On January 12, after attending the "AITO Winter User Exchange Meeting", Zhang Xinghai, Chairman (Founder) of SERES Group, came to the AITO Automobile Winter Test Site in Wudalianchi, Heilongjiang, to participate in vehicle testing in extreme cold, and had in-depth exchanges with experts and engineers from China Automotive Research Institute on winter vehicle use issues such as efficient energy replenishment and worry-free endurance.
The colder it is, the more forward it is, and the brand temperature is demonstrated without fear of extreme cold
In January, Heihe is covered with ice for thousands of miles and covered with silver. Wudalianchi has an extremely cold range of -35℃ to -40℃ for nearly 30 days every year. The geographical environment and weather here are the perfect test sites for the high-cold performance of vehicles. At the Wudalianchi AITO Automobile Winter Test Site, many AITO ace models were unveiled, and more than 400 AITO engineers were busy in a tense and orderly manner, repeatedly testing the comprehensive performance of AITO models in extreme cold environments.
In this regard, Zhang Xinghai said: "Our AITO series products are not afraid of cold, the colder the better, and extreme testing can guarantee user experience. We serve users wholeheartedly, and what we need to do is to be user-centric and let users not be afraid of cold when using cars"
A day ago, Zhang Xinghai just participated in the "AITO Winter User Exchange Meeting" and exchanged views with car owner representatives on issues of concern to users such as power, endurance, and driving safety. In order to bring consumers a higher quality travel experience, he brought users' questions to the AITO Automobile Winter Test Field as soon as possible, tested the vehicle in the severe cold of -35℃, and listened to the test opinions of experts and engineers. Zhang Xinghai said that he would check for users, and hoped that everyone would do the test in detail and in a practical manner, and use scientific and rigorous tests and results that can stand the test to show AITO's extraordinary strength, so that users can travel more at ease in winter.
Large scale and long time, extreme cold verification exceeds industry standards
In order to present the most realistic performance of vehicles in extreme cold environments to users, AITO has built an AITO automobile winter test site covering an area of 1.3 million square meters. The test site covers 7 types of harsh working conditions such as ice and snow rings, snow maneuvers, and dynamic squares. From structural durability to driving comfort, every model of AITO undergoes strict extreme cold quality inspections here.
In addition to the large number of test conditions, AITO's test scale and test duration also exceed industry standards. AITO has more than 200 test prototypes for four series of models, more than 400 professional test engineers, and a test cycle spanning 6 months. More than 35,000 test scenarios have been executed, covering functional testing, performance testing, reliability and durability testing, user experience testing, and component testing. In addition, AITO will conduct a 420,000-kilometer long-distance verification of all road conditions, from -10℃ to -40℃, covering different urban roads and general roads, fully testing the reliability of the vehicle under long-term use, including the salt spray corrosion resistance of the chassis, interior and exterior decoration, the recognition accuracy of intelligent driving, and the structural durability in cold areas, etc., just to provide users with the safest, most reliable and most comfortable car experience.
The large scale of the test and the harsh test conditions also impressed the experts of China Automotive Research Institute who worked with AITO at the test base. "The test standards here far exceed the national standard requirements. This large-scale, long-term comprehensive verification ensures the reliability of each vehicle in extremely cold environments" Gong Baoli, general manager of the China Automotive Research Institute's Testing Engineering Division, said.
Professional and rigorous testing, full-scene verification creates excellent quality
Since its birth, AITO has emphasized that "safety is the greatest luxury" In the face of cold climates, AITO will carry out a full amount of refined scenario calibration during the product development stage. The specific scenario calibration covers the power system (range extender, battery, electric drive), thermal management system, chassis electronic control system, vehicle electrical system, intelligent driving system, etc., with more than 1,100 calibration use cases.
To ensure travel in extremely cold environments, AITO adopts the industry's more stringent product low-temperature design standards, and the whole vehicle and components can still maintain a healthy operating state in an extremely cold environment as low as -40℃.
In addition, AITO uses advanced full-temperature intelligent energy management strategies to achieve worry-free start-up of extremely low-temperature and low-power range extenders, and repeatedly conducts automatic start-stop tests of range extenders to ensure that the success rate of range extenders at low temperatures can reach 100%. At the same time, the adaptive power generation mode of the range extender can adapt to different power generation levels according to user needs, reasonably maintain the required battery power level according to the vehicle usage scenario, and meet the different power performance requirements of users. Thanks to the super range extender system's oil-to-electricity conversion rate of up to 3.44kW·h/L, AITO's endurance attenuation rate is less than 30%, effectively curing endurance anxiety.
In the face of the charging safety issues that winter travel users are concerned about, the thermal management strategy adopted by the AITO vehicle will heat the battery first, wait for the battery cell temperature to rise, and then charge, thereby increasing the charging power. In addition, AITO also uses the fault injection method to simulate the scene of thermal runaway of low-temperature charging of the whole vehicle to verify the effectiveness of the thermal runaway measures of the whole vehicle.
As for the safety issues that winter users are concerned about, AITO is equipped with intelligent electric drive. In terms of drive control, based on intelligent drive control, it can accurately identify signals such as steering wheel steering angle and vehicle lateral acceleration, and actively control the torque of the front and rear axles, greatly improving the vehicle's handling stability and safety. Snow ADS testing further guarantees the vehicle's decision-making ability under low visibility conditions, as well as the reaction speed and accuracy of the automatic emergency braking system under low adhesion conditions on snow.
In low-temperature environments, vehicles may have various driving noises due to hardening of rubber parts and poor fluidity of oil. AITO continuously tests and verifies based on 15 typical user scenarios at an ambient temperature of -35°C, while ensuring the normal function of the vehicle, while taking into account the good NVH performance of the range extender and air conditioning thermal management. The excellent vibration and noise comfort tuning of the whole vehicle in severe cold regions ensures that users can use it smoothly and comfortably.
In the challenging Wudalianchi AITO Automobile Winter Test Field, one AITO model after another completed the extreme cold test that can be called "hell difficulty", and with reliable performance, ensured that users can travel without worries in winter. Not long ago, the results of the 2024 China Automotive Research Institute Automobile Index "Northern Cold Test" and the complex high-cold environment test of intelligent networked new energy vehicles hosted by China Automotive Research Institute were announced. AITOM9 and AITO New M7 returned with honors and both won the honorary title of "All-round Star" with excellent results. AITO also won the only honorary title of "2024 Northern Cold Test Excellent Brand" in the venue.
The high quality created by strict requirements and excellence has also been recognized by users. In 2024, AITO's sales volume increased steadily, ranking at the forefront of the industry. Among them, the flagship model AITOM9 has been on the market for 12 months and has been sold for more than 200,000 units, ranking first in the monthly sales of high-end SUVs above 500,000 yuan in China. AITO's new M7 has delivered a total of 197,000 units in 2024, winning the sales champion of new power models in 2024. In the Jielan Road 2024 second half new energy vehicle brand health research report, AITO ranked first in many indicators such as "Net Recommended Score NPS" and "Development Confidence Index".
With excellent quality and warm service, AITO has successfully won the "trust of old users and recognition of new users". In the future, AITO will adhere to the purpose of "serving users wholeheartedly", pursue the pride and safety of users, create a better travel experience for users, and show the unique charm and style of China's "new luxury" brand.
