This EV could drive from New York to Detroit without stopping
Denza’s Z9 GT has long been tipped as a genuine Porsche Taycan rival, touting serious performance from an optional tri-motor setup, enormous range and the promise of sub-10-minute charging times thanks to the BYD Group’s Flash Charging technology.
Having proven a hit in China, the Z9 GT is finally making its way to UK and European shores and, despite prices cresting the £100,000 mark, it looks set to challenge the more established premium players with masses of performance and the option of a range-extending hybrid that can cover 500 miles with a mix of electricity and gasoline.
Back in China, Denza is already tweaking the formula, recently opening the order books for a more aerodynamically efficient Z9S model that comes fitted with BYD’s 102.3-kWh Blade Battery 2.0.
Breakthroughs in battery and motor efficiency, as well as a more slippery fastback body style, mean the Z9S is capable of traveling 1,100 km — or 683 miles — on a single charge. Because of this, Denza claims this is the “world’s longest-range EV.”
As a caveat, this is all according to China’s CLTC testing cycle, which is notoriously generous with its estimations.
If these figures are to be believed, Z9S owners could drive from New York to Motor City, Detroit, without stopping.
Similarly, drivers could load up the car in Berlin and arrive in Paris without having to trouble the public charging network.
If you apply a standard conversion factor of 0.80 to convert China’s CLTC to the more stringent European WLTP testing cycle, it still results in a range of between 546 and 560 miles.
In the US, a conversion to EPA would result in approximately 480 miles — still hugely impressive.
According to Electrek, the base Premium model starts at 319,800 yuan in China (around $47,300/AU$67,350/£35,000), the flagship version starts at 349,800 yuan ($51,800/AU$73,600/£38,500), and the tri-motor Performance variants cost 389,900 yuan ($57,700/AU$82,000/£43,000).
But as we have seen with the recent unveiling of UK pricing for the Z9 GT, these costs dramatically escalate once you factor in import duties and local taxes.
We are starting to enter an EV era where it is not uncommon for vehicles at the premium end of the market to cover more than 450 miles on a single charge.
Volvo’s EX60, the latest Mercedes-Benz CLA, BMW’s iX3 and Tesla’s most recent Model 3 Long Range will all happily deliver 450 miles or more, which is not far off the converted WLTP and EPA cycle range of Denza’s “world-beating” Z9S.
As a result, claims of “the world’s longest-range EV” coming from China have to be taken with a pinch of salt, due to the discrepancies in the way the country conducts its EV efficiency tests.
What’s more, these cars, with their enormous battery packs and cutting-edge electric motor technology, rarely arrive in markets outside of China sporting the sort of tempting price tags that they do in their domestic market.
Rather than focusing on all-out range, potential customers should get more excited about a wider rollout of BYD’s Flash Charging technology outside of its home market, which has the potential to drastically reduce the overall time of electric road trips with ultra-rapid top-ups.
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Leon has been navigating a world where automotive and tech collide for almost 20 years, reporting on everything from in-car entertainment to robotised manufacturing plants. Currently, EVs are the focus of his attentions, but give it a few years and it will be electric vertical take-off and landing craft. Outside of work hours, he can be found tinkering with distinctly analogue motorcycles, because electric motors are no replacement for an old Honda inline four.
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