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Chehejia (CHJ Auto), Lixiang One

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D

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Discussion Starter · #1 · (Edited)
Beijing Chehejia Information Technology Co., Ltd. (CHJ Automotive) was established by a group of professionals headed by Li Xiang, the original founder of the Autohome web portal (he is also one of the founder-investors of NIO) in 2015. A large factory complex has been constructed in Changzhou for the production of small and large electric vehicles, which also encompasses an aluminium processing plant for making car bodies and parts as well as an in-house battery production unit. Trial production of their first car, a small two-seater with tandem layout, began in August 2017. The vehicle, provisionally dubbed SEV, will hopefully be on the market in 2018. Another vehicle, which appears to be a large 5-meter long SUV, is in the pipeline.

Chehejia's factory has not yet received an EV project approval. However, since the SEV is an LSEV (haha!) with a top speed of 45 km/h (range is 100 km), starting commercial production of at least this car should not pose problems for the company.

SEV (2 row, 2 seat):




https://www.autohome.com.cn/news/201712/910435.html

Other links:
Website: www.chehejia.com
https://www.techinasia.com/chinas-elon-musk-raised-us120-million-disrupt-transportation-auto-industries
http://tech.ifeng.com/a/20170917/44686778_0.shtml
 
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Discussion Starter · #2 · (Edited)
Lifan-Chehejia arrangement

Lifan Auto's Changzhou office and Chehejia have entered into an agreement where Lifan will lease the plant complex in Changzhou from Jiangsu Chehejia Automobile Co., Ltd., set up the requisite manufacturing equipment for a 100,000 units/p.a. capacity, and produce range-extended electric SUVs for Chehejia, likely from August of next year.

http://www.evzhidao.com/news-105564222.html
http://auto.gasgoo.com/News/2018/09/041058205820I70060901C501.shtml

This is a rather roundabout way of utilizing a manufacturing license. Instead of the conventional methods where Chehejia should have used an existing Lifan plant to make its vehicles, or have entered into a JV agreement to set up a new plant (a la JAC-NIO), or even have purchased an idle company with production qualification and transferred the license to the new plant (reverse merger), in this case the plant belongs to Chehejia but Lifan will rent it (as if to make a Lifan car), get type approval for the car (as a Lifan vehicle) and then deliver it to Chehejia. Maybe Lifan's manufacturing fee will be adjusted against the lease payments due to Chehejia.

With reports of EV manufacturing rules getting more stringent from this year, I am not sure if this sort of scheme will pass muster with NDRC/MIIT.
 
Lawrence

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#3 ·
Re: Chehejia (CHJ Auto)

CHJ has ended its SEV model production, and the overall program involving timesharing rental business in Paris and San Francisco.
http://autonews.gasgoo.com/china_news/70014440.html

Also, last year gasgoo.com (9/9/17) told us about another major manufacturer tie-up with CHJ:
" Chehejia signed a strategic agreement with Brilliance Auto on September 1st. The two sides will conduct in-depth cooperation in R&D, supply chain and manufacturing of electric vehicles."
 
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Discussion Starter · #9 · (Edited)
Leading Ideal ONE unveiling

The ONE was unveiled a little while ago. Although the interior was not revealed live, official photos of the interior have been published. The car, which somewhat resembles the Volvo XC90 in character, is an extended-range electric vehicle where a 1.2T 3-cylinder engine provides supplementary power to the electric motor as well as for recharging the main 40.6 kWh battery pack when charge is depleted (the engine does not drive the wheels directly). It has a dual motor setup, driving front and rear wheels (4WD), and combined output from the motors is 326 hp. Battery-only range is 180 km; with the RE in action, range can go up to 700 km. It should come with driver assist, active safety and other "intelligent" connectivity features with periodic OTA updates. Three-row, six- or seven-seat layouts will be available. The dash is an aggregation of four large screens.



 
Lawrence

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Re: Chehejia (CHJ Auto), LI One

So this pure BEV has two E-Motors, and an ER petro engine for depleted battery charging only.
It appears that Autohome.com's (power flow) schematic, doesn't agree with its overhead view of the powertrain and chassis. The front and rear drive axles seen in the overhead view are not shown in the schematic.
Also I read somewhere that there are 2 batteries that are the swappable type.
As for the interior, I like the clean orderly look of the controls and displays.
 
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Discussion Starter · #12 · (Edited)
Re: Chehejia (CHJ Auto), LI One

Sorry, but I couldn't find anything about swappable batteries in the few articles that I scanned. But why would you need to swap batteries when there is a range extender charging the battery on the fly?

The Bitauto article states:
In the extended-range power system equipped with the ideal ONE , the power generated by the range extender will be used preferentially to drive the motor, and the remaining power will be recycled to the battery pack while the power demand is met. In the case of rapid acceleration, the battery pack and range extender will simultaneously power the motor for optimal dynamic performance.
Click to expand...
The Autohome article states:
In addition, compared with our common plug-in hybrid models, because the range extender does not output power, the driving experience retains the smoothness and quietness of the pure electric vehicle.
Click to expand...
So, the engine does provide power to the motor to which it is coupled (front) and then towards charging the battery(ies). I think I got misled by the Autohome paragraph and didn't read the Bitauto article closely :eek:
 
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Discussion Starter · #13 · (Edited)
Chehejia acquires Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co.

No, not what you think!

Chongqing Xinfan Machinery Equipment Co., Ltd., a company controlled by Chehejia, has agreed to pay 650 mn RMB (approx. 94 mn USD) to acquire 100% of the equity in Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd. from its parent Lifan Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. This is really to lay hands on the production qualification of Chongqing Lifan Auto, which currently operates Lifan's Beibei Dt. plant in Chongqing (for SUVs and MPVs). Chehejia will need this license to produce and sell the LI ONE and subsequent vehicles, going forward.

Lifan is not giving up on making cars though as another Lifan group company, Chongqing Lifan Passenger Vehicle Co., Ltd., operates the Yubei Dt. (Beibu New Area) plant in Chongqing (mainly sedans, some SUVs) which is unaffected by this transaction.

https://www.d1ev.com/news/qiye/84158

Further terms of the deal are not published, so it is not clear if any underlying physical assets are going to be transferred. Anyway, Lifan has already been offered compensation by the Chongqing government to vacate its Yubei Dt. plant site (in order to preserve a residential and scenic part of town); moreover, it is redeveloping the land around its Beibei dt. plant for new real estate projects. With this cash flow, Lifan has decided to construct a new 150,000 units/p.a. production base somewhere within the Liangjiang New Area (an economic zone covering Jiangbei, Yubei and Beibei districts). This capacity is adequate for the company as Lifan has produced only about 25,000 passenger vehicles this year (79,000 in 2017).

In August, Chehejia itself agreed with the Chongqing authorities to set up a large "new smart vehicle industrial park" (for 200,000 units/p.a. x 2 phases) with an investment outlay of 11 billion RMB in the Liangjiang New Area by 2021.

________________

P.S.: In light of the above, the leasing arrangement reported in September no longer makes sense, so one may ignore post #2.
 
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Discussion Starter · #14 ·
Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd. has been renamed Chongqing Lixiang Zhizao Automobile Co., Ltd. (重庆理想智造汽车有限公司) after the acquisition by Chehejia. The Leading Ideal factory in Changzhou becomes the company's Changzhou Branch.
 
Lawrence

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Re: Chehejia (CHJ Auto), LI One

I wonder how the above sale of the Lifan NEV branch will affect Lifan's joint venture with The Chinese Academy of Sciences CAS, called Lifan Electric Vehicle Corporation established around 2009.... or are they one in the same? http://ev.lifan.com

and how about the fate of that Lifan Electrical Car Industrialization Project, established in Huhehot, Inner Mongolia back in 2008?
 
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Discussion Starter · #16 · (Edited)
Re: Chehejia (CHJ Auto), LI One

Lawrence said:
I wonder how the above sale of the Lifan NEV branch will affect Lifan's joint venture with The Chinese Academy of Sciences CAS, called Lifan Electric Vehicle Corporation established around 2009.... or are they one in the same? http://ev.lifan.com

and how about the fate of that Lifan Electrical Car Industrialization Project, established in Huhehot, Inner Mongolia back in 2008?
Click to expand...
Lifan's NEV branch is in Jiyuan, Henan, not Chongqing. Here, electric conversion of Chongqing-made cars takes place, as well as the production of the smaller electric vehicles such as the 330-derived products and other LSEVs. This branch is outside the purview of the above sale.

Lifan's EV R&D center is in Shanghai, under Shanghai Zhongke Lifan Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd., which is the JV with CAS and a few other companies. See http://www.zklf-ev.com/

Lifan's joint venture in Hohhot (Huhehaote) with the Nyren Group and Jinchuang Holdings was for a parts complex initially, which would have been upgraded to a complete vehicle plant later. Reportedly Lifan abandoned this project in 2013 (details). I am not aware of any electric vehicle venture here, maybe Erik can shed some light?
_________________________

Chehejia's purchase of Chongqing Lifan Auto is chiefly to utilize its production license, which one must have inferred by now, and additionally some intellectual property and machinery, not really for such physical assets like the plant which anyway is going to be redeveloped commercially. Remember, Chehejia is planning a greenfield smart vehicle industrial park in Chongqing, after the Changzhou unit is up and running, and Chongqing Lifan Auto (now Chongqing Lixiang Zhizao Auto) will be best placed to handle this project then.
 
Lawrence

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#17 · (Edited)
Re: Chehejia (CHJ Auto), LI One

In the wake of the issuance of the "15 NEV licenses", the creative maneuvers to otherwise obtain permission to produce, seem to grow by the day.
Thank you D Mitra for setting us straight again.
The following website may help shed some light on the NEV branch that remains under the Lifan banner, as you indicate:
http://ev.lifan.com/zjlf/lfxny
On the subject of Lifan and NEVs, an interesting piece by Seth Parks at automoblog.net on 10/19/15 suggested that “Lifan will bring two or three value priced PEVs to the U.S., hopefully starting in 2019, and aimed directly at the Nissan Leaf.”
Everyone is entertaining ambitious plans like this but developing trade relations may interfere.
 
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