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Baojun operates under the “General Motors SAIC-Wuling” joint venture in China. In recent years the company has built up a portfolio of mostly small sedans, multi-purpose vehicles, hatchbacks, and a crossover utility vehicle. But, with the rapid growth of the electric vehicles market in China, the brand recently undertook its first electric car, the Boajun E100.
The Baojun E100, a small two-seater car that boasts a 29-kilowatt (39-horsepower) electric motor. It can reach a top speed of 62 mph with a range 155 kilometers (96 miles) on a single charge, and it takes about 7.5 hours to fully recharge the lithium-ion battery pack. As always, the electric car recaptures energy while driving via its regenerative braking system.
The car is designed as a two-seater avant-garde with a simple dashboard. The 7-inch LCD information system has 4G/LTE, and WIFI capabilities and the E100 is equipped with parking sensors. The steering wheel has a two-color design, which is consistent with the rest of the interior of the car. There is no transmission shift lever, but instead, there is a knob-type mechanism. The E100 is also equipped with an electronic handbrake and keyless start.
If you started searching for an electric car in June of 2017, Baojun would not have even made it onto your wish list, because it simply didn’t exist. But somehow the Baojun E100 was the 3rd highest selling EV in China for December of 2017. You may be wondering how Baojun managed to pull off this amazing feat. Well, the company started off by producing 200 initial units as “test versions” early in 2017, but they only sold their first batch of EVs in August 2017. Baojun sold 674 units in August followed by 1,562 in September, 1,715 in October, 1,915 in November and 5,545 in December for a total of 11,420 EVs in barely five months. The E100 finished 2017 as the 17th most sold EV in China, beating competitors such as the Haima EV160, Zotye Cloud, and Changan Benni Mini. To give you some perspective on how rapidly Baojun has entered the market: if they had started selling the E100 in January of 2017 at the rate which it is selling now, it would have beaten the Chery eQ to the second spot on the list. If one should make a forecast based on sales price the Baojun E100 could be in contention with the BAIC EC180 for the first spot to claim the Chinese “EV Crown.”
In the chart above there is a clear upward trend in the Chinese EV market, with the total number of EVs sold nearly tripling over the past three years. Although these increases can mainly be attributed to government incentives and an increased awareness of CO2 levels in China, one cannot deny the fact that Chinese citizens are moving away from traditional combustion engines and embracing the EV revolution. Baojun is perfectly positioned to become a market leader in the Chinese electric vehicle industry because it provides a reasonably cheap alternative for the rising Chinese middle class.
To sum it up in simple economic terms, China’s rapidly growing middle class is developing a massive demand for EVs, and there are a lot of companies looking to supply EVs to these consumers. The table above compares the price of small EVs in China, and unsurprisingly, the Baojun is cheapest EV on the market at the moment. This explains the EVs huge boost in popularity in December.
Taking all of this into consideration it seems that Baojun is positioned very well to build on their successes of 2017 and have the potential to reign supreme in 2018.
SAVE AND SHARE THE BAOJUN E100 SPEC SHEET
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In October 2017 we saw for the first time that an EV model sold more than 10,000 units in a single month. You would be surprised to know that it is not a Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt or a Tesla. The honor goes to the BAIC EC180 city car made in China. Not only did the BAIC EC180 achieve sales of 11,315 units in October it did so in one country. The only other EV model that came close to 10,000 units in a month was the Tesla Model S when combining its international sales data for September 2017. Interestingly enough the BAIC EC180 also sold close to 10,000 units in September 2017.
The BAIC EC180 falls under the small car segment (A00) in China which have become the most popular segment in the last 12 months. Already more than ten brands provide at least one model for the A00 segment with many others planning to produce small city cars. The small car segment contributed only around 15% of all EV sales in China in 2016 now contributes around 50% of all EV sold. The BAIC EC180 made up close to 40% of all the A00 segment sales or about 17% of all EV sales in China in October 2017.
When comparing the BAIC EC180 with other electric city cars available in China, it’s not the cheapest. In fact, the manufacturer’s guide price is more expensive than a Smart Electric Drive which has a better safety rating. However, the final sales price for the BAIC EC180 can get as low as $7,500 (¥49,800) depending on state, city and manufacturers subsidies.
One of the attributes that are in the BAIC EC180’s favor is its range. The BAIC EC180 squeezes a range of 180km (112 miles) out of its 20kWh battery where most of its similarly priced peers can only muster a range of 150km (94 miles). Some of the higher priced competitors such as the Kandi K17 and Zotye E200 can only reach 165 km (103 miles) at most. The only real competitor on range is the Chery eQ, which sold more than the EC180 in June 2017.
The second most popular car in China is the Zhidou D2, previously the Geely Zhidou D2. Although smaller the Zhidou D2 is priced the same as the EC180. The Zhidou D2 is one of the first city EVs in China and has received its third facelift recently, with improvements to its interior and internet capabilities. The Zidou D2 which has experienced some spontaneous combustion incidents in recent times have not received any improvements to its safety and powertrain. The competition between the two city cars is confirmed by search statistics on wattEV2buy showing that the most popular searches for Chinese EVs internationally is for the BAIC EC180 followed by the Zhidou D2.
The BAIC EC180 electric motor, battery and battery control system is identical to those used by BAIC in the EV \ EX \ EU \ EH \ ET series. When creating the BAIC EC180 city car, the company with over 136,000 EVs sold to date did not sacrifice on quality and design. The attention to quality is one of the main contributors to the little car’s popularity, giving it excellent brand recognition resulting in record sales. The only cost-saving on the BAIC EC180 is the omission of a fast charging system, but charging overnight will provide you with more than enough range required for city driving.
Judging from the international interest one wish that BAIC would start exporting the BAIC EC180, it will be a great boon for EV adoption on a global scale.
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