The Chinese manufacturer Nio has just carried out new autonomy tests with its ET7 electric car. And the latter broke a record, having traveled more than 1,044 kilometers in a single charge. Thanks to a fairly revolutionary semi-solid battery.
With a market share of around 15%, the electric car is becoming more and more important in France. And this even if we are not necessarily the best students throughout the world and in Europe. Because certain aspects still hold back customers, such as price and autonomy. Indeed, many customers believe that the latter is insufficient. Which is a mistake, thanks to the development of the fast charging network.
A new record
Especially since manufacturers and other equipment manufacturers are actively working on developing solutions to increase autonomy. And this involves in particular new, denser batteries and using more efficient technologies. This is for example the case of NMC chemistry (nickel – manganese – cobalt), which displays a better density than LFP technology (lithium – iron – phosphate).
But that’s not all, because work on the solid-state battery continues, although the latter will not see the light of day in production cars before the end of the decade. In the meantime, many manufacturers believe in semi-solid accumulators, which offer a good compromise. This is for example the case of the Chinese brand Nio, which has been working on it for some time now.
The firm calls on the company WeLion, which already began production last year of its semi-solid accumulator, which now equips the Nio ET5 and ET7. A small revolution, because this technology offers greater density and therefore greater autonomy. And this is confirmed with the figures announced by the manufacturer, which promises that its cars can travel up to 1,000 kilometers on a single charge. Promise kept?
Well yes, as the brand’s boss, William Li, announces on his page Weibo. The latter even announces that the ET7 sedan has broken a record, since it traveled no less than 1,044 kilometers without needing to recharge. The journey took 14 hours, an average speed of 74 km/h. And there was still 3% battery left according to the car gauge.
An interesting performance
Please note that the official approval value of 1,000 km is based on the Chinese CLTC mixed cycle standard. Indeed, you should know that the latter is well more optimistic than our European WLTP, significantly stricter. And with the latter, the distance covered by the electric sedan would then be around 900 kilometers, which still remains very high. A value almost identical to that of the Lucid Air, which currently remains the electric car with the greatest autonomy, followed by the Mercedes EQS and the Tesla Model S.
The Peugeot e-3008 should also soon reach this figure, but not before the year 2025. But where the Nio ET7 is very strong is that the test was carried out while the temperature was -2 degrees Celsius. However, we know that the colder it is, the more the autonomy tends to decrease due to increasing electricity consumption. Because to function correctly and optimally, the battery must be at 25 degrees.
In total, more than 14 hours were necessary to carry out this test, which ended with only 3% battery remaining in electric sedan. Note that the driver, who was none other than the CEO of the brand, was assisted by the NOP+ system, its in-house autonomous driving device. For the record, the Nio ET7 has a 150 kWh semi-solid battery provided by WeLion. The latter would cost the price of an ET5, displayed at 47,500 euros.
It is also compatible with the battery exchange stations designed by the manufacturer, which we recently tried. Enough to make journeys even faster, since charging only takes 4 minutes with the latest version.