In response to doubts about Li Auto's choice of the extended-range technology route, the Chinese EV maker's founder Li Xiang gave a stern rebuttal in a speech at Li Auto's user day on August 29.
The topic of Li Xiang's speech was themed "Why can't it be an extended-range electric car? " He gave two questions to the audiences.
The first question is: All of you who drove the Li ONE to Chengdu, if you were to trade in your car for an electric one, would you do it? The second question is: I know there are many of you who have both a fuel car and a Li ONE at home.
After receiving negative answers from some users, Li Xiang continued: This is the topic I would like to share with you today, "Why can't it be the extended-range electric car?", which is a very important topic.
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He said:
I'll say something nasty first: a bunch of people who stink at technology is always telling us that extended-range electric is a backward technology.
May I ask, what technology did they come up with?
Right. Let a bunch of these people, who have no user mindset and don't care about users at all, work on the technical route every day, what technical route, huh? Nonsense!
As for the technical route for new energy vehicles, there is currently Tesla's charging station mode, NIO's battery swap mode, and Li Auto's extended-range mode.
On July 15, 2020, Li Xiang was asked: "Is it possible that fast charging can be solved in the next 5 years (e.g. charging 500 km in 10 minutes)? If so, is there a risk in the company's extended-range strategy?"
Li Xiang says it could take until 2030 for this to "take shape".
By then, he said, the extended-range electric car will not only be able to be fast-charged at home, but will also be able to refuel outside, and the extended-range electric car will also be able to take off its engine and become a battery-powered car directly.
Li Auto figures showed that it sold 1,891 units of its extended-range midsize electric vehicle, the Li ONE, in June and 2,516 units in July.
Li Auto shares went up by more than 5 percent in early trading on Monday.
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