Chinese automaker, GAC Aion, is making a bold claim to the title of the most extended range battery electric vehicle with its new LX Plus SUV. The company says the EV will last a whopping 620 miles or 1,000 km!
Aion is the brand GAC uses to sell its electric cars, and it has five EVs on the market already. Recently, GAC unveiled its Aion V Plus, an SUV that was supposed to yield 1,000 km. Apparently, GAC decided to put the long-range battery in the new LX Plus.
Still on the battery, GAC used the Aion V to present its rapid-charging technology at a company event. It charged the car from 0 to 80 percent in eight minutes during a demonstration. Charging from 30 to 80 percent took under five minutes. Most likely, the new LX Plus will have this fast charging feature.
Aion has committed to installing fast chargers throughout China. The Aion LX Plus achieves its extraordinary range with a 144.4 kWh battery pack. The battery uses lithium-ion chemistry and has an energy density of 205 Wh/kg. Bear in mind that the range estimate is based on NEDC parameters, and they yield more range than the more conservative EPA rating.
For context, the longest-range electric vehicle available for purchase is the Lucid Air Dream Edition, which lasts 520 miles.
Interestingly, the new LX Plus SUV uses the same battery pack as the LX model. The difference in performance is due to Aion’s proprietary cell technology, which uses silicon sponge negative cells. This improvement allows the battery to have a higher energy density, resulting in a 20 percent reduction in size and a 14 percent reduction in weight. This enabled Aion to increase the range from 650 km to over 1,000 km without altering the physical dimensions of the battery pack.