The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is one of the most popular electric cars in China, but is it safe in the case of a head-on collision? This crash test gives us a glimpse of what to expect.
While westerners swear by Tesla, in China things look a little different, with many other carmakers enjoying success. Wuling is one of them, and their Hongguang Mini EV is even hotter in China than the Tesla Model 3. With an affordable base price of 28,800 CNY ($4,520), we can see why. Wuling floods the market with 40,000 units of this little cubicle every month.
Soon, this mini EV will also be available in Europe as the FreZe Nikrob EV, offering a rightful competition to Citroën AMI and other electric minicars. Therefore, it’s time to question whether this mini EV is safe enough to be trusted with your life. A crash test conducted earlier this year in China raises an eyebrow, but the perspectives are not entirely gloomy.
The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV was pitted against another Chinese EV, referred to as a “low-speed electric vehicle.” The red microcar looks rather funny as it tries to resemble a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, complete with the three-pointed star on the grille. This is a rather rudimentary EV, powered by a lead-acid battery.
The cars crashed into each other at a speed of 64 kph (40 mph), with a 50% offset. As you can see from the video below, the crash proved devastating for the red shrink-down G-Class, which makes us think no one inside would have survived.
Things look much better for the Wuling dummies. Even without sophisticated safety systems onboard (no airbags for instance), Hongguang Mini EV manages to offer some protection to its passengers, thanks to the crumple zone built into its chassis. According to the diagram in the video, the Wuling’s driver has some chance of survival, albeit with some head and leg injuries. The doors were not easy to open after the crash, but at least the battery was mostly intact.
While this test pictures Wuling as a well-thought-out mini EV when it comes to safety, it is worth considering the bigger car crashes that might happen in real-life situations. Even if we consider a subcompact hatchback, this would be at least twice the weight of Wuling. It’s easy to imagine such a crash will destroy the Hongguang Mini EV in a similar manner it destroyed the red microcar in the video.
After his childhood dream of becoming a "tractor operator" didn't pan out, Cristian turned to journalism, first in print and later moving to online media. His top interests are electric vehicles and new energy solutions. Full profile
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