Text: Whoop Hu
The first time that domestic pure electric vehicles competed for the "1000 km endurance ticket" was more than two years ago.
At the beginning of 2022, GAC Aion AION LX Plus "Qianli Edition" became the first pure electric model with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers in mass production and market. With a large battery pack of up to 144 kWh, the CLTC has a range of 1,008 km.
At the same time, the price of the "Qianli version" of 459,600 yuan is also 60% more expensive than the entry version with a range of 650km. As the first car to eat crabs, its main value is to solve the problem of whether there is a problem.
More than two years have passed, and car companies have fought for "1,000 kilometers" with more powerful battery technology. In just over the past two years, the 4C/5C super charging system has also come into reality.
"New 1000 Generation", solid state has become a new force
Back in early 2021, NIO released a 150kWh semi-solid-state battery pack that can achieve a single range of more than 1,000km. However, it was expected to be the "fourth quarter of 2022" at that time, and everyone knew what happened after that, so it was preempted by Aion.
But after that, the momentum of electric vehicles in pursuit of 1,000 kilometers of range came to an abrupt end. With the soaring nickel price in early 2022 and the soaring price of lithium carbonate throughout the year, battery prices have repeatedly reached new highs, making it difficult to continue the practice of "stack endurance".
In 2023, with the bursting of the lithium carbonate price bubble and the maturity of higher energy density battery technology in the past few years, 1000km range electric vehicles have begun to reappear.
In May, ZEEKR launched the "1000-mile endurance package" of the 001 model, equipped with a CATL Kirin battery with an energy density of 255Wh/kg, and the 140kWh power makes the CLTC range reach 1032km.
The latest weapons are solid-state and semi-solid-state batteries, and the Zhiji L6 is the first to be equipped with a "light-year solid-state battery", although it once caused controversy about "solid-state or semi-solid-state", but in the end it was only 30,000 yuan more expensive than the ordinary version, ending all doubts.
On the other hand, NIO's 150kWh semi-solid-state battery pack finally arrived late, and Li Bin personally went into battle to measure a high-speed range of 1044km, but his attitude towards the 150kWh battery pack was "symbolic more than practical".
GAC is not willing to be lonely, on April 12, GAC Technology Day released the all-solid-state battery technology, the energy density has been increased to 400Wh/kg, "easily more than 1000 kilometers of range", and the time for mass production and loading is set at 2026 - slightly earlier than Toyota's plan for 2027-2028.
With the help of solid-state or semi-solid-state batteries that have been mass-produced and practicalized, it seems that it has become another consensus in the development of electric vehicles to achieve a range of 1000km in a more relaxed manner.
It's good to be enough, it's not the same as "intending to disk"
Recall that in the absence of the "1000km" narrative, with 800V and 4C/5C as the keywords, super fast charging and battery swapping are the absolute focus of the pure electric market in the past two years.
Especially during the period when battery prices were high, "(relatively) small battery + supercharge" seemed like a more tempting option than blindly pursuing a large battery and long battery life.
Musk has said that Tesla can easily build a Model S with a range of 600 miles, but he doesn't think it's reasonable. The CTO of Lucid Motors (the first to launch a 500-mile range electric vehicle) even thinks that a 150-mile range with a charging network is enough ("I can give it a range of 1,000 km, but I won't give it to you").
Benhu has also "stationed" this idea many times: instead of blindly stacking batteries, increasing capacity, and improving battery life, more resources should be invested to build a reliable self-built fast charging network, which may get twice the result with half the effort.
With the diffusion of rapid energy replenishment technologies such as overcharging and battery swapping, the "small battery is enough" theory has gradually expanded. An old saying comes back to the world: because you have to take a 20-minute break when driving for more than 4 hours, which just matches the overcharging time, the range greater than a certain number (such as 4h×120km/h=480km) is useless.
"How much is the pure electric range enough" is an age-old topic that has accompanied electric vehicles to this day. The most common "solution" is nothing more than "fatigue driving time" and "the sum of a week's commute".
There is no need to rush the answer, but it must be pointed out that any calculation based on a fixed scenario that the pure electric range does not have to be more than a certain number is actually too idealistic and completely unable to support the "longer range is meaningless".
For example, the 4-hour high-speed speed limit is indeed capped at 480km, even considering the "discount" of the high-speed range of electric vehicles, it seems that 700~800km of range under the CLTC standard is enough.
But that's not how it works, no one can guarantee that an electric car will always be fully charged before a long trip (just as in fact a fuel car doesn't always have the opportunity to fill up before every long trip), and after a "one-week commute" it's not always a free weekend with nothing to do, these are (even) not small probability events.
Regardless of whether the range of a private car should be based on the fatigue driving time limit and the one-week commuting distance, such a completely fixed and programmed reference method without considering the randomness of real life is itself too simplistic, formulaic and meaningless.
Understand that some cars first pursue "breaking thousands"
If the "plan plate" is out of reality and the "breaking thousand" lacks cost performance, then how much battery life is the standard for "enough" of electric vehicles? The answer is that there is no answer, and the answer is that each has its own answer.
This is not a nonsense, the reason why it is not only for "small battery + fast charging", but also for "breaking a thousand with solid state" is to encourage "breaking a thousand with solid state", precisely because this kind of question always takes into account the differences of time and individuals, and the answer is meaningful.
The rationality of pursuing ultra-long battery life in mid-2022 is of course different from the rationality of pursuing ultra-long battery life at the end of 2023. Tesla and NIO's attitudes towards solid-state battery packs are naturally different from GAC and Toyota's attitudes towards solid-state battery packs.
Detaching from individual differences and ignoring dynamic changes to talk about "enough" is a hooligan.
Although there is no ready-made golden rule for the range required by electric vehicles, if the goal is set as "a comprehensive replacement for the broader fuel market" for the time being, some discoveries can be made by referring to the energy replenishment conditions of mainstream fuel vehicles to do additions and subtractions.
In the fuel era, people can be satisfied with "500+ km actual range, (in most cases) 5 minutes of energy replenishment, high-density and convenient transportation of energy charging stations", then we can consider how electric vehicles can achieve similar energy replenishment conditions.
For example, if the "500km actual range" takes into account high-speed conditions, the corresponding CLTC range may reach more than 700km, considering the disadvantage of charging speed, the electric vehicle needs to have a significantly longer range, and considering the density of charging stations/traffic (ground vs. possibly underground), the range of the electric vehicle needs more compensation.
The above is all casually said, without any reference suggestions, just to show that at least in "assuming that the fuel vehicle energy replenishment experience can be used as a reference standard, then at this stage, a considerable number of electric vehicles pursue 1000km completely reasonable".
So it's easy to understand that Li Bin will certainly think that the 150kWh battery pack is "more symbolic than practical", because NIO has more ample battery swap stations and self-built piles. In addition, due to the existence of battery swap and rental models, the possible progress and iteration of solid-state battery packs in the future determines that most users will not easily purchase them at one time.
So on the other hand, considering that the intensive landing of the supercharging network requires a process after all, and considering the poor degree and progress of different car companies benefiting from the energy replenishment network, even if "enough + overcharging" may still be the mainstream state in the future, the current demand for 1000km battery life and solid-state batteries is not contradictory or excessive.