Today saw the launch of the Dongfeng eπ 008 in both fully electric and range extended versions. The launch follows on from the car opening for pre-sales in April. Perhaps the biggest surprise from today is that buyers simply have one choice – do they want the EV or the EREV – with both costing 216,600 yuan (29,850 USD). This kind of pricing is very similar to how Li Auto started selling its cars and the eπ 008 aims to compete with the Li L8.
The two versions are known as the 210 Max and 636 Max respectively and if you are thinking the number represents the ranges, then you are right. It is the second car in the eπ range following on from the eπ 007 sedan.
Outside the Dongfeng eπ 008 has a minimalist design with a though-type headlight. The front is enclosed with a lower air intake. At the sides there are hidden door handles and there is black paint on the B, C and D pillars along with the bottom of the doors which help reduce the visual bulk of the SUV. There is a through taillight at the back. The eπ 008 measures in at 5002, 1972 and 1732 mm (l/w/h) while the wheelbase is 3025 mm making it quite a large SUV. It is only available with 21-inch wheels which have quite stylish alloys.
Where things seem to get more interesting with the Dongfeng eπ 008 is with the interior. A six-seater it takes a 2+2+2 arrangement and is available in three colors: beige, black and red. The red option is particularly daring for a Chinese SUV. Behind the steering wheel is an 8.8-inch instrument panel and there is also a floating 15.6-inch infotainment screen. Bilibili, Kuaishou, Tencent Video, and Douban Reader are some of the apps supported by the infotainment unit. There are very few buttons anywhere in the front except on the steering wheel. The windows have double-layered laminated soundproof glass, and there is a dual 50W wireless phone charging pad, and 64-color ambient lighting. There is also a 20-speaker stereo system, and the car gets a streaming rearview mirror.
For the front passenger there is a ‘zero gravity’ seat meaning that the seat can be reclined to a near flat position. Seats in the front two rows also have heating, ventilation and massage functions. Located in the back of the center console is a fridge that slides out for second-row passengers. They also benefit from fold down tray tables mounted on the back of the front seats and a 15.6-inch entertainment screen that folds from the roof. In the third row Dongfeng claim the seat hip point to the roof distance is nearly 1000 mm. Third-row passengers also get a charging port, reading light, and cup holder. Trunk space has a maximum volume of 783 liters. Passengers enjoy a 4.9㎡ panoramic sunroof.
The fully electric version uses a single rear mounted motor which has 200 kW maximum power and can deliver up to 340 Nm of torque. In the range extended version the electric motor setup remains the same but there is also a four-cylinder DFMC15TE3 1.5T engine which acts as the range extender. Maximum power of the engine is 108 kW and Dongfeng claim a thermal efficiency of 45.18%.
As mentioned the range of the EV version is 636 km and this is from a 82.28 kWh battery pack. Meanwhile, the EREV has an all-electric range of 210 km and a combined range of 1300 km – the battery pack being 34.32 kWh. Both versions use lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Although the car does not have Lidar it does have a sensor suite and offers a high-speed NOA system along with a memory parking function.
For a limited time various incentives reduce the price of the Dongfeng eπ 008 to 188,600 yuan (26,000 USD). Deliveries will begin this month.
Sources: Autohome, Fast Technology
