Xiaopeng and Xiaomi have successively entered the market. Why has the backward extended-range technology become the mainstream of new energy vehicles?

Many people did not expect that the extended-range power, which was previously considered a "backward" technology, has now quietly become the mainstream of new energy vehicles.

In recent years, extended-range vehicles have frequently appeared in the automotive industry and have even become the focus of many new energy vehicle companies. Now, even the leading pure electric vehicle companies have begun to collectively embrace the extended-range route.

Last month, Xiaopeng released its own extended-range technology route - Kunpeng Super Electric System at AI Technology Day. It is said that its first car will be mass-produced in 2025.

Xiaomi Motors, which has just made a name for itself in the automotive industry this year, has also released news that it is developing an extended-range model. It is rumored online that the next model to be released after its pure electric models SU7 and YU7 is an extended-range model.

In addition, the extended-range version of Hongmeng Zhixing R7 was released yesterday, and the extended-range version of Zhijie S7 will soon be available to everyone, including the million-level executive flagship Zunjie S800 that will be launched next year, which also adopts dual power of extended-range and pure electric.

It is not just these new forces, traditional car companies have also paid attention to this field. Geely's Zeekr brand has already made arrangements in terms of range extension and will launch a medium-to-large flagship SUV with range extension technology in the third quarter of next year.

In the past, many car companies "looked down on" extended-range power, but now so many car companies are chasing after it. What is the reason? In fact, no matter what category they are in, car companies want to achieve better sales breakthroughs.

According to relevant data, Ideal Auto, which has been in the extended-range field for many years, achieved total sales of 442,000 vehicles from January to November 2024, of which the sales of extended-range power L9, L8, L7, and L6 reached 432,400 vehicles, accounting for 97.8%.

Wenjie, which entered the extended-range vehicle market earlier, has also achieved good results in this field. Its Wenjie M7 and Wenjie M9 ranked top three in the sales ranking of extended-range vehicles under 500,000 yuan in November.

Media statistics show that from February to October, more than 118,500 units of M9 were sold, of which 89.03% were extended-range versions.

The popularity of extended-range vehicles in the market can also be confirmed by official data. In August this year, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed that the wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars in China reached 1.052 million units that month. Among them, the wholesale sales of extended-range vehicles reached 115,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 109%, which is much higher than the 6.6% of pure electric vehicles and 84% of plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Successful precedents and market feedback have made many car companies see the potential of extended-range vehicles, and they have joined the market one after another.

In October, Luo Jian, general manager of the marketing department of CATL, said at the "Xiaoyao Battery" press conference: In the past three months, hybrid models accounted for 43% of domestic new energy passenger cars, of which plug-in hybrid models accounted for 32% and extended-range models accounted for 11%.

Now, in addition to Ideal and Wenjie, Shenlan, Leapmotor, Nezha, Avita, Lantu, and Chery Xingtu have also launched their own extended-range models, while Zhijie, Zunjie, Xiaopeng, Xiaomi, Zhiji, and Haobo have also made plans and layouts for extended-range models.

The participation of more car companies has promoted the advancement of extended-range technology. Today's extended-range vehicles have begun to get rid of various problems such as low pure electric endurance and high fuel consumption when out of power, and have entered the 2.0 era.

For example, the Avita 07, its first Kunlun extended-range technology platform, is equipped with a 39-degree battery, a peak charging rate of 3C, and a discharge rate of 7.7C in the feeding state, so that the zero-to-hundred acceleration capability is only attenuated in less than 1 second in the feeding state.

When introducing its future extended-range models, Xiaopeng Motors also mentioned a lot of key data. It is reported that its future extended-range vehicles can reach 430km of pure electric range, which is the longest pure electric range among current extended-range vehicles, and the combined mileage of full fuel and full charge can reach 1,400km.

At the same time, it also has the strength to dispel users' concerns in terms of energy replenishment. It is said that its extended-range model will support 5C charging rate, which can quickly replenish energy to 80% in 12 minutes, and the platform's maximum voltage reaches 821V, reaching the "true 800V" level.

It is officially announced that with the cooperation of Xiaopeng's new generation of hybrid silicon carbide coaxial electric drive, the CLTC efficiency of the new generation of models can be the best in the industry, allowing one kilowatt-hour of electricity to travel farther, and the volume is 30% smaller than traditional motors, leaving more space for the back row.

The Haobo HL, which will be launched next year, will also launch an extended-range version. It is said that its vehicle size will be larger than the Ideal L7 and Wenjie M7. The extended-range version has a pure electric range of up to 350 kilometers and a comprehensive range of more than 1,200 kilometers.

It can be seen that today's range-extending technology has made great progress. Problems such as short pure electric driving mileage, high fuel consumption during high-speed cruising, excessive vibration and noise of the range extender, and limited power in the feeding state have been effectively solved.

Of course, taking advantage of the situation does not mean that you can reap the "bonus" of this era. The automobile industry report released by Ping An Securities pointed out that in the extended-range 2.0 era, capacity expansion and iteration resonate. Domestic demand for automobiles will be an important focus of consumption promotion policies in 2025, and it is expected that the growth rate of domestic automobile sales in 2025 will be higher than that in 2024.

The expansion trend of extended-range vehicles is certain. Technological iterations (higher pure electric endurance, ultra-fast charging, and improved low-temperature performance) and cost advantages will allow extended-range vehicles to have several times the space for expansion in the medium and long term. Extended-range is an important power form for mid-to-high-end new energy vehicles. It is estimated that the sales volume of extended-range vehicles will reach about 2.2 million units in 2025, an increase of 80% year-on-year. The medium- and long-term space is expected to reach 7.5 million units.

Simply put, the extended-range 2.0 era is an opportunity for the development of auto companies, but whether they can seize this opportunity depends on whether the auto companies themselves have the strength to do so.

Nowadays, the reason why users prefer extended-range vehicles is that they can dispel range anxiety and reduce vehicle use costs. They hope to use the vehicle as a pure electric vehicle for daily use and as a "long-range" gasoline vehicle for long-distance travel. One vehicle dispels all concerns and meets multiple needs.

However, due to the different technical routes of each company, there are still many extended-range vehicles that cannot achieve low fuel consumption and fast energy replenishment, which makes users feel very "useless".

Therefore, whether you are a veteran or a new player, if you want to win in the extended-range 2.0 era, you still have to rely on truly hardcore extended-range technology.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.