Evergrande Auto completes hot-weather testing for five Hengchi-branded models

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Evergrande Auto, the electric vehicle unit of Chinese property conglomerate China Evergrande Group, has completed hot-weather testing for five models, namely, the Hengchi 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7, the company announced on September 3 via its WeChat account.

The testing was carried out in Turpan of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region featuring a surface temperature of up to 85 degrees Celsius and Qionghai of Hainan province with humidity of up to 90%, according to Evergrande Auto. A total of 53 vehicles of the 5 models were being tested simultaneously for 70 days, accumulating testing range of over 500,000 kilometers. 

Hengchi 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 in hot-weather tests; photo credit: Hengchi

The company said those vehicles all sailed through the tests for calibration of battery system, electric drive system, charging system, thermal management system, and complete vehicle performances in hot weather. They also went through super-long-distance road testing and validation to prove their weather-resistance ability in high temperatures.

Since announcing the foray into electric vehicle industry in 2019, Evergrande Auto has formed an industrial chain that encompasses technologies, production qualification, battery, sales network, and talents, and obtained core technologies about complete vehicle manufacturing, chassis architecture, powertrain, in-wheel electric motors, and power batteries through a host of acquisitions.

In March, Evergrande Auto said it had invested 47.4 billion yuan ($7.329 billion) in the NEV industry, 24.9 billion yuan ($3.85 billion) of which were plowed in the vehicle development and design, power batteries, autonomous driving and intelligent networking.

According to the company's semi-annual financial results, Evergrande Auto faced a net loss of 4.787 billion yuan ($740.135 million) attributable to the company's owners, versus the loss of 2.274 billion yuan ($351.591 million) for the year-ago period.

During the reporting period, revenue from new energy vehicle segment decreased by 30.22% year on year to 36.98 million yuan ($5.718 million), mainly due to the decrease in revenue from sales of batteries, said Evergrande Auto.