What happened to those electric cars sent to Dubai?
Friends keep asking:
I heard a large number of your electric cars broke down in Dubai. Tell us how they died! No zuo no die, tell us so we can be happy.
Starting from the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic, we successively sent various domestic electric cars to Dubai, a total of 16 cars.
These cars are all in a “naked” state, meaning no one provides warranty for them; we are our own warranty provider.
Thank Allah, these cars have now traveled more than 5 million kilometers in total, each with its own story. Despite the bumps and stumbles, each car is still in good condition and can be driven.
Now, let’s talk about the models and “deaths” of these cars one by one, just for fun.
1st car: Xiaopeng G3 (arrived in Dubai in February 2020, current mileage 268,000 km)
After three years and 150,000 kilometers, it became the following middle-aged woman:
Because this is the first car we sent to Dubai, and possibly the first domestic electric car sent to Dubai, the story of the first car is a bit long. 1. It couldn’t be registered in Dubai, so we took the car to Ajman to “sell cute.” A group of policemen came to watch. They had never seen it before, so they took turns getting in the car and tried out the sport mode. They had never seen such a fierce hot hatch. The 145kw peak power, although not comparable to the NIO’s 300kw back then, was like a Toyota RAV4 with a V8 5.7-liter engine for those who had only seen gasoline cars.
We went to great lengths to transport the car from China, one of the purposes being to make people in this country understand:
1. China has very good electric cars.
2. Don’t equate electric cars with Tesla.
Seeing the scene above, I think it’s worth it even if the car can’t be registered. After test-driving my car, Mohammed from the Ajman Police Department immediately contacted Sheikh Abdullah, who then contacted Sheikh Khalifa in Abu Dhabi, and soon the car was registered in Ajman.
2. At 20,000 kilometers, the coolant circulation pump seized up (the supplier of this pump is Bosch). The high-temperature alarm kept going off, and the motor power was limited. We had to stop, pour water on a towel, and apply the towel to the motor controller to cool it down. The alarm disappeared, so we continued driving. After a while, the alarm went off again, so we poured water again. We barely made it home, with my wife wearing a gloating smile. After arriving home, we disassembled the circulation pump, cleaned it, and fixed it. This was the first failure we experienced with an electric car. The solution to this problem made us feel that electric cars are like household appliances, very simple. If the first failure we encountered was the kind of hell-level failure like the BYD Dolphin, there definitely wouldn’t have been so many stories later.
3. At 60,000 kilometers, the locking bolt of the AC charging gun was stuck, and the charging gun couldn’t be pulled out. Later, the tough guy in our company took out the locking bolt and threw it away, so it never locked the gun again. At the same time, he directly short-circuited the signal line for locking the gun, so no matter whether the gun was locked or not, it directly gave a signal to the system, and as soon as it was plugged in, it output 7kw of charging power without having to switch between two gears.
4. This car, plus the Xiaopeng P7, are the only two cars whose wifi can be used and can also upgrade the car’s system. The other cars either have screens that are bricks or nothing that can be used when opened. (A Huawei M7 that was just registered can also use wifi and can be directly upgraded.) The above is the story of the first car, which is a bit long, but overall it was smooth and enjoyable. A car priced at 100,000 dhs can floor it at traffic lights and beat those ABB, Jaguar, and Rolls-Royces. You can take a nap after getting in the car and arrive in Abu Dhabi. So, there was a series of electric car stories later. Those V8s, W12s, those that rely on noise, exhaust, and exhaust pipes to scare people, are also one of the reasons why we sent electric cars to Dubai.
2nd car: Xiaopeng P7 (arrived in Dubai in May 2021, current mileage 94,000 km)
It has now driven 94,000 kilometers. The window lift had a failure once. We sent the parts over, installed them, and it was fine. No other stories.
After driving so many cars, we found that the Xiaopeng P7 is just a good-looking vase. Apart from the appearance, there is no handling or driving experience. When driving, you always feel that something is wrong, but you can’t tell what the problem is. It feels like the entire powertrain is very loose.
However, new energy cars do not have good handling.
The electric car with the best handling is the Geely Polestar.
I have driven the full version of the P7 in China, which has cloud connection and high-definition maps. I feel that it is not good. The car always overtakes by itself and runs to the fast lane. It is raining heavily, and it is still accelerating to 120. Maybe I don’t know how to set the speed limit, which is terrible.
Only the other cloud functions, remote control, and authorization are very convenient.
The bug that the P7’s trunk cannot be opened from the rear, plus the chaos of the initial release of the G9, and the G3 not being updated for more than two years, all show that the company is already a mess.
He Xiaopeng is sick and seeks medical treatment everywhere. He went to Hebei to find Aunt Wang. Now it seems that he still hasn’t found his pain points.
This time, I saw the newly launched G6 in China. There is still a large piece of glass on the top. At the same time, it is said that when the assisted driving is turned on, there is still a lot of nonsense, and it cannot be turned off.
It feels like Aunt Wang will most likely ruin her reputation in her later years and be buried with He Xiaopeng. Alas, it’s a pity. Unless He Xiaopeng also steps down, Xiaopeng should sell it as soon as possible.
Yes, Tesla can put a piece of glass on its head,
Tesla can also make all models look like a coffin board with a slip-back shape.
However, new forces cannot follow this design and shape. If Xiaopeng’s future models still follow this without changing, it must die within 5 years.
3rd car: Weimar first generation (arrived in Dubai in May 2021, current mileage 110,000 km)
The main screen has always been a brick, with wifi but cannot be used and cannot connect. It has now driven 110,000 kilometers. At 90,000 kilometers, there was abnormal noise in the gearbox bearing. The tough guy in our company replaced it once.
The original car was equipped with a domestic one. Later, I bought two directly on the local market in Dubai and replaced them. It seems to be 150dhs? Now the car is very fierce.
It’s a pity that Weimar started early but arrived late. I’m very curious that it has survived until now, and the company still has hundreds of people. These days, Shen Hui came out again and said that he would not run away and would return to China with Jia Kuaiji next week. Alas, if it was sold earlier, it could have been sold at a good price.
To say something after the fact, Weimar’s car product manager must also be depressed. After the main driver opens the door, the remaining mileage cannot be seen on the car screen. You must sit in the car and close the door before you can see the remaining mileage. Sometimes the car’s high-voltage power-on requires pressing the start button once, and sometimes it requires pressing it twice. The car’s gear shift knob looks like a toy in terms of material and workmanship. In fact, the entire car is also made like an agricultural vehicle.
The only thing I miss is Weimar’s assisted driving, which is simple, following the car in front, keeping in the middle of the road, steady and unhurried. Now, after reading countless cars, I still think it’s good. It is estimated that it uses Mobileye’s mature solution? (Guessing)
Alas, a company that has raised tens of billions of dollars is gone. The information we can see on our mobile phones must be just the tip of the iceberg. The building will collapse, and it must have been rotten inside long ago.
4th car: GAC Aion S (arrived in Dubai in May 2021, current mileage 105,000 km)
The current mileage is 105,000 kilometers. At 40,000 kilometers, it rear-ended someone, the front was deformed, and the cooling fan was replaced. Everything else is fine.
This car is the first car other than the new forces. It feels that the workmanship and materials are obviously better than the new forces.
In 2019, we bought a GAC GS8. No matter how we set it, the car would automatically turn on the FM radio when it started. This may also be the market pain point that Li Xiang and others saw, and they were determined to destroy it. However, this series of overlays does not seem to affect the sales of this Aion and Hyper. Anyway, I can’t understand this.
5th car: Nezha V (arrived in Dubai in June 2021, current mileage 56,000 km)
The current mileage is 56,000 km. This car has a lithium iron phosphate battery and is air-cooled. It has been running naked for so long, which is not easy.
At 50,000 kilometers, the DCDC to 12-volt module failed. Because the entire board is encapsulated, it cannot be repaired, so a new module was sent over (actually, it was also a second-hand disassembled part from Taobao), replaced it, and it was OK.
The Nezha car is basically like an old scooter. Producing this kind of car is very harmful to the brand. Now that Nezha has an S-type, Zhang Yong is shouting on the street. It always reminds people of whether it is a large old scooter?
6th car: Wuling (arrived in Dubai in July 2021, current mileage 59,000 km)
It has driven nearly 60,000 kilometers and has no story. There are two problems: 1. The air conditioner cannot be used during the day in summer. Note the adverbial of time, during the day in summer. It can be used at night in summer, and it can also be used during the day and night in winter. During the day in summer, when the ambient temperature exceeds 43 degrees (estimated), the air conditioner cannot be used. It is not that the cooling effect is not good, but that it exceeds the working conditions of the compressor. The compressor is protected and does not work. I don’t know what the control logic is. If the temperature or pressure sensor at the compressor outlet is protected, it should be able to work intermittently, but it is not the case. It does not work at all.
2. The rate of turning heads on the road is too high, and it is often blocked and watched. In fact, the Xiaopeng G3, Xiaopeng P7, Weimar, BYD Dolphin, and the later Ideal One also encounter this kind of trouble. Sometimes they are stopped by the police or those wearing UAE uniforms, thinking they are going to be fined. In fact, others just say with a smile that they have never seen such a fierce car. How much does it cost? Where can I buy it?
Didn’t I say before that one of the purposes of sending so many cars here is to make people in the UAE understand two things: 1. Electric cars are not just Tesla. 2. Chinese electric cars are cheap and good. Therefore, being blocked and watched is also happiness. Driving various strange domestic cars out every day, accelerating and speeding from time to time, and throwing those V8s and W12s behind is also happiness. There are many ways to pretend, and we chose the cheapest and most affordable one. Seventh and eighth cars: Both are BYD Dolphins (arrived in Dubai in February 2022, currently traveling 42,000 and 52,000 km respectively)
These two BYDs are here to destroy the three views and smash the scene. The first one, at 7,000 kilometers, had poor contact with a high-voltage interlock signal line. It could not be driven in the morning, but it could be driven in the afternoon. This happened every day. After lying on the ground for 6 months, it was finally handled by our tough guy. The current mileage is 42,000 kilometers.
The second BYD Dolphin had water in the battery pack when it had traveled more than 30,000 kilometers (it did not wade through water. It was found during the autopsy that the sealing strip was not installed properly during assembly). Two chip resistors used for sampling the voltage of a single cell on the BMS board were burned. The tough guys in our company formed a suicide squad and worked overtime to handle this matter.
It has now traveled a total of 52,000 km.
These two dolphins, because they look colorful like little turtles, are also objects of being blocked and watched.
These two dolphins are also cars that slap us in the face. The previous cars were like household appliances. If there was something wrong, I, a rookie, could generally figure it out and handle it by rolling up my sleeves. When it came to these two cars, we saw the complexity of the cars.
If we had sent these two cars to Dubai first, there would definitely not have been a series of stories later.
Fortunately, the problems we encountered were just a wire harness and two small chip resistors. If we really encountered the kind of maintenance that required remote authorization, we would really be finished.
9th car. Shenche Ideal one. (Arrived in Dubai in February 2022, currently traveling 78,000 km)
The Ideal one has been replaced with a 12-volt lead-acid battery once, and there are no other stories. However, there is no wifi connection, and there is no car-mounted traffic, so the two screens in the cockpit are still bricks, and the mobile phone Bluetooth cannot be connected to the locomotive. Anyway, it is a brick. Assisted driving could be used before, but it cannot be used in the past two months. I don’t know why? It just can’t be turned on, and even speed cruise can’t be turned on. There is no fault prompt on the car’s interface.
The only thing worth mentioning is that in June 2022, I drove from Dubai to Riyadh, 4,800km in 6 days, all powered by fuel, and withstood the Saudi Venus climate, 56 degrees outdoor temperature, the compressor cooled the battery motor and the electric control, and also cooled the car’s cabin, but it was great, and there was no high temperature alarm once. The battery, motor, electric control, engine, air conditioner, etc. are all normal. It’s just one word, fierce. The following picture shows 56 degrees.
Generally, when cars arrive in the Middle East, a GCC version is made, with configurations that can be high or low, but the air conditioning and cooling must be increased by one size, otherwise they will not be able to withstand the heat and will trigger high-temperature alarms from time to time. The cars we sent are all domestic versions, and except for the 38,000 RMB Wuling whose air conditioning doesn’t work, the other cars have withstood the temperature of the UAE, although the highest is 49 degrees Celsius. Only the Ideal One has experienced the Venus mode of 56 degrees Celsius. Alas, those of us in Dubai only miss and cherish the cool weather of Dubai after arriving in Saudi Arabia. Later, I specifically mentioned this to Li Xiang, because the front cooling grille of the Ideal One is particularly large and exaggerated, while the front faces of the later L series are all sealed. I asked Li Xiang whether the later L series would affect cooling? He said that anyway, it is all done according to standard testing procedures.
In addition, the Ideal One is a dual-motor four-wheel drive, so it is very powerful for dune bashing. Compared to gasoline cars, the electric car’s majestic power is silent, feeling low-key and steady, unlike gasoline cars that roar for a long time, but the car may not have moved much. Electric cars never shout, they just go hard, silently hard. However, if an electric car accidentally stops in soft sand and wants to start again to get out of trouble, it is almost impossible. This is because the motor does not have a clutch, and before the car starts, there is no speed, power, or torque to exert. I don’t know how the later Zeekr 001 FR, Fang Cheng Bao, plus Yangwang, these hardcore powerful cars that are said to take off the last pants of gasoline cars, solve this problem? Is it because there is no clutch, which leads to the problem that there is no power and torque without starting? Could it be that they really add a clutch? Or get a two-speed or multi-speed reducer? Going backwards would be tragic. Please have industry experts introduce what the current solution is. Therefore, when electric cars enter the desert, you must floor it and not stop until you leave the desert. Remember that. These days, our Huawei M7 has been licensed, and I’ve realized that the Ideal One is already an old and fading car.
The Huawei M7 is really powerful. My daughter said that I used to say the same about the Ideal One.
Li Xiang has applied all the experience he gained at Autohome to the Ideal cars. They have figured out the various needs and pain points of users in the usage process to the greatest extent, so no bugs can be found on the Ideal cars. (However, recently our Ideal One cannot turn on assisted driving and does not give a fault prompt, wouldn’t that be considered a bug?).
Moreover, the people at Ideal are very clever, grasping all the details of how Chinese people look at cars and make purchasing decisions, serving the front passenger and the people in the back row very well, and ultimately turning children and women into the decision-makers for buying cars.
What 800-volt high voltage, what super fast charging, what flat wire motors, 25,000 RPM speeds, what liquid-cooled motors, BMS active balancing, these things that women and children don’t understand are all fancy, and the people at Ideal never consider them.
Car #10: Geely Pickup Truck (June 2022, 28,000 km)
This pickup truck is rated for a range of 205km, but every time I drive it myself, I can get 260km because I drive relatively slowly, usually sticking to the minimum speed limit on the highway, 65-75 km/h. One of the annoying things about this car is that it doesn’t have an AC charging port, only a DC port. That is to say, the car doesn’t have a built-in AC charger. Unlike other cars, when it runs out of power, you can find any place, even a small Bangladeshi grocery store, to charge for a while, so it doesn’t completely break down (there’s a police station in a gas station on the 11th road from Abu Dhabi back to Dubai, and my Xiaopeng G3 often goes there to charge, using a regular 13A square socket, and can charge for dozens of kilometers in the time it takes to eat a KFC meal). This broken car is different because it doesn’t have its own charger, so you can only use DC charging at any time. In the UAE, there are very few places with DC charging, and the interfaces are different. Buying a DC gun adapter costs 12,000 RMB, making it almost impossible to charge outside. Therefore, this car is not practical. We’ve only driven it 28,000 kilometers in a year. I hope the facelift will include a built-in charger, or add a 200cc gasoline generator as a range extender.
Car #11: Leapmotor C11
We sent a total of four, three were taken by friends, and we drive one ourselves (October 2022, 48,000 km).
Not much to say, the only story is the car system upgrade. It arrived in Dubai in October last year, and the car system should be the June version in China. The assisted driving is very poor, often scaring itself with phantom braking. Later, the manufacturer pushed out an upgrade, but we couldn’t use it.
Yes, the wifi on this car can only be used for car entertainment, and the car system upgrade doesn’t receive the push.
The data for upgrading the car system must come from mobile data, but the original one is a domestic IoT card that cannot roam to Dubai. That is, after the car arrives in Dubai, it is always offline, even though it is always connected to WiFi, it is always offline in the cloud. The first trick is to change the SIM card. A, At first, I changed to a local Dubai SIM card, but it didn’t work. The phone could be connected, but the data couldn’t be used. B, Later, I changed to a domestic card that could roam, and the data could be used, but the upgrade package was not pushed. Later, I learned that the original IoT SIM card is not only the source of data traffic, but also contains the physical address for cloud identity recognition. The second trick is local upgrade. Later, we downloaded the upgrade package locally, and when we installed it to the last step, we still needed cloud authorization, which also didn’t work.
Anyway, I tried all the paths, but it always fell short.
The third trick is to change the board. Finally, we used a very stupid method, changed the board, and finally got the upgrade done. But, it was all for nothing. In the end, I found that except for the car system screen being a little prettier, the assisted driving could change lanes by itself, but the phantom braking was still there. The whole feeling of assisted driving was flustered. But apart from this problem, everything else is fine, and none of the four cars have been repaired.
Car #12: Lingbao.
Anyway, it’s just an old man’s scooter, not much to say. This car is much more expensive than the Wuling, but it doesn’t feel as good as the Wuling. So I drive it very little. It’s suitable for buying groceries in Dragon City. Anyone who wants it can take it.
Car #13: Changan Deep Blue.
It’s a range extender. The current mileage seems to be 49,000 kilometers.
It was rear-ended last month. We bought third-party insurance, and the premium seems to be 600 DHS a year, but the insurance company still paid for it. However, it seems that our company will have to pay more for insurance in the future.
The assisted driving of this car is quite interesting.
First, it will display the speed of the car in front. Second, when driving alongside a large truck, it will actively say, “There is a large truck next to us, we have to deviate from the lane and stay in the center, move a little to the left, and stay away from the large truck.”
Car #14: The God Car is here, Huawei M7.
In fact, it has been in stock for almost two months, but I haven’t gone to get a license plate yet.
I wanted to switch to the later M9 pure electric, but later I found that the range extender is also possible.
This is because a few days ago, I saw a test data from Academician Ouyang Minggao’s team that ternary batteries can achieve 7,000 full cycles if they are charged and discharged between 90% and 40%, not the 800 cycles that I always thought ternary batteries would be finished.
With a range extender, the battery can be well protected, and it will not allow discharge after the power is 20%, which is very good.
Moreover, the actual pure electric range of this car can reach about 170 kilometers, which is more powerful than the 120 kilometers of the Ideal One. Anyway, I charge it wherever I go, and if I really can’t charge it, I turn on the generator, which is also a good choice. So, I went to get a license plate a few days ago.
Originally, I thought the color was too ugly, but later I found that this color is the most dirt-resistant. I have never washed it, and it doesn’t seem to be visible. I guess I will have to buy this color car in the future.
After getting the license plate, I found that it was all surprises. It’s the kind that doesn’t live unless it’s fierce.
Super desktop is to directly project the APP on the mobile phone onto the car screen.
You can directly use WeChat on the car system,
You can directly use Baidu Maps, Get, Himalaya, check emails, reply to emails, etc. on the car system.
Awesome.
The handling seems to be a little better than the Ideal One.
However, I feel that the overall sound insulation is not as good as the Ideal One, and the workmanship is relatively rough.
Cars #15 and #16: Back to Leapmotor C01.
Haven’t gotten a license plate yet.
The driver’s side door glass on both cars is broken, all because of the frameless windows, which are purely for attracting attention and are not practical.
The shipping companies are also unreliable. It is estimated that they are afraid that the cars will catch fire and explode on the ship, so they discharge the cars to 0%, and even the 12-volt battery is gone. In this case, forcibly opening and closing the door will damage the frameless door.
The Leapmotor cars can’t stand being cheap. The C01 with a range of more than 700 kilometers costs more than 140,000 RMB, and the quality and reliability seem to be good. At least the four C11s we sent always feel like they are about to break down every day, but they have never broken down.
Okay, the above are all the stories of all these cars. Please have fun and estimate for yourself how big the risk is if you also run naked and send cars over from China.
Sending so many cars over, running naked, seems very brave. But, when my boss calculated the bill, the value of all the cars combined is only the price of one traditional car.
Therefore, changing the way you pretend will immediately open up the world.
After reading countless cars, what car will I choose in the future?
For the car I drive myself, I will definitely only choose Huawei cars in the future.
A private enterprise that undertakes the mission of defending the country deserves my support and respect.
For the company’s cars, I suggest that the boss buy cars from small brands that are honest, such as Leapmotor.
Later, I bought more than 20 Changan Qiyuan Q05s, which have been very useful.
