Test drive Chery eQ1 Ant 400 Although the car is small, it has a long battery life.

In recent years, new energy vehicles have become a "battleground" for major car companies, especially in big cities with congested roads and tight parking spaces. Choosing one as a daily commute is gradually accepted by more and more people. However, everyone’s understanding of micro new energy vehicles still stays in the aspects of short battery life, high price, ugly appearance and rough workmanship, but Little Ant 400 will change your understanding.

This test drive model is fully upgraded on the basis of Chery eQ1 Ant 300, mainly for vehicles. The cruising range under comprehensive working conditions is increased to 301km, while the maximum cruising range at 60km/h is 410km.

At the end of this activity, New Energy announced the pre-sale price of the car. The national unified pre-sale price was 65,800-71,800 yuan, which was divided into three models and provided two-seat/four-seat versions.

This article will focus on the five questions that everyone is most concerned about, so that everyone can understand this car more quickly and directly.

1. What is the appearance and interior?

In terms of appearance, Chery eQ1 Ant 400 is highly original, the front face with "X" shape has a sense of design, and the shape of two-color body is cute and sporty. The new car is based on the current Chery eQ1 Ant 300, so it is consistent in appearance, almost unchanged, but upgraded in configuration.

In terms of interior, the overall layout of the new car is distinct, and the color scheme of orange and black interior is still adopted, which once again emphasizes its youthful positioning. The interior materials are almost all hard plastics, but this is completely understandable. After all, the price is there, so don’t treat it with excessive demands.

However, during the actual test drive, it was found that the front position of the co-driver of the car was seriously reflective, and the orange panel affected the line of sight more under the sun. I hope the manufacturer can improve it in the later models.

2. Is the cruising range of 301km under comprehensive working conditions true?

Before departure, I cleared the subtotal mileage of the vehicle to zero. At this time, the remaining cruising range was shown as 280km. Most of the test drive sections were mountain national roads, and the whole journey was smooth. The air conditioner was turned on some time, and most of the time the window was open. There were two people in the car and some luggage. After driving in this state for one day, the actual mileage is 120.5km and the remaining cruising range is 158km, which is almost the same as the remaining cruising range displayed on the dashboard, indicating that the car is still very real in cruising range.

3. What upgrades are there besides cruising range?

The car has been upgraded in terms of safety configuration. For example, the new car has the functions of ASR traction control system, C-ESC body electronic stability system, HAC uphill auxiliary system, TPMS tire pressure monitoring system, automatic window locking, intelligent battery charging and so on, which greatly improves the safety performance of the whole car.

In terms of intelligent interconnection system, the 10-inch smart big screen of Chery eQ1 Ant 400 will be equipped with Baidu CarLife mobile phone interconnection system, which not only can realize basic navigation, communication and other functions, but also incorporates many practical intelligent configurations. When the intelligent system is connected with the mobile phone, the T-BOX remote control system can help users to control it remotely, which greatly improves the convenience of use.

In terms of high-voltage safety, the car has also been fully optimized, and the overall electronic control can automatically and safely cut off power in the first time in dangerous situations such as collision and deep wading during heavy rain.

4. As a two-door mini-car, what is the seating space and ease of use?

Although this is a two-door mini-car, its length, width and height are only 3200mm, 1670mm and 1550mm, and its wheelbase is 2150 mm. However, if it is used by two people, the interior space is still very abundant, because it is mainly used by two people, so the front row space will be slightly larger than usual.

There is a foldable seat in the rear of the 4-seat model. The 173-cm-tall experiencer is comfortable in the rear, and there is almost no room for head and legs. It is only suitable for short-distance emergency or children.

In terms of storage space, the car performs very well, with storage compartments/storage slots all over the front and rear rows. No matter mobile phones, wallets, water bottles or various sundries, you can find a place to store them at will, which is excellent in humanization.

Although this is a miniature pure electric vehicle, it is still equipped with the function of reversing radar and reversing image, which provides great convenience for parking.

5. How does it feel to drive?

In terms of power, the new car adopts a group of 38kWh, and the cruising range under comprehensive working conditions is increased to 301km, and the maximum cruising range at 60km/h is 410km. It is also equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor with a maximum power of 30kW and a maximum torque of 120Nm. The motor is still arranged in the rear half of the vehicle and driven by rear wheels.

In actual driving, the car’s dynamic response is relatively fast, but due to power constraints, the speed increase is not very rapid, but there is no need to worry about accelerating in the most commonly used middle and low speed range. You can still get a good sense of acceleration by stepping on the accelerator pedal deeply, and the acceleration time of 0-50km/h is less than 6 s.

It is worth mentioning that all four wheels of the car adopt McPherson suspension structure, which can be said to be a veritable four-wheel independent suspension. When encountering road bumps, the feedback is moderate and the overall adjustment is comfortable. However, due to the short wheelbase, you can still feel the jumping of the vehicle when passing through some small bumps, but when encountering large bumps, the vehicle performance is better.

The car has a 7-level adjustable kinetic energy recovery mode, which can adapt to people with different driving habits and adjust the kinetic energy recovery level according to the actual situation.

The steering wheel feedback of this car is lighter, but it can provide a good sense of road. In addition, the body is short and lean, and it has good flexibility when cornering and has certain sports characteristics.

In terms of charging, it is officially introduced that Chery eQ1 Ant 400 is equipped with a 6.6kW charger for the first time, which shortens the slow charging time.

Summary:

As a mini-car with a price of less than 70,000 yuan, the cruising range may be the most concerned aspect for consumers. The cruising range of this newly upgraded model has been optimized. For commuting road conditions within 40km, charging once a week is enough, and the driving cost is very small every day. Thanks to these advantages, it is enough to make it a good choice for commuting. Chery eQ1 Ant 400 has a good competitiveness in the current mini-electric vehicle market with its good design, good driving experience and relatively affordable price.