Xpeng is also jumping on the electric wave with a range extender

The Chinese carmaker XPENG has just announced a major change of strategy. From now on, the company will not focus exclusively on pure battery electric vehicles, but will also develop models with a range extender. The latter will offer an electric range of up to 430 km and a total range reaching 1,400 km.

The new system these vehicles will use, called XPENG Kunpeng Super Electric System, incorporates some interesting features worth highlighting. The first is noise reduction: the company claims that the interior noise level will only increase by one decibel when the combustion engine starts running, unlike other similar competitor systems in which it is clearly audible.

Another important aspect that XPENG will improve is performance in situations of high energy demand. In a vehicle with a range extender, the wheels are driven exclusively by the electric motor, while the combustion engine is used to recharge the battery and usually lacks the capacity to cover power peaks, needed for example to climb steep gradients or perform overtaking manoeuvres. In situations like these, if the battery charge is low, even if the combustion engine runs at full capacity to generate electricity, it is not always enough to meet the electric motor’s demand and, as a consequence, the vehicle’s performance is seriously affected.

Every problem has a solution

XPENG aims to address this problem by equipping its Kunpeng system with a larger-capacity battery pack that also supports higher charging power, making it possible to increase the battery charge from 10 to 80 percent in just 12 minutes at an ultra-rapid charging point. Although XPENG has not revealed who supplies this battery pack, everything points to CATL, since it recently presented a battery pack for range-extended electric vehicles (EREV) with which it is possible to travel more than 400 km without the combustion engine starting up.

As we have been telling you here at HighMotor over the last few months, range-extended vehicles are becoming increasingly popular in the Chinese market, and there is now practically no manufacturer in that country selling electric vehicles that does not also include an EREV model in its lineup. There are also others, such as Li Auto, specialising specifically in this type of vehicle.

XPENG could not stay out of this trend in its home market, in order to reach a larger number of customers and avoid losing some to others. Hence this change of strategy by the Chinese manufacturer.