Li Auto livestreamed a real-world range test of its new i6 SUV on October 23, driving 811.4 km on one charge of the 96 kWh battery pack around the Taihu lake region, with the car still able to creep along after the battery hit zero - exceeding the model's 780 km CLTC rating by about 4%.
Test conditions were favorable but loaded: temperatures of 13-20 degrees Celsius, four passengers plus luggage and 50 kg of equipment, air conditioning on throughout, 18 hours of driving at 40-80 km/h on city roads, with city energy consumption of just 11.8 kWh per 100 km. Highway and low-temperature driving would trim the figure substantially.
The technical headline is the battery: the i6 drops CATL cells in favor of Li Auto's self-developed Lian Shan battery, with electric cells produced by CALB and Sunwoda. A design change lets the pack hold 3 kWh more energy, and the company pairs it with self-developed drive motors and silicon-carbide power modules that cut current-path losses and add about 30 km of winter range. The 5C battery is promised to be fire-free in collisions and will spread to more models.
CEO Li Xiang called the powertrain stack the core of the range gain, and the company plans to bring the i6 to Europe in the first quarter of 2027 under the Li 6 name.
Image: Vehicles on display at an international mobility show. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
