Video Summary
Findings:- This Chinese electric car, Honqi E-HS9, is the largest car that has been reviewed on biler.tv.
- The presenter has never reviewed an electric car with a higher air resistance coefficient.
- The car's design is openly inspired by Rolls Royce.
- The car's traction battery is from CATL, the world's largest producer.
- This can be an easy-to-hate Chinese product, but one should know some background facts.
- In 2018, Honqi hired Giles Taylor, former chief designer at Rolls Royce.
- The car has design and R&D centers in Silicon Valley and Munich.
- Honqi has joint venture collaborations with Volkswagen, Audi, Toyota, and Mazda.
- Even though the car starts at 800,000 Danish Kroner, it is selling well in Norway.
- It is the first year this car has been out, and about 1,800 units have sold in Norway.
- There are two battery options: 84 kWh and 99 kWh.
- The smaller battery allows for 435 horsepower and an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in 6.5 seconds.
- The 99 kWh battery version offers 551 horsepower and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in 4.9 seconds.
- There are also Comfort, Premium, and Exclusive trim levels.
- The Exclusive trim has an extra 16-inch passenger seat screen, and six seats instead of seven.
- The car always has four-wheel drive.
- The battery runs on a 400-volt architecture with NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) chemistry.
- On a WLTP test cycle, the car has a range of 465 km (289 miles).
- On the highway with an average speed of 125 km/h, its range goes down to 265 km (165 miles).
- There is an option for a tow hitch with up to 1,500 kg towing capacity.
- Factory warranty is 5 years or 150,000 km.
- The battery warranty lasts for 8 years or 160,000 km and protects against capacity degradation below 70%.
- The cabin quality is surprisingly good, similar to a good Audi.
- Many features come standard.
- It's easy to use, with a great amount of space in the cabin.
- The AC charging speed is 11 kW and cannot be upgraded to 22 kW.
- The DC charging speed is decent at 140 kW.
- The navigation system is disappointing. One has to specify the exact place name before getting a good result. There is no long-distance travel support or battery preconditioning before charging. The assistance system is not the best, and it suffers from phantom braking.
- When cruising on the highway, the car can be made more efficient by physically decoupling the front motor.
- Overall verdict: The car is wild and eye-catching, with a great attention factor.
- Its size can be a great asset or a hindrance.
- The best features of the car are the ride comfort, the space inside and the amount of luxury.
- It would be great to have a greater DC charging capacity.
