[Ovais]

Li AUTO L9 – Range Extended EV from China.

Hello all. I hope you are all well. I have recently moved to China and found out that the Chinese Automobile market has come a long way since 2019 when I last visited China. Back in 2019, quite a major population of vehicles on the road constituted of Chinese designed and made vehicles, with many of the Chinese manufacturers into car production for over a decade, but since those were the earlier renditions by the manufacturers, they were generally at par with Japanese or American Cars from early 2000s in terms of features and much lower than them in terms of quality.

Now however, the dynamics of the Chinese Automobile market have greatly changed and while the world was focusing on the chaos caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Chinese were hard at work, designing some amazing vehicles that not only are packed with features, they boast a marked increase in quality as well. Yes, the Chinese have worked really hard to up their Automobile game and it shows.
The car that I’m going to be sharing in this thread is no different. With its sleek and minimalistic design, The Li Auto L9 is packed with some amazing features that would put many vehicles in higher price brackets to shame.
Li Auto was founded in 2015, by Li Xiang. The orientation of the company is towards Electric Vehicles, equipped with an onboard range extender, which essentially is an engine, that does not power the wheels, but it charges the batteries and provides electrical energy to the motors to drive the car. The first car that Li Auto introduced was a Li One, which, owing to the features that it offered, took the Chinese market quite substantially. Since then, Li Auto has been even harder at work and in 2022, it introduced three new vehicles, the L7, L8 and the L9.

This review is about Li Auto’s flagship model, the L9 which is a 7-seater Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV). Let’s start with the exterior of the vehicle.

The exterior of the car follows a very minimalistic, yet modern design all around. This is not a small vehicle by any standard. It is quite a huge vehicle which is 5218mm long, 1998mm wide and 1800mm tall, with a wheelbase of 3105mm. The size of the vehicle can be compared with a Kia Carnival or maybe the BMW X7, which happens to be the vehicle whose customers Li Auto has targeted.











While the design may be minimalistic, there are some design features that really make the vehicle stand out from the crowd. Take the 2.1 meter long LED Day Time Running Light bar up front as an example. Li Auto has spent a fortune on designing this LED light, which continues from one corner to the other, without any breaks. Li Auto calls it the Halo Bar.

You could see an LED bar in the Li Auto ONE as well but what sets this LED bar apart from it is the fact that it is a single piece, compared to the 3 pieces in the ONE. There is no light bleeding and it glows evenly throughout. It is placed inside a clear glass casing in a way that it makes it look like it’s floating. With Amber Corner Marker lights, you can easily tell the L9 apart in the traffic, with this unique design feature. The Halo Bar can be seen on the L7 and the L8 as well.





The rear also has a similar LED bar in red. While this LED bar glows perfectly from corner to corner as well, it is in three pieces for obvious reasons.

[Ovais]

Moving towards the side of the vehicle, you see a minimalistic design, with clean lines. Nothing that says ‘in-your-face’.



On the sides, you will notice that it has flush door handles, that stay flush with the body when the car is locked and as soon as you unlock the car, they come out and you can pull them to open the doors. All doors have the soft-close feature, that pulls the doors in when you close them to the first click.






The car comes with 21-inch wheels as standard from the company, wrapped in 265/45 R21 tyres, with two design options to choose from. The vehicle has independent suspension all around and comes with Air Suspension which Li Auto calls the Magic Carpet Suspension. It is a smart suspension that controls the damping of the shocks depending on the terrain that you are driving on and can control the ride height by up to 80mm.








The L9 is offered in 4 Colors as standard, with 3 Colors as optional extras for which, you need to pay an additional RMB 10,000.

[Ovais]

Now let’s move on to the most important aspect, the drivetrain. The car has Two Electric Motors, one powers the front wheels, while the other powers the rear wheels, making it an All Wheel Drive (AWD) vehicle. The front motor produces 175hp and 220Nm of torque while the rear one produces 268hp and 400Nm of torque. Combined, the vehicle has a little over 440hp and 620Nm of torque. It accelerates from 0-100 in 5.3 Seconds which is a very quick time for a vehicle of this size and capacity. The top speed is limited to 180km as per the Chinese standards.



The motors are powered by 44.5kWh Ternary Lithium Ion Batteries out of which, 39.5kWh is available for powering the wheels and the remaining is reserved for powering the onboard electronic equipment. It takes about 30 minutes to charge the battery from 20% to 80% when using a fast DC Charger. DC Chargers can be found all over China, from shopping mall parking spots to dedicated charging stations, they are quite standard now. If you are charging the vehicle with the provided AC Charger, it takes about 6.5 hours to a 100% charge.


The battery offers a 215km range with the car driven solely on the battery, under CLTC working conditions. While this may not be a lot, the car comes with a Range Extender, which is a 1.5l Turbocharged 4-cylinder Petrol Engine. The engine does not power the wheels, it serves as an onboard electricity generator that charges the batteries and provides electrical energy to the motors on the go as well. Its connected to a 65L fuel tank and with a full tank and a fully charged battery, the company claims the range of the vehicle to be 1315km in total, driven under CLTC working conditions, which is actually quite a lot, considering that a similar sized vehicle, which is powered only by an internal combustion engine would fetch a lot less range in 65 liters of fuel.






Moving on to the interior of the vehicle. The first thing that you notice when you sit inside the car is the steering wheel. It is a heated steering wheel, clad in Nappa Leather, which is connected to an Electronic Powered Steering (EPS) mechanism. In the center, you will see a screen that shows all the vital information like range, gear position, battery level and other similar parameters. This is a touch screen and you can cycle through the information and set the display depending on your preference.
















Towards the center, you will see two 15.7 inch AMOLED screens, with the left one being the main screen where all the functions of the car can be controlled from, and the right one being the passenger screen, which itself has a wide array of functions. From the center screen, you can control the Air Conditioning, Massage Seats, Navigation, Play Multimedia, and these are just the tip of the iceberg, it has a wide range of options which include but are not limited to Voice Activated Commands as well. Yes, you heard that right, voice activated commands! All you have to do is say Li Xiang Tongshue and tell the car what you want it to do and it will do it for you. Like opening the windows, turning on the air-conditioning, putting on music or a movie.

The car receives the voice command through 06 microphones in the car, 02 installed in each row of seats. Each microphone can be individually enabled or disabled if you want to prevent children in the backseat from using these commands. This feature is currently operated using the Chinese language, but Li Auto says that in all vehicles manufactured for the global market, there will be English and other languages as well.








As if voice commands were not enough, the car also has Gesture Control. You can tell the car what to do just by doing hand movements and the car recognizes the movement using multiple cameras and proximity sensors and performs the actions for you. The gesture control can also be used in combination with voice control in which you tell the car to do a certain action and then point towards it. For example, you can point towards a certain window and then tell the vehicle to open that window and it will open it for you. This is a very impressive feature and the fluidity of this system is particularly impressive.


The onboard electronics system is powered by 02 x Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 Processors and 24GB of Ram and let me tell you, these are not just numbers, they give you a very fluidly smooth experience when using any of the screens. There is no lag at all, everything happens very quickly and while we might not know the refresh rate of the screens, it seems to be pretty high to show all the graphics move very smoothly, speaking of which, the Graphical User Interface of the vehicle is designed very well, which, even with my lack of understanding the Chinese language, was easy to use, even though everything is currently in Chinese.

[Ovais]

The center screen also shows a 3D view of the car which is a very cool feature if that is what you are after or it can be very useful when parking the vehicle as the proximity sensors and driving assists show you the obstacles around the vehicle.



Right above the steering wheel, if you look at the windscreen, you will see a 13.35 inch Heads-up Display (HUD) which not only shows you vital information like the vehicle speed, range and battery, it all shows you information pertaining to the driving assist system ADAS, showing you obstacles on the road and your distance from them. This is a very useful feature as you can get the important information without having to take your eyes off of the road.



The vehicle is equipped with 06 8megapixel Cameras, 05 2megapixel Cameras, 12 Ultrasonic Radars and 01 LiDAR that provide data to the ADAS (Advanced driver-assistance system) in the vehicle. Not only does the ADAS serve as an active Assistance Tool while driving the vehicle, it also helps the car to achieve accuracy when using the Self-Parking Feature. I will comment on the Self-Parking Feature once I take a test drive of the vehicle. The ADAS is powered by 02 Nvidia Orin-X Controllers which provide very fast calculations to assist the driver without any delays.














The car is equipped with a Panoramic Sunroof and a smaller sunroof on the front. While the front sunroof is regular sized, the Panoramic Sunroof in the back is quite large and offers a very clear view to the outside.

[Ovais]

The front two rows of seats are 10 Point, Spa-Grade (as advertised by the manufacturer) Massage Seats, wrapped in Nappa Leather. The third row is also Nappa Leather, but it does not have massage seats. The front two rows are also Heated and Cooled, while the third row is only heated. There is 4-way Lumbar Support adjustment in the front two rows. All three rows of seats are electric however.














The Nappa Leather is continued throughout the trim of the vehicle and there are three colors to choose from.
























If you like to be driven and not to drive the vehicle yourself, you can sit in the rear right seat, as it is the most comfortable seat in the vehicle. It has a retracting Leg-Rest that you can open if you need a more comfortable seating position on a long journey and in addition, there is a folding tray attached to the rear of the front right seat, that you can use to put your laptop when working or maybe eat off of.





In the rear, you have a folding 15.7 inch screen, mounted on the roof of the car. On this screen you can play multimedia, separate from the front screens and it too receives commands through voice command and gesture control. The gesture control works surprisingly well even from the third row of seats.

[Ovais]

Towards the center, you see that the front console continues to the rear, where you will find Air-conditioner controls and electric seats positioning controls. Below them, you will find 02 60w USB-C charging ports. What is even more interesting is what lie beneath these ports. There’s a storage box that pops out with the touch of a button. This storage box is not just a storage box, it’s a Cooled and a Heated Compartment. It can house 8 cans of coke or maybe more and it maintains the temperature for up to 24 hours even if the car has been switched off.








The vehicle is equipped with a 21 Speaker, 2160watt 7.3.4 Configuration Stereo System with DOLBY ATMOS. The sound quality is very impressive with a perfect blend of bass and clarity. While this may be enough for many, Li Auto having gone all-out on features has put electric motors in the second row of seats that make the seat vibrate along with the music or a movie that you may be watching, to give you that cinema experience, or maybe make you feel as if you were on the set of a Transformers movie.










It has Remote Tailgate Opening and there is plenty of space in the trunk once you open the tailgate. The third-row seats can be electrically folded to make more space available in the trunk. Another useful feature is the Convenient Trunk Loading mode. There is a button inside the trunk that you press and the car lowers itself from the rear quite significantly to allow for easier loading of your luggage in the trunk.















There are mobile charging ports all over the car, 02 x Wireless Charging Docks on the front, 08 x USB-C ports to be exact with some of them offering quick charge as well. There are 02 12v sockets as well and 01 220v, 1.1kW port through which you can power your 220v gadgets.

[Ovais]

The company offers 5 Years or 100,000km Warranty on its vehicles, while the Electric System and the Battery has an 8 year or 160,000km limited Warranty, the same is also true for the Suspension. In China, the car comes with a 5g Data Plan of 20GB per month for the first 3 year period along with a 24/7 Roadside Assistance Service while the car is under warranty.

The Price of the L9 starts at RMB 469,800 with the option of adding extra features, which of course come at a price. The car can be ordered via the Li Auto app and it will be delivered to your doorstep as soon as the payment clears.


So this was the Li Auto L9. I am thoroughly impressed by the feel and the build quality. The vehicle is so packed with features, I’m pretty sure I’ve missed quite a few. A test-drive of the vehicle has also been scheduled and I will soon update the thread with findings about how the car drives, how different features like ADAS and Self-Parking work.

If you want a more in-depth view of the vehicle, you may also watch a video of the vehicle that I made that showcases the features of the vehicle. I’ll embed that video below for you to see.

There are lots of amazing vehicles, mostly electric coming out of China right now and each week or maybe every second week, I will share a new vehicle with you so that everyone can experience the unique and interesting design and features that these vehicles come with. Also, please let me know what you may think is missing from this review, I’ll try to cover that aspect in the next vehicle that I cover.

https://youtu.be/X1i2cZnd5Kc

[shortbread]

Thanks for this Ovais, impressive looking car. Just out of curiosity, what's the EV scene in Pakistan like?

[ADI7YAK]

Has to be one of my favourite Chinese cars on sale along with Xpeng G9 and Nio ET5 Touring.

Xpeng G9 comes with a 98kWh battery, upto 550bhp and 650km CLTC range, though CLTC range estimates are as optimistic as ARAI's.








Nio ET5 Touring comes with 75kWh or a 100kWh battery pack with leasing and battery swap options. Their battery swap technology is properly cool! 150kWh semi solid state battery also on cards. 480bhp AWD and upto 560km CLTC range for 100kWh battery.

[Ovais]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Thanks for this Ovais, impressive looking car. Just out of curiosity, what's the EV scene in Pakistan like?

You are most welcome. The latest vehicles coming out of China have really surprised me with the design, quality and features that they offer. I'll make sure that I share a lot more of them as soon as I visit their showrooms

Regarding the EV scene in Pakistan, currently, EVs are enjoyed mostly by the rich only. You will see plenty of Audi E-Trons, with lots of E-Tron GTs as well and the Porsche Taycan. For now, people are buying EVs for the power and the 'Coolness' factor that they offer, more than the saving that comes with it. That maybe because of the fact that there are hardly any EVs available in Pakistan in a price range that is affordable for a reasonable portion of the masses.

However, I believe that there may be a lot more options available in the near future as Chinese manufacturers have come up with plenty of options in pretty much any price range and it's not long till they find their way to Pakistan as well as we import a lot of stuff from China. Electric Bikes are a recent trend in Pakistan though, some are imported from China while there are manufacturers in Pakistan that are working towards making their own and some have actually started selling as well.

Hybrid cars are very common in Pakistan though.

[Ovais]

Originally Posted by ADI7YAK

Has to be one of my favourite Chinese cars on sale along with Xpeng G9 and Nio ET5 Touring.

Xpeng G9 comes with a 98kWh battery, upto 550bhp and 650km CLTC range, though CLTC range estimates are as optimistic as ARAI's.
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Nio ET5 Touring comes with 75kWh or a 100kWh battery pack with leasing and battery swap options. Their battery swap technology is properly cool! 150kWh semi solid state battery also on cards. 480bhp AWD and upto 560km CLTC range for 100kWh battery.

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I agree, the Li Auto Vehicles are also some of my favorite and Xpeng also produces some of the nicest vehicles. You will see plenty of Xpeng P7s on the road. The G9 is definitely looks really good too and the power and range figures are also impressive. Yes, the CLTC range is generally higher than the WLTC so I look at the WLTC more than the CLTC numbers.

The Nio ET5 is the talk of the town these days. I'm looking forward to visiting the Nio Showroom and cover that vehicle. There are plenty of Nio ES6s on the road as well.

[Mad Max]

I was wondering why these cars are all LHD and found that Mainland China drives on the right, just like the US. Meanwhile, Hong Kong, along with most of Asian countries, drive on the left which is why we have RHD cars.

<Clarkson - Oh no!...Anyway..>

The car looks smashing and for 50-odd lakh INR equivalent, it's punching way above it's price point. I like the idea of the motor to charge the batteries and the significant extended range this setup provides.

[Mr.Ogre]

The Chinese have definitely come a long way when it comes to packaging and marketing their products. Chery launched their new Chery Omoda 5 electric SUV here, and it is unbelievable how same company made cars that you couldn't help laugh a decade ago. I cannot say much about their product as I do not own one and don't intend to buy at least until they stop selling petrol.

[sridhar-v]

A range extender BEV. The chinese are really leading on the tech and luxury front.

[wheeledwanderer]

Thorough review Ovais covering great details! Chinese are way ahead in the EV race!