SAIC-owned Roewe has set a Guinness World Record for the longest distance covered by a PHEV. With full fuel and full charge, it achieved a measured distance of 2208 kilometers and an average fuel consumption of 2.49 liters / 100 kilometers. SAIC made the announcement on October 28 and joins the ranks of BYD, Geely, and Chery, who all now have PHEVs capable of a combined range of over 2000 kilometers.
The Guinness World Record was set by a Roewe D7 DMH sedan over the course of four days, during which it was driven from Lanzhou to Urumqi. During that time, the car passed through Jiayuguan, Dunhuang, and Turpan, among other places. It should be noted that Turpan is commonly used by Chinese car producers to test cars in hot conditions, as it is known to have some of the hottest recorded temperatures in the city.
Although full details of the conditions of the route and test appear to be undeclared, there was a temperature difference of 30 degrees between night and day. The lowest temperature encountered was -8°C, and there was also a difference of 1,600 meters in altitude.
The Roewe D7 DMH has been available since November 2023 (see specs). It is not absolutely clear whether the record was set by the existing PHEV car or a new variant. According to the information released for the record, the 1.5-liter engine that the system is based around has 43% thermal efficiency and an ultra-high compression ratio of 16:1.
Furthermore, it runs under the most fuel-efficient conditions more than 85% of the time and matches the optimal working mode according to the working conditions of the whole vehicle. It is a naturally aspirated engine with a maximum power of 82 kW and up to 135 Nm of torque.
The engine is matched with a coaxial P1 drive unit, which reduces the number of gears by two. The gearbox is a 1-speed DHT hybrid transmission. Mounted on the front axle, the electric motor has a maximum power of 150 kW and can deliver 330 Nm of torque.
The Roewe D7 measures 4890, 1890, 1510 mm (l/w/h) and has a wheelbase of 2810mm.
Editor’s note:
The record raises many questions about the car, most notably whether this is a new version or not. If it isn’t, then it is strange that if the car was capable of this and introduced last year, why SAIC wait almost a year to do this, and in the meantime, lose out to BYD grabbing all the headlines with its DM 5.0 technology?
Presumably, it must be a new version because the combined range of the existing D7 DMH is only listed as 1400 km using the CLTC measurement.
SAIC is also the owner of MG, and the D7 is already being offered for export rebadged as an MG.
Source: Fast Technology
