Live – Chery challenge 2000 km range in a PHEV

Two things you can be sure of about in the Chinese EV world are how fast moving it is and that one company will always try to outdo another. Just yesterday we reported that BYD and Geely both claimed that their latest PHEV systems are capable of 2000 km and can achieve under 3 l/100km. Well currently Chery is trying to one up them with a real world test that they’re currently live streaming.

The challenge involves driving two Chery Fulwin A8 Pro cars fully fueled and charged to see whether they can achieve the feat. Both set off yesterday at 3 pm from Wuhu in Auhui Province, where Chery is headquartered. The route has 12 stages and involved the team driving through the night and is scheduled to finish at 9 pm Beijing time today when the cars will hopefully reach Yancheng, in Jiangsu Province.

To ensure transparency the cars were fully fueled and charged and then sealed so that the cars could not be refueled or charged on route. Furthermore the challenge is being live streamed on Douyin, China’s TikTok. Currently car 1 is doing slightly better having travelled 1214.6 km and averaged 2.6 l/100km versus 1213.8 km for car 2 which has averaged 2.7 l/100km.

The Chery Fulwin A8 Pro uses the Chery Kunpeng super hybrid C-DM system, equipped with the fifth-generation ACTECO 1.5TGDI hybrid engine, the vehicle’s fuel tank is 60L, and the battery capacity is 18.3 kWh. There is an electric motor on the front axle providing 150 kW with 310 Nm of torque. Transmission is a 1-speed hybrid transmission (DHT) unit and the system combined power is 265 kW with torque of 530 Nm.

Currently the Chery Fulwin A8 Pro is not on sale and is due to launch on April 18. It is derived from the Chery Arrizo 8 an ICE car. Fulwin was the name of Chery’s first car and the name has now been resurrected as a sub brand for PHEV versions of Chery models. There is already a Chery Fulwin A8 but the new Pro version looks different with a more enclosed front end.

As yet no car company has tried the 2000 kilometers challenge and we will have to wait a few more hours to see whether Chery succeeds.

Chinese car companies are getting very good at doing live-streaming events where their cars undertake feats to