Hardly anyone could have imagined that the old feud between the German giant Volkswagen Group and the ambitious Chinese player Li Auto would flare up with new force right now. The occasion for another verbal skirmish was the official start of production of a modified version of the EA211 unit in China. However, it turns out that this familiar engine will not drive the wheels directly, but will play the role of a “charger“ on board the new Volkswagen ID.Era 9X SUV flagship.
The echo from the assembly lines immediately reached the headquarters of Li Auto, from where they were not late with biting comments. The director of social communications of the Chinese brand published an ironic “congratulations“ to his colleagues from Wolfsburg. In his post, he did not spare criticism, defining the technology as “obsolete, disastrous for the environment and devoid of a future“. This move is a direct reference to the long-standing dispute between the two companies over the meaning of the so-called EREV systems (extended range electric vehicles).
The technical heart of the new project is the well-known 1.5T EVO II from the EA211 series. To turn it into an efficient generator, engineers have implemented a variable geometry turbocharger (VTG), an optimized Miller cycle and an injection system operating at a pressure of 350 bar. Although the series is a real bestseller in China with over 20 million sales since 2011, the use of fossil fuel to “feed“ the batteries seemed absurd to the pioneers from Li Auto, who have been pushing this type of drive for years.
The paradox in this case is enormous, since only a few years ago the management of Volkswagen China in the person of Stefan Wellenstein literally debunked the extended-range hybrids. Back then, the Germans were adamant: these cars are “anti-ecological“ and represent a technological dead end. At the time, Li Xiang, the founder of Li Auto, did not remain obliging and challenged the Germans to a duel on economy, recalling that his Li One sold better than five equivalent Volkswagen models combined.
Today, the pancake seems to have turned. While Li Auto triumphed with irony, the SAIC-Volkswagen camp chose the path of diplomacy instead of entering explanatory mode. The executive vice president of marketing coolly thanked “all the professionals in the industry“ and wished the industry success. However, whether the return to the “obsolete“ concept is an admission of a mistake or a clever marketing move, we will have to find out later this month, when orders for the Volkswagen ID.Era 9X start.