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Li Auto Reached 100,000 Units of a Car You Probably Never Heard of, But Should

Anyone covering or reading about the Chinese EV industry has already stumbled upon the name Li Auto, aka Li Xiang (the name of its founder). This company became the leader in recommendations from its customers according to a recent survey. It is also the newest Chinese carmaker to manufacture 100,000 vehicles. However, there are some extraordinary elements in this news that are worth mentioning.
Li Auto One 38 photos
Photo: Li Auto
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The first is that Li Auto did this with a single model. NIO had the ES8, ES6, and EC6 when it achieved that number in April 2021. Xpeng had the G3, P7, and P5 when it announced it produced 100,000 cars on October 11, 2021. Li Auto only has the One – yes, that’s the name of its plug-in hybrid.

NIO started manufacturing its first mass-production car (the ES8) in June 2018, so it took it a little less than three years to reach this milestone. The same happened with Xpeng’s first vehicle, the G3, which reached assembly lines in November 2018. Li Auto started manufacturing the One in November 2019, a bit less than two years ago. It took Tesla 12 years to do the same.

That makes us wonder what is so special about the One. Well, it is a combination of things. The build quality earned the company first place in the recommendation category in LandRoads’ survey, but there’s more. The One is the PHEV with the longest electric range apart from the BMW i3 when it offered that option.

Its 37.2 kWh of usable capacity gives it an NEDC range of 180 kilometers (112 miles). The battery pack presents 40.6 kWh, but buffering makes the net power drop a bit. The WEI Coffee 01 – called Mocca in China – has a 41.8 kWh battery pack with an NEDC range of 150 km (93 miles).

The explanation for that is probably on weight. While the WEI uses a 2-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged engine to generate energy and also power the wheels, the Li Auto One uses a 1.2-liter, three-cylinder turbocharged engine supplied by Dongan Engine solely as a generator.

With this powertrain, the Li Auto One can reach a total range of 800 km (497 mi). That’s pretty impressive for an SUV that is 5.03 meters (198 inches) long, 1.96 m (77.2 in) wide, 1.76 m (69.3 in) tall, and has a wheelbase of 2.94 m (115.8 in). Its curb weight is 2,300 kg.

Doing that well in its home market, it is improbable that Li Auto considers expanding abroad in the short term. When it does though, the satisfaction levels its products have achieved in the demanding Chinese market should help it do even better in other markets. When that happens, remember you have read more about the brand here with autoevolution.

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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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