Leaving Malaysia In The Rear View Are China’s Electrifying Line-ups Of Their EVs

Recent 2021 Shanghai Auto Show has exhibited a sensational line-up of vehicles and most of them consists of EVs from local companies that could define the future of China’s electric automotive industry.

Among the many, we at Caricarz have made a list of the most striking EVs displayed that were offered by brands from China and these are the eight electrifying contenders.

In no particular order, first on the list is the Chinese battery and electric vehicle maker, BYD. Their flagship series that was showcased is called the ‘Han’. It is named after China’s Han dynasty and was first launched last year.

The company’s ‘Han’ series includes three electric vehicles and one hybrid vehicle. They claim that their long-range EV has a range of about 603 km and their ‘blade’ battery pack is safer than other conventional cell packs.

Moving on to the second one, is the Chinese automotive conglomerate, Geely Holdings Inc.. This year they are showcasing quite a few and these are the ones we seem worthy to mention. 

Top of Geely's list is the Geometry A Pro. It is the brand’s new extended-range version, which comes with a 150 kW battery and provides a range of 600 km within a single charge.

Officially, the brand was launched back in 2019 and since then it has produced a total of two models. Both the A and C models are currently on sale in the Chinese market.

Next on Geely’s list is the company’s newest plug-in hybrid variant, Lynk & Co. 05. Also presented was the Scalable Product Architecture that will be used by future Lynk & Co. developments. It will soon be unveiled later this year with an electrified powertrain.

After that comes the EV performance brand from Volvo that is owned by Geely, the Polestar 1 hybrid electric and the all-electric Polestar 2. Its special edition Polestar 1 in matte gold is the one to look at, even though it is just a hybrid electric. 

This performance EV was built with a lightweight frame made out of carbon fibre reinforced polymer. It has twin rear electric motors with genuine torque vectoring and high-performance components like Akebono brakes and adjustable Öhlins dampers. 

Its powertrain is able to produce an output of 619 hp and 1000 Nm of torque. Also, enabling a purely electric driving range of 96 km based on the WLTP standard. Other than that, the vehicle features a bespoke matte gold exterior paint job with matching brake callipers to its sporty black wheels.

One upping that would be the company’s sub-brand, Zeekr, bringing with it their first and flagship EV model dubbed the Zeekr 001. It has an aim to put software at the forefront and the name is a combination of ‘Z’ as in Generation Z and ‘geek’.

Zeekr 001 comes fitted with a dual motor system that transmits power to all four wheels. It delivers 767 Nm of torque and is able to accelerate from 0 – 100 km/h in less than 4 seconds. The EV is also able to provide an estimated range of more than 700 km on a single charge.

With Geely out of the way, next on our list is an all-electric flagship sedan from Nio, the ET7. Initially, it was unveiled last January and at the Shanghai Auto Show, the company officially debuted the interior that they described to be like a second living space.

On the performance side, its 150 kWh battery is able to give the car a whopping range of 999 km under China’s NEDC testing protocol. The company also claims that the Nio’s Autonomous Driving technology to be a state-of-the-art system.

Nio will also be deploying a total of 100 of its branded power swap stations as well as other infrastructure, including 500 charging stations and more than 10,000 destination chargers in eight provinces in China.

Following that is the affordable Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV that comes with a price tag of RM 17,385 ($4,230). This vehicle is a property of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., a joint venture between SAIC Motor Corp., General Motors and Liuzhou Wuling Motors Co.. 

It is one of the most popular EVs in China this year and has sold more than 57,000 units in February alone. The extremely lightweight EV is produced at the Lizhou, Guangxi factory and it only takes about four hours to make one from scratch.

Providing a smooth ride that won’t exceed more than 100 km/h, along with a cap of around 120 km to 177 km of range per charge makes it the perfect car for the urbanites.

Xpeng, the Alibaba backed Chinese automaker have showcased their third vehicle, the Xpeng P5 that has been revealed to use a built-in lidar sensor in an effort to boost the capabilities of its Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS).

According to the company, its two sensors that are built into both sides of the saloon’s front, can detect and identify pedestrians, other cars, cyclists, scooters and more, no matter the weather or darkness.

Now, after knowing all of that, let us leave you with a feeling of wonderment. China is considerably new to the whole electric vehicle game but nonetheless, it is known to come out with remarkable line-ups of EVs. 

Malaysia on the other hand, two of our biggest automotive companies, Proton with about 38 years of experience and Perodua with about 28 years of experience still haven’t produced anything even close to something that we can call electric. What is taking our country so long?