively analyze the contours, categories and behaviors of the target, correctly judge the current traffic environment, and plan driving actions and trajectories.
On the side of the car, two visual cameras are arranged in the position of the rearview mirrors on both sides, one of which monitors the ground, which should be used for vehicle round-view, while the other camera monitors the front, which should be used for automatic driving assistance functions. In addition, the position of the front fender is also equipped with a camera that monitors backwards, which also serves the automatic driving function.
In terms of the rear of the car, the C385 is suspected to be equipped with two cameras, in addition to the surround view function, it also takes into account the use of reversing. The number of ultrasonic radars is the same as that of the front face, which is also 6.
In addition, we found in the patented diagram of the suspected details of the new car that a GNSS antenna was added to the interior of the rear spoiler of the car to carry out the positioning function for the vehicle's assisted driving system.
It is worth noting that the C385 is equipped with the world's first APA7.0 remote unmanned valet parking system, which can create an exclusive parking lot "private driving" for users. It will be under the premise of meeting the relevant national laws and regulations, the first no one outside the garage autonomous queuing parking function, users can directly get off the car outside the garage, by the system autonomous queuing, driving the vehicle automatically through the barrier, automatically looking for parking space, automatic parking, the whole process does not require user monitoring, but it is expected to need to subscribe to the function later.
In terms of power, Changan announced at the special product forum as early as August last year that the newly developed "super collector electric drive technology" will be the first to be installed on the C385. Through a number of advanced technologies and independent development of efficient control software, the super collector electric drive minimizes mechanical and electromagnetic losses, the overall loss is reduced by about 1/3, the maximum efficiency of the electric drive system assembly exceeds 95%, and the average efficiency of the working conditions exceeds 90%.
According to the available data, the C385 will use pure electricity, extended range hybrid system and hydrogen fuel system. Among them, the pure electric endurance reaches 550km and 600km, and the acceleration of 100 km is only 4.5 seconds. The range of the extended range hybrid system reaches 1200km, the fuel consumption of 100 km is as low as 4.5L, and the acceleration of 100 km is only 5.9 seconds.
In addition, the car is also equipped with high-frequency pulse heating technology, which solves the anxiety of tram use in winter, and can also achieve 5 minutes of heating 20 °C in the extremely cold environment of -30 °C, improving the low temperature driving performance of the tram, and with waste heat recovery technology, improving the cruising range by 40-70km.
In addition to the pure electric version, the C385 is also available in an extended-range version as well as a hydrogen-fueled version.
What is the price of this car?
Based on the same type of C385 model, the Tesla Model 3 rear-drive version has a range of 556km and is priced at 276,740, and the 586km endurance version of the Xiaopeng P7 is priced at 249,900. So from this point of view, with a new design and technology, the future price of the C385 car is expected to be around 200,000-250,000 yuan.
Editor's Summary
It can be said that C385 integrates Changan Automobile's many years of experience and technology in one, and realizes the multi-dimensional evolution of automobile value. At present, the information about this car has gradually surfaced, and as the latest achievement of the steady advancement of the "Shangri-La" plan, the C385, the first strategic model of Changan Automobile's new dedicated electric platform, will attract a lot of attention in the future with multi-dimensional evolution of appearance, technology and service, we will wait and see.