Focusing on Performance: Riding the FUTURE: Chinese EVs in Dubai – A Shocking 920,000 KM Reliability Report.

Li ONE EREV: Feature in Chinese EVs in Dubai Review

Chinese EVs in Dubai Review: What Happened to Those EVs Sent to Dubai? (Part 2)

This comprehensive Chinese EVs in Dubai Review continues our evaluation of electric vehicles imported and tested here. The following is a detailed review of cars 9-16.

The Legendary Li ONE (Arrived in Dubai in Feb 2022, Current Mileage: 78,000 km)

li-one-erev-dubai-skyline.jpg
The Li ONE has only had its 12V lead-acid battery changed once; no other major issues. However, the Wi-Fi connection and built-in cellular data are non-existent, so the two screens in the cockpit are essentially “bricks” to this day. Phone Bluetooth connection to the car doesn’t work either—just a brick. The assisted driving used to work, but for the last two months, it hasn’t, and I don’t know why. It won’t engage, not even cruise control, and the car’s interface shows no fault codes. The only story worth telling in this  Chinese EVs in Dubai Review  is the 4,800 km trip from Dubai to Riyadh in June 2022, completed in 6 days. It ran entirely on gasoline (in EREV mode) and endured Saudi Arabia’s Venus-like climate with an outside temperature of 56°C. The compressor had to cool the battery, the motor, the electric control system, and the cabin. But it held up, with not a single high-temperature warning. The battery, motor, electric control, engine, and air conditioning all worked perfectly. In a word: ferocious.
Li ONE Dune Bashing Photo
Cars sold worldwide usually have a GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) version for the Middle East, with varying features, but the air conditioning and cooling system must be heavily upgraded, or the car will frequently throw high-temperature warnings. Our cars are all Chinese domestic versions. Except for the 38,000 RMB Wuling (whose AC doesn’t work), the others survived the UAE’s heat, though the maximum was 49°C. Only the Li ONE experienced the 56°C “Venus mode”. Since the Li ONE is dual-motor AWD, it’s great for dune bashing. Compared to a fuel car, the electric car’s power delivery is silent, feeling subdued and steady. However, if an EV stops in soft sand, starting again to get unstuck is nearly impossible. This is because the electric motor lacks a clutch, and before the car starts moving, there is no RPM, so power and torque cannot be fully deployed. EVs in the desert must be driven with the pedal pressed down and must not stop until they exit the desert. Li Xiang applied all his “Autohome” (car enthusiasts’ platform) experience to the Li ONE. They thoroughly analyzed users’ needs and pain points, so it’s hard to find a bug in the Li ONE. (Although the inability to activate ADAS without a fault hint on ours might count as one?). The Li people are clever, focusing on every detail of the Chinese car-buying decision process, catering to the co-driver and rear passengers, effectively making women and children the decision-makers. They disregard specs like 800V high voltage, supercharging, or 25,000 RPM motors as “gimmicks” that women and children don’t understand.
UAE electric truck

Geely Pickup Truck – A Unique Entry in this Chinese EVs in Dubai Review (Arrived in Dubai in June 2022, Current Mileage: 28,000 km)

 

This pickup is rated for 205 km of range, but I can personally drive it up to 260 km because I drive slowly, usually sticking to the highway’s minimum speed limit of 65–75 km/h. The annoying thing about this truck is that it only has a DC charging port and no AC charging port. This means the car has no built-in AC charger. Unlike other cars that can plug into any ordinary outlet when running low, this one can only use DC charging. DC charging stations are scarce in the UAE, and the connector is different. Buying a DC charging adapter costs 12,000 RMB (approx. $1,600 USD), making outside charging almost impossible. It’s impractical, which is why we only drove it 28,000 km in a year. This makes the Geely truck an outlier in our Chinese EVs in Dubai Review. We hope a revised model includes a built-in AC charger or a small 200cc gasoline generator as a range extender.

Leapmotor C11 (Four units sent in total, three taken by friends, one for us. Arrived in Dubai in Oct 2022, Current Mileage: 48,000 km)

There’s not much of a story, except for the car system upgrade. When it arrived, the system was the June version from China, and the assisted driving was terrible, often “phantom braking”. The manufacturer pushed an update, but we couldn’t receive it. The Wi-Fi on this car is only for infotainment, and system updates require cellular data, but the original IoT SIM card from China can’t roam in Dubai, so the car remained permanently offline despite being connected to Wi-Fi.

Attempt 1: Changing the SIM card. Initially, changing to a local Dubai SIM didn’t work (calls worked, but no data). Later, switching to a Chinese roaming card allowed data transfer, but the update package was still not pushed. We later learned the original IoT SIM is also tied to the cloud identity and physical address recognition.

Attempt 2: Local upgrade. We downloaded the update package locally, but the installation failed at the final step, requiring cloud authorization.

Attempt 3: Replacing the board. We finally used the dumb method of replacing the main circuit board and successfully updated the system.

However, it was pointless (“ran bing luan”). The only difference was a prettier screen and the ability to change lanes automatically using ADAS, but the phantom braking persisted. Aside from this flaw, the four C11 units are all fine and haven’t required any repairs, a solid outcome for a Chinese EVs in Dubai Review entry.

Lingbao (Mileage not specified, estimated low use)

It’s just an “old man’s fun car” (low-speed vehicle) with no stories. It cost significantly more than the Wuling but feels inferior. It’s barely driven and is best suited for shopping at the Dragon Mart. Anyone who wants it can take it.

Changan Deepal (Current Mileage: ~49,000 km)

This is a range-extended electric vehicle (EREV). It was rear-ended two months ago. We had cheap third-party insurance (about 600 DHS/year), but the insurance company still paid out. However, our company’s future insurance premiums seem to have increased since then. The assisted driving is interesting: first, it displays the speed of the car ahead. Second, when driving alongside a large truck, it actively warns, “There is a large truck beside us, we need to deviate slightly from lane center and move left, away from the truck”.

The Legendary Huawei M7 – A Highlight of this Chinese EVs in Dubai Review (Arrived in Dubai two months ago, just registered)

It arrived nearly two months ago, but we delayed registering it because we were considering the M9 pure EV. We later decided the EREV was acceptable after seeing test data from Academician Ouyang Minggao’s team. The data showed that ternary (NCM) batteries can achieve 7,000 full cycles if charged/discharged between 40% and 90%. Having a range extender (EREV) protects the battery well by preventing discharge below 20%. The M7’s pure electric range is about 170 km, which is better than the Li ONE’s 120 km. So, we registered it a few days ago, adding it to our ongoing Chinese EVs in Dubai Review.

After registering, we found it full of surprises. The “Super Desktop” feature mirrors phone apps directly onto the car screen. You can use WeChat, Baidu Maps, Get, Himalaya, and check/reply to emails right on the car screen. The handling seems slightly better than the Li ONE. However, the overall noise insulation and build quality feel a bit rougher than the Li ONE.

Leapmotor C01 (Not yet registered)

The driver’s door glass on both cars is broken. This was caused by the frameless windows, which are just a gimmick and impractical. The shipping company, worried about fire/explosion risks, discharged the cars’ batteries to 0%, including the 12V battery. Forcing the frameless doors open and closed in this state caused the damage.

The Leapmotor cars are hard to resist because they are cheap; the C01 with over 700 km of range costs just over 140,000 RMB (approx. $19,200 USD). Their quality and reliability also seem decent; at least the four C11s we sent have not broken down, despite constantly feeling like they might.

Conclusion and Outlook: Summarizing the Chinese EVs in Dubai Review

That’s the entire story of all our cars featured in this Chinese EVs in Dubai Review. You can estimate the risk if you decide to buy and ship a Chinese EV “bare-knuckle” style from China. Shipping so many cars seems audacious, but my boss calculated that the total cost of all the vehicles combined is only the price of one traditional luxury car. It’s an economical way to show off.

Having driven countless cars, I will personally only choose a Huawei vehicle in the future. I believe a private enterprise taking on a national mission deserves my support and respect. For company cars, I suggest my boss continues buying honest, smaller-brand vehicles, like Leapmotor, based on the findings from this comprehensive Chinese EVs in Dubai Review. We later bought more than 20 units of the Changan Qiyuan Q05, and they have been working well.

 

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