This should offer a purely electric range of up to 430 kilometres and a total range of up to 1,400 kilometres. These figures were given by company founder and CEO He Xiaopeng at the ‘Xpeng AI Day’, which actually focussed on the use of artificial intelligence. There was no concrete model to be seen at the event. However, the announcement alone that an EREV system is being developed is of great significance for Xpeng: the company has not developed any combustion engines to date but has only sold purely electric vehicles.
The drive system called ‘Xpeng Kunpeng Super Electric System’ should have some special features, at least according to the announcement. For example, the noise level in the interior should only increase by one decibel when the combustion engine is running as a generator – until now, the combustion engine has been clearly audible in many EREVs.
Xpeng also wants to solve the performance problem of current systems. A brief digression here: in a vehicle with a range extender, the wheels are driven exclusively by electricity and the combustion engine only acts as a generator that charges the battery. Accordingly, its output is designed more for a constant load to (gently) charge the battery, but not to cover the higher power requirement when starting off or driving uphill. However, this is precisely when problems can occur with current EREV systems: If the battery charge level is low, the battery current is not sufficient to cover the power requirement of the drive in such driving scenarios – the combustion engine then runs at full load to generate electricity. However, this power is generally not sufficient to cover the power requirements of the drive directly. This is why today’s range extender cars often have a significantly lower output when the battery is empty than when it is full. A concrete numerical example: the EREV version of the Neta S estate has an electric rear engine with a peak output of 200 kW, which is combined with a 31.7 or 43.9 kWh battery, depending on the model. However, the 1.5-litre petrol engine only delivers 70 kW. If the battery is empty and the power has to be used directly from the generator for propulsion, only 70 kW is available.
Xpeng wants to overcome this with a correspondingly powerful battery in its Kunpeng system: At the presentation, in addition to the 430-kilometre range, a 5C charging capability was mentioned as key data in order to be able to charge the battery (at a charging station) from ten to 80 per cent in twelve minutes. The battery supplier was not named. However, the performance data mentioned could be a reference to CATL: The battery manufacturer had presented such an EREV battery with a range of over 400 kilometres in October. However, CATL had only specified a charging rate of 4C for the so-called Freevoy battery.
In China, not only battery-electric vehicles are successful, but also plug-in hybrids and range extenders. Many Chinese people, especially in rural areas with poorer charging infrastructure, want long ranges but do not want to or cannot charge as frequently as would be necessary with a PHEV. EREVs close this gap. Some manufacturers, such as Li Auto, have even specialised in this completely and are successful. Rumour has it that Nio is also considering moving away from the BEV-only route with its Firefly brand.
He Xiaopeng also used these arguments in his presentation. The current BEV drives would not offer a “very good experience” with their charging times. In addition, there is no reliable national power grid in many countries – so there is also a need for such vehicles in the ‘colder parts of China’.
Incidentally, artificial intelligence is also to be used to control the Kunpeng system in order to optimise the operating strategy ‘based on the road conditions’. So the presentation at the ‘Xpeng AI Day’ fits again.
