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The range of battery life is an important factor that consumers need to consider when purchasing new energy vehicles, but how can they know the actual range performance of a new energy vehicle?

As we all know, the official range of a vehicle is not equal to its actual range, and professional testing also has certain limitations. For example, in recent years, many platforms and institutions have conducted "winter tests" and "summer tests" on the range of various types of new energy vehicles, but these tests in extreme environments are often quite different from the actual vehicle use environment of consumers. The greater significance of professional testing is to show the extreme performance of the vehicle, rather than to show the daily vehicle range of most consumers.

If consumers can find out the actual range performance of the selected model in all seasons according to the temperature zone of their city before buying a car, it may be more practical than knowing the official range, extreme cold or extreme hot test range. Autohome has targeted this market pain point and conducted a temperature range range research on the reputation of new energy vehicles.

Why is the temperature zone endurance achievement rate important?

The official range of a new energy vehicle is the easiest for consumers to know.

Generally speaking, the official usually provides two types of mileage data: one is the working condition mileage or NEDC mileage, and the other is the maximum mileage. Usually, the mileage of new energy vehicles in actual use will be lower than the official announced value.

The reason is that the maximum range refers to the theoretical maximum value achieved with the lowest energy consumption while driving at a constant speed of 60km/h in a straight line, but it is difficult to achieve in actual driving. The working range is measured based on simulated road conditions that are closer to reality, including congested, unobstructed and highway sections. Although it is closer to actual use, it is still different from actual use because it usually does not consider the impact of outdoor temperature on the battery.

Temperature is one of the important factors that affect battery performance. In recent years, many organizations have launched tests such as "winter testing" and "summer testing" for new energy vehicle models. For example, new energy winter testing is mainly concentrated in high-latitude extremely cold areas, but actual market research data shows that the sales of new energy vehicles in extremely cold areas with winter temperatures of -17℃~-30℃ only account for 5.7% of the total sales of new energy vehicles, while more than 90% of the new energy vehicle market is concentrated in ordinary low temperature, normal temperature or high temperature environments, among which the sales in low temperature areas represented by Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei account for 39.9%, the normal temperature areas represented by Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai account for 32.9%, and typical high temperature areas such as Hainan account for 21.5%.

So, how can we know the most realistic actual endurance performance of a car model in the driving environment?

my country has a vast territory and a wide range of climates. When consumers choose new energy vehicles, the climate they should consider is not just a simple division of "South" and "North". In order to solve the pain points of consumers in choosing cars, the Autohome Reputation Channel conducted a study on the range achievement rate of new energy vehicles in the temperature range based on massive data from car owners.

Autohome selected 400 cities in China and divided them into 12 temperature zones. Based on its massive data of car owners, it conducted statistics on the real range of car models. Consumers can intuitively retrieve the real range of their selected models in their own temperature zones. Data shows that Autohome has more than 10 million certified car owners, and Koubei has collected more than 90,000 real range data feedback from car owners in the first half of 2024. The huge data sample ensures the authenticity and credibility of the research results.

Figure: 12 temperature zones and representative cities

For example, 93 cities including Beijing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang have a warm temperate continental monsoon climate; 55 cities including Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuxi have a northern subtropical monsoon climate; 175 cities including Chongqing, Nanchang, and Jinhua have a mid-subtropical monsoon climate; 25 cities including Shenyang, Changchun, and Harbin have a mid-temperate monsoon climate; and 23 cities including Xishuangbanna, Sanya, and Haikou have a tropical monsoon climate.

Before purchasing new energy vehicles, it would be more scientific for consumers in different cities to refer to the actual range achievement of models in the four seasons according to the temperature zone they are in.

Which temperature zones are most comfortable for driving new energy vehicles?

In terms of seasons, new energy vehicles have the best average endurance performance in spring and autumn, followed by summer, while performance is poor in winter.

So what characteristics do new energy vehicles have in different temperature zones in different seasons?

Figure: Temperature zone performance of the top five new energy vehicle models

Taking the actual performance of the five best-selling new energy vehicle models on the market as an example (the data samples are selected from the top five new energy vehicle models in sales from December 2023 to May 2014, including Model Y, Seagull, Qin PLUS, Xiaomi SU7, and Yuan UP), in spring and autumn, the actual average cruising range achievement rate of these five models can reach 82.26%.

On the whole, these five models achieved the best endurance performance of 84.34% in the spring and autumn of the northern subtropical monsoon climate. For example, the Model Y model with an official range of 525 kilometers achieved the best endurance performance in the spring and autumn of the northern subtropical monsoon climate, with an actual range of 450 kilometers and an actual range achievement rate of 85.71%.

The mid-subtropical monsoon climate and the south-subtropical monsoon climate also ranked high in terms of endurance achievement rates in spring and autumn, reaching 83.97% and 83.37% respectively. Even the tropical monsoon climate, which ranked last in terms of endurance achievement rate, had an average endurance achievement rate of 74.46%.

In summer, the actual average range achievement rate of these five models can reach 80.90%, which is slightly lower than that in spring and autumn.

It is worth noting that the average endurance rate of vehicles in the temperate arid continental climate in summer is as high as 90.90%, and the average endurance rate of vehicles in the subtropical plateau mountain climate is also 88.05%. The endurance performance of new energy vehicles in these two temperature zones in the summer is even far superior to that in spring and autumn, which is different from the conventional perception of most people.

In addition, the tropical monsoon climate still ranks last, with an average endurance rate of 73.51%.

Figure: Average performance of the top five new energy vehicles in terms of range in different temperature zones and seasons

Winter is the "most difficult" time for most new energy vehicles.

However, new energy vehicles can still achieve an average range achievement rate of 86.77% in the subtropical plateau mountain climate in winter, which is also higher than the northern subtropical monsoon climate that ranks first in spring and autumn.

New energy vehicles have the worst range performance in the mid-temperate monsoon winter, with a range achievement rate of only 56.38%. For example, the Model Y, which has an official range of 688 kilometers, has an actual range of only 314 kilometers in the mid-temperate monsoon winter, with an actual range achievement rate of only 45.64%.

In addition, the range achievement rates of new energy vehicles in the warm temperate maritime monsoon climate and the temperate semi-arid and semi-humid continental climate in winter are also relatively low, at 65.18% and 66.47% respectively.

What temperature zone characteristics do the top three models in terms of battery life show?

Based on the massive data of car owners from Autohome, we selected models that have been on the market for more than three seasons and have a data sample of more than 200 as the final statistical objects to calculate the average range achievement rate. In the end, the average range achievement rates of Dolphin, Panda, and Denza N7 ranked in the top three, and the performance of these three models in all temperature zones is the best in spring and autumn, in the middle in summer, and the worst in winter.

Figure: Top three models in terms of average range achievement

The BYD Dolphin ranked first on the list, with an average range achievement rate of 87.29%. It is worth mentioning that the Dolphin is also the only model in this data sample with an average range performance of more than 80% in all temperature zones.

Specifically, the average endurance rate of dolphins is the best in the mid-temperate monsoon climate, reaching 91.29%; in the tropical monsoon climate, it reaches 90.87%. In the warm temperate marine monsoon climate, which performs the worst, the average endurance rate is 83.8%.

The second on the list is Geely's mini car Panda, which has an average range of 84.60%. According to the China Passenger Car Association, in the first half of 2024, Geely Panda ranked third in the domestic mini car market, with cumulative sales of 49,491 units in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 17.1%. From the perspective of the models on sale, Geely Panda is mainly distributed in models with a range of 200 kilometers, with a guide price of 39,900 yuan, while there are only two models with a range of 120 kilometers, with guide prices of 29,900 yuan and 42,900 yuan.

In terms of the Panda's endurance performance in different temperature zones, its endurance performance is best in tropical monsoon climate, at 93.25%, and in mid-temperate monsoon climate, at 91%. Its worst performance is in temperate semi-arid and semi-humid continental climate, with an average endurance rate of 79.17%.

Ranked third on the list is the BYD Denza N7, a mid-size SUV with an average range achievement rate of 81.41%.

Specifically, the average range achievement rate of the Denza N7 is the best in the mid-temperate monsoon climate, reaching 93.65%, followed by the warm temperate marine monsoon climate, reaching 91.32%. The worst performance is in the warm temperate continental monsoon climate, with an average range achievement rate of 77.49%.

Conclusion

In recent years, the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles has increased year by year. According to the data of China Automobile Association, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in 2021-2023 will be 3.521 million, 6.887 million and 9.495 million respectively, and the market penetration rate will reach 13.4%, 25.6% and 31.6% respectively. In the first half of the year just past, the sales volume of new energy vehicles reached 4.944 million, and the penetration rate reached 35.2%, of which the penetration rate in June reached 48.8%.

In a market full of new energy vehicle products, consumers are inevitably "dazzled" by the "far ahead" propaganda of various car companies when buying cars. With the expansion of the new energy vehicle market, the battery life issue may not be the biggest factor affecting consumers' choice of new energy models, but consumers' desire to know the most realistic battery life of the vehicle should not be ignored.

The data of the actual range achievement rate in the temperature zone of Autohome may not be as extreme as that of professional tests, but it focuses on the most extensive real car use scenarios and is closest to daily car use. Therefore, it is more valuable for reference in meeting the needs of most consumers in car selection and use.

Poster design: Dididi

Author: Li Yi