The worries of the 340,000-yuan middle class: Tesla squeezes into the luxury car circle, should you buy a BMW or the long-range Model 3?

On April 10, the domestic Tesla Model? 3 long-range version with a cruising range of 668km will be available for pre-order. Compared with the Model 3 standard version currently on sale, which has a mileage of around 450 kilometers, the long-range version has a mileage that is 50 kilometers higher.

The long-range version can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers in 3.4 seconds and is priced at 339,000 yuan after subsidies. Deliveries are expected to begin in June 2020. The current starting price of the domestic Model 3 after subsidies is 299,000 yuan. ?

Chuxingyike learned from Tesla that if you place a reservation before April 30 from now on, you can enjoy 2-year interest-free, 3-5 years ultra-low interest and other preferential loan programs, with the lowest monthly payment It can be as low as 0 yuan; if consumers choose the fully autonomous driving capability configuration (FSD) when purchasing a car, they can further enjoy a more favorable interest discount plan on this basis.

Just four months after the Model 3 standard version was put into production, the long-range version with a mileage increased by 50% has been opened for pre-order. This continues Tesla's "11 months to build the factory and three months to triple its production capacity" Shanghai Speed”.

With prices starting at 340,000 yuan, the Model 3 long-range version has entered the price range of traditional luxury cars. Tesla will compete head-on with brands such as BMW and Audi. Will it be able to fight?

How to increase battery life by 50?

Last month, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced information about the Tesla Model 3 long-range version. The third batch of the 2020 "Recommended Model Catalog for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles" released on March 6 shows that the domestically produced Tesla Model 3 long-range rear-wheel drive version has a cruising range of 668km under NEDC operating conditions. ?

The mileage of the domestic Model 3 long-range version is not only higher than the original domestic standard version, but also higher than the imported version. Currently, the imported Model 3 has two mileage versions: a high-performance all-wheel drive version of 595km, and a long-range all-wheel drive version of 590km. The long-range version’s overall vehicle weight of 1,745kg is also lighter. ?

The current range of newly launched new energy vehicles is generally around 500 kilometers, and Tesla’s 668 kilometers has a greater competitive advantage.

Compared with the domestic Model 3 standard version that was put into production four months ago, the mileage of the long-range version has increased significantly by more than 50 kilometers.

Why is there such a big improvement? Because Tesla replaced batteries with high specific energy density.

According to information released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Model 3 long-range version uses ternary lithium batteries, and the specific information is unknown. Ternary lithium batteries refer to batteries that use lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide or lithium nickel cobalt aluminate as the positive electrode material. According to the different proportions of the three elements of nickel cobalt manganese or nickel cobalt aluminum, they can be roughly divided into 333, 532, 622, and 811 Wait for the route. The current industry-wide high-specific energy battery is the 811 ternary lithium battery.

At this stage, domestic Tesla has two power battery suppliers: Panasonic of Japan and LG Chem of South Korea. China's CATL will join the supply camp from July this year. ?

Previously, Trip.com had exclusively reported that LG Chem supplies 811 (nickel cobalt manganese) ternary lithium batteries to domestic Tesla, and CATL will supply cobalt-free phosphoric acid to Tesla. Lithium iron battery. LG Chem’s initial supply volume is slightly more than CATL’s, and is no less than 40% of the planned production capacity of the Shanghai factory in the first phase. In the future, the two batteries will be used in domestic Tesla products with different ranges.

Judging from the delivered standard version of Tesla’s domestic Model 3, models using Panasonic batteries have a longer cruising range than models using LG Chem batteries. The former is 455km and the latter is 445km. Panasonic is Tesla’s longest-standing battery supplier. ?

The Tesla Beijing car advocate told Yike that when choosing a car, Tesla sales clearly mentioned that if you order early, you can get the Tesla supplied by Panasonic later. You will get Tesla supplied by LG Chem. Which battery company is used to assemble the product depends on luck.

Shanghai factory production capacity tripled in March?

The launch speed of the long-range version continues Tesla's "11 months to build the factory and 3 months to triple its production capacity" Shanghai Speed”.

A Tesla salesperson told Trip.com that the current weekly output of the Shanghai factory is 3,000 units. If you order a domestic Model 3 now, you will need to queue up and the estimated pick-up time is one month later. ?

More than three months ago, the Shanghai factory's production capacity was only more than 1,000 units per week, one-third of the current level. Song Gang, manufacturing director of Tesla's Shanghai factory, said at the delivery ceremony of the domestically produced Model 3 on December 30, 2019 that the factory started working 10 hours a day and produced more than 1,000 units per week.

Affected by the epidemic, Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory was temporarily closed from January 30 to February 10. The factory resumed work on February 10, the earliest among domestic automakers, and production capacity gradually climbed thereafter. ?

An operator in the assembly workshop told Trip.com that Tesla’s production schedule is very tight. Not only do workers have to work overtime, but sometimes their meal time is also squeezed. “One time I only ate ten I work in minutes and my stomach hurts."

Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory is expanding at a rapid pace. According to incomplete statistics on one passenger trip, Tesla's Shanghai factory holds a job fair for production positions at least every month, involving multiple workshops such as die-casting, painting, final assembly, and powertrain. ?

The Shanghai factory is Tesla’s only vehicle factory still in operation. Tesla's largest factory, located in Fremont, USA, officially shut down on March 24 and is expected to resume work as early as May 4.

In accordance with the principle of selling wherever it is produced, the Model 3 long-range version with a range of 668 kilometers is expected to be only supplied to the Chinese market. It is unclear whether it will be exported overseas from the Shanghai factory.

340,000, should I buy a Tesla or a BMW?

With prices starting at 340,000 yuan, the Model 3 long-range version has broken into the traditional luxury car market. What this price range has to deal with is the mid-to-high-end car market occupied by traditional luxury car giants such as BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.

If you only look at the same type of pure electric vehicles, there are not many models with similar prices to the Model 3 long-range version. They mainly include: BMW i3 with a range of 340 kilometers, priced at 305,800-339,800 yuan; The Weilai ES6 with a battery life of 510 kilometers is priced at RMB 338,000-523,000 after subsidies. The sales volume of both models in China in 2019 was slightly more than 10,000 units, which was lower than Tesla before localization.

But the real competitors of the Model 3 long-range version are fuel vehicles, including the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4.

The question on the community Zhihu is called "If the price of Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 Series are the same, who would you choose when buying a car?" "The question has been read nearly 300,000 times. ?

The answer with the most likes believes that when many 3 Series users are hesitating or giving a little thought to Model 3, Tesla will win, indicating that Tesla will be in the mainstream market. Stand firm. There are too many choices in the traditional market, such as Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz c-class, Cadillac ATSL, and Volvo S60, but when you consider whether to buy an electric car, there is almost only one choice.

After Tesla’s localization, Model 3’s sales in China have begun to surpass those of fuel vehicle competitors such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. In February 2020, Model 3 sold nearly 4,000 units. Not only did it become the top producer of new energy vehicles in China, it also surpassed models such as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class in the luxury car field and also won the championship.

On April 8, as one of the first Tesla owners in China and a loyal fan of Tesla, Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, said in a live broadcast on the investment community Snowball that in the field of smart cars, Tesla In the future, La can obtain 20-30% of the market share and achieve annual sales of 5 million to 10 million vehicles.

Not only in China, Model 3 is also selling well around the world. In 2019, it was the sales champion in all electric vehicle fields including hybrid and pure electric vehicles.

A total of 95,247 units of this car were sold in Europe, accounting for 17% of the total European electric vehicle sales in 2019 and twice the sales of the second-place Renault ZOE. ?

However, in the first two months of 2020, the status of Model 3 has declined, ranking sixth. European car companies have risen in the rankings, with Renault Zoe, Peugeot 208 EV, and Volkswagen Golf electric version. Ranked in the top three. ? (Editor/Yang Peiqian)

(Our reporter Chen Liang also contributed to this article)

The article comes from the WeChat official account Travel Yike (ID: carcaijing), "Finance" magazine The Transportation Industry Group was established to focus on news in the field of transportation and travel, and is committed to exploring travel, technology and the future.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.