Qinchao Plus DM-i Review: Beijing's Winter Test Drive

The 2024 Auto Home New Energy Super Testing, a concentrated test of the top energy vehicles, has concluded its winter testing section. In this article, we will delve into the performance of the Qinchao Plus DM-i and share our findings with you.

This year's testing location, covering the Beijing-Jin-Ji-Tong region and Inner Mongolia, represents the primary regions for new energy vehicle users in China during the winter season. With a focus on solutions to major concerns such as range, charging, and power consumption, the test also assessed comfort and reliability over five dimensions.

The Qinchao Plus DM-i was selected as our car model for this review, equipped with a 1.5L four-cylinder natural gas engine and a 145kW electric motor, operating in front-wheel drive configuration. The car's battery consisted of 18.32kWh of phosphorus-iron batteries.

Cold Climate

In the cold climate testing, temperature readings ranged from -20°F to -15°F (-28°C to -26°C). The Qinchao Plus DM-i successfully completed a combined city and highway test with pure electric range of 84.4km (52.3 miles) in approximately two hours, achieving an average rate of 83.6%. Upon the subsequent driving tests under mixed weather conditions using gasoline as a supplement to recharge, we calculated that the Qinchao Plus DM-i maintains fuel efficiency at 4.45L/100KM during the cold climate test season.

Another stage involved pure electric driving, in which the gas tank was filled first and then tested for electric oil consumption by calculating how much gasoline would be required for 1,000km. A total of 21.8KM could still be traveled on electric power after 4.45L of gasoline replenishment, reaching a combined driving range of over 110km.

During this charging-oil consumption test with temperatures maintained at low levels and the car cooled to room temperature, 90% or more fuel was charged in just 120 minutes with all three stages taking place during that period: from minimum electric charge (20%) to maximum electric charge (100%), a major peak energy expenditure of 18kW, followed by progressive decreases.

According to Qm test results and 16.713kWh battery charge amount, estimated to be 19.8kWh/100km in the cold climate. The average fuel consumption for this stage is lower than expected at just 4.61L/100KM after correcting with the actual usage.

During driving under low temperature conditions, cooling system functioning and comfort inside were well evaluated as having achieved the performance standards for heating system under winter operation without any issues.

Low Temperature

In terms of the low-temperature test performed in a slightly warmer climate (5 to 15 degrees), the Qinchao DM-i traveled through various urban areas before reaching the city area in Tianjin. Using electric driving exclusively and driving over both speedways with 50% usage for each, covering a range of approximately 120.6 km after achieving an excellent 119.4% range-up rate under test conditions.

Following pure-electric driving, with only supplemental gasoline charge being used in low-temperature environment tests to measure performance efficiency (with usage amount of approximately 5.02KM of gas replenishment).

During fuel consumption during the cold climate phase and subsequently, it's worth noting a higher estimated value for the total energy intake which is equal to 13.42kWh/100km.

Testing Comfort

The Qinchao DM-i in both seasons showed remarkable comfort levels and heating performance during testing sessions where car inside temperature remained between low 5-degree range (in very early stages) up through mid twenties. Even with temperatures in extremely cold ranges the test drove, no issues reported for any heat management or temperature inconsistencies on the driver side of vehicle.

Conclusion

After wrapping up our comparison of different aspects in this comprehensive assessment Qinchao Plus DM-i garnered notable points in "Convenience", "Power Efficiency", "Reliability" and "Range Performance". These excellent performance figures resulted from the car model’s unique design that provides perfect integration between automotive features to achieve maximum efficiency in extreme weather conditions.