The first electric car with a range of over 1,000 kilowatts has been launched. Can Aion LX completely cure "range anxiety"?

Recently, GAC Aion’s new Aion LX appeared in the new car declaration list of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is worth mentioning that the new car has a range of 1008km, making it the world’s first NEDC model with a range of over 1000km. The new car will be unveiled at the upcoming Guangzhou Auto Show.

How to achieve a range of over 1,000 km?

There is no doubt that the 1,008km range is a milestone, because many fuel vehicles cannot reach 1,000km on a tank of gas. If the Aion LX is used for commuting, most consumers can charge it once a week, or even once every two weeks or three weeks, greatly improving its practicality and convenience.

In essence, improving battery life is a very simple thing. Taking fuel vehicles as an example, the most crude way is to increase the fuel tank capacity. Similarly, for new energy vehicles, increasing the battery capacity can increase battery life.

But improving battery life is also very difficult. Although it is easy to increase battery capacity, the weight of the battery pack will also increase with the increase of battery capacity, which will lead to the problem of how to layout the battery pack. Therefore, while increasing battery capacity, it is most important to reduce the weight of the battery pack as much as possible, that is, to increase energy density.

The battery pack used by GAC Aion is a ternary lithium battery, which has more advantages than lithium iron phosphate batteries in terms of energy density, but this is far from enough. As a technology control, in terms of battery technology, GAC Aion has released the well-known graphene-based super-fast charging battery technology (fast charging), silicon negative electrode battery technology (long battery life), and magazine battery technology (safer). GAC Aion's R&D strength is much stronger than imagined.

It should be noted that "fast charging" and "long battery life" are two technologies, which are reflected in two types of batteries respectively. At present, the new Aion V that was previously launched is the planned "fast charging", and the new Aion LX that is about to be launched is the planned "long battery life".

According to the data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the new Aion LX has increased its energy density while increasing its battery capacity. Relying on silicon anode battery technology, the energy density of its battery pack has reached 205Wh/kg. Compared with the current mainstream power battery energy density of 160-180Wh/kg, silicon anode battery technology has certain product advantages.

Of course, even so, without giving up power, the battery pack's leading energy density is still not enough to support the new car's substantial improvement in range, so the new car's battery pack cannot avoid weight gain. Che Yitiao noted that the current 80D model has a NEDC range of 600km and a curb weight of 2180kg. In comparison, information from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that the new Aion LX has a curb weight of 2720kg. If nothing unexpected happens, the battery pack will contribute to the weight gain of more than half a ton.

It is also important to note that even if the battery pack weighs half a ton, the entire vehicle can still be mass-produced, which means that silicon negative electrode battery technology has another highlight - small size.

Although the battery pack equipped in the new Aion LX has a higher energy density, the energy density only determines the weight of the battery pack, not the volume of the battery pack. If the battery pack increases in weight by 540kg and its volume increases significantly, then it will be impossible to make a reasonable layout for a modified model, because GAC Aion cannot adjust the chassis layout of the modified model.

If the battery life is long enough, there will be no worries?

For users who choose electric vehicles, what they feared most was "range anxiety". But today, the actual range of mainstream electric vehicles has exceeded 400km, and the range of many mid-to-high-end models is comparable to that of fuel vehicles. It seems that "range anxiety" has become a thing of the past.

Take the upcoming Aion LX as an example, its range has exceeded 1,000km, even if there is a certain amount of false range, it has already surpassed most traditional fuel vehicles. However, in the view of Che Yitiao, long range does not mean there is no "range anxiety".

During the National Day holiday, the Internet was once again filled with the topic of "range anxiety". As the range of electric vehicles is getting longer and longer, and charging facilities are becoming more and more complete, many consumers choose to drive electric vehicles for outings, thinking that they can just charge at the service areas along the way as planned, but unexpectedly everyone thinks in this way, so a new problem of "difficulty in charging" has emerged.

In fact, in response to "range anxiety", GAC Aion has taken two paths, namely the "fast charging" and "long range" mentioned just now, but there is no intersection between the two, that is, the two technologies cannot appear on the same car at the same time. Take the latter as an example. Without increasing the charging speed, if the battery capacity is larger, then it will not only have a longer range performance, but also a longer charging time. Longer charging time has two major disadvantages. On the one hand, it is not friendly to waiting users, and on the other hand, it is even less friendly to other users queuing for charging.

Of course, some consumers may think that it is not necessary to wait for the battery to be fully charged, just charge it until it is sufficient. On the contrary, it can be understood in this way: there is no point in having such a large battery capacity, just enough is enough. It should also be emphasized that the increase in car purchase cost brought by a larger battery capacity is by no means a small amount.

Furthermore, whether the battery pack with higher energy density is safe enough is also a question worth pondering. Previously, CATL launched the 811 battery known for its high energy density. The battery energy density used in the Aion S is 170Wh/kg and the battery cell energy density is 240Wh/kg. However, the Aion S is not only greeted with longer battery life, but also with a series of spontaneous combustion. To date, GAC Aion has launched the magazine battery technology that provides safety protection for battery cells, but it is unknown whether the silicon negative electrode battery technology can be used at the same time as the magazine battery technology.

In contrast, "fast charging" is different. For example, GAC Aion claims that it can charge to 80% in 8 minutes. If the charging speed of an electric car is only more than ten minutes, or even shorter, then the difference between its charging speed and that of a fuel car is only the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, which is obviously more effective in reducing "range anxiety". It is worth mentioning that consumers will not have to pay too much for fast charging technology. For example, the Changan Benben E-Star has an optional fast charging interface for only 900 yuan, which is affordable for all users.

However, the implementation of advanced fast-charging technology is not easy. Although the cost of car purchase for consumers is low, manufacturers have little energy to put more and more fast-charging piles into use. At present, when fast-charging technology cannot be unified, finding a fast-charging pile suitable for your vehicle is another major barrier in long-distance travel.