Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

As winter arrives, the news about Electric Vehicles becoming 'electric daddies' has increased.

With the Range 'shrinking', slower charging, and the cabin being too cold, many drivers have found themselves in difficult situations, covering themselves with blankets in the car unwilling to turn on the Air Conditioner, getting stuck on highways during freezing rain and snow, and even having charging guns freeze while charging.

In summary, winter seems to have become the season with the worst experience for Electric Vehicles, and a series of winter driving dilemmas have become obstacles for Consumers looking to purchase Electric Vehicles. This has also become a problem that Electric Vehicle companies are striving to solve.

At the recent Li Auto 2024 Winter Driving Technology Day event, Li Auto showcased some of its achievements in improving winter Range, winter energy replenishment, and winter cabin comfort. Through this, it hopes to alleviate Consumers' concerns about winter driving.

Range reduction is the number one enemy of winter driving. Li Auto found that in the decrease of winter Range, the Air Conditioner consumption accounted for 15% and Cell loss accounted for about 10%. Li Auto proposed a set of 'shortening costs' solutions for these two issues.

In the area of 'open source', Ideal is committed to enhancing the low-temperature discharge capacity of the Battery.

This is primarily demonstrated through the industry's first Kirin 5C Battery. For this battery, Ideal Auto analyzed the internal resistance composition of the Cell, dissecting a total of 17 resistance components across three levels, and then conducting feasibility analyses for optimizing each resistance component.

By adopting technologies such as high-activity superconducting positive electrodes and low-viscosity high-conductivity Electrolyte, the low-temperature impedance of the MEGA 5C Cell was successfully reduced by 30%, and the power capacity was accordingly improved by more than 30%.

In terms of the low-temperature range testing for the entire vehicle, this means that energy loss due to internal resistance is reduced by 1%, heating losses of the Battery are reduced by 1%, leading to an overall increase in range of 2%.

In the area of 'throttling', Ideal focuses on the 15% consumption ratio of the Air Conditioner, designing a double-layer airflow air conditioning box.

The double-layer airflow air conditioning box refers to the vertical division of the air intake structure of the air conditioning system, introducing an appropriate amount of external air distributed in the upper space, which not only addresses the risk of fogging on the Glass but also allows occupants to breathe fresh air.

Simultaneously, by integrating a variety of sensor units, such as temperature and humidity Sensors, and carbon dioxide Sensors, Ideal Auto developed a more intelligent control algorithm that allows the ratio of recycled air to be increased to over 70% while ensuring no fogging occurs. Taking the Ideal MEGA as an example, under the -7°C CLTC standard conditions, the double-layer airflow air conditioning box resulted in a 57W reduction in energy consumption, which also translates to an increase of 3.6km in range.

In addition, Ideal has also developed a fully self-researched Thermal Management architecture, primarily through flexible distribution of heat to achieve reasonable utilization of heat. For example, an option was added in the thermal management system's circuit to bypass the Battery, allowing the electric drive to directly supply heat to the cabin, saving about 12% compared to traditional solutions.

After using the Kirin 5C Battery, not only is the endurance improved in winter, but also the charging efficiency has surpassed that of traditional batteries.

Under normal temperatures, traditional 2C battery systems typically take about 30 minutes to charge from 10% to 80%, but in low-temperature environments, the corresponding charging time extends to about 50 minutes. The reduced charging efficiency is even more detrimental for luxury models.

In order to achieve a consistent charging experience throughout the seasons, Li Xiang is conducting technological upgrades in both Hardware and Software, optimizing across multiple fields such as high-rate Cell design, efficient Thermal Management design, and various intelligent charging control strategies.

From the Hardware perspective, the Kirin 5C battery equipped in the Li Xiang MEGA optimizes the materials of the Cell (anode, cathode, Electrolyte, Separator) from a microscopic level, further improving the transmission path of lithium ions and achieving high-rate performance. Under low-temperature conditions, the charging rate capability improves by over 100% compared to traditional 2C Cells.

In terms of Software, Li Xiang has designed a very thorough intelligent pre-cooling and pre-heating algorithm.

For example, after setting the navigation route to the supercharging station, before the vehicle arrives at the supercharging station, the algorithm can adaptively adjust the battery preheating start time and preheating water temperature based on the real-time status of the battery and the real-time distance to the station, ensuring that the battery temperature is controlled within the optimal Range when starting to charge upon arrival at the charging station.

After this series of upgrades, vehicles equipped with the Kirin 5C battery can charge from 10% to 95% in just 17 minutes, reducing the time by 5 minutes compared to before.

Changes in endurance and charging efficiency are felt deeply by the owner, but for Li Xiang users, family travel is often a priority, making real comfort for family members sitting in the car equally important, not to mention that the whole family might be reluctant to use the Air Conditioner.

Apart from the mainstream industry solutions of PTC direct heating for water or air heating and hot air bypass, the Ideal MEGA adopts a self-developed multi-source heat pump system that has 43 modes to respond to energy distribution in various scenarios across the entire temperature range.

For the issue of poor heating performance of the Air Conditioner in low temperatures, it can quickly generate heat through the compressor's "self-supply": utilizing the high-temperature coolant after heating with the Air Conditioner to quickly heat the refrigerant, activating the heat pump unit and enabling the electric compressor to produce additional heating capacity. This solution compares to the heating capacity of conventional industry practices: heating speed is faster, and peak heating capacity is greater.

To address the common industry problem of fast heating in the front row and slow or no heating in the second row, the Ideal MEGA leverages comfort simulation calculations to continuously optimize the vehicle's airflow distribution, setting the ratio of airflow for the front and second row foot areas at 1 to 0.87, which provides a more comparable comfort experience for passengers in both rows than the common 1 to 0.55 or 1 to 0.66 seen in the industry.

Moreover, to provide a better comfort experience, Ideal also considers temperature layering for the face and feet to ensure warm sensations for the feet during low-temperature driving while keeping the head feeling cool.

Currently, Ideal's cumulative delivery volume has surpassed 1 million vehicles, but competition in the industry is becoming increasingly fierce, with 1 million only marking a new starting point. Now, China's Autos are gradually moving away from winning based on "cost-performance ratio" to relying on products and user experiences. To maintain a competitive edge in this intense competition, it is essential to continuously deliver products that exceed user experiences. This holds true for all players in the industry.