CATL, the Chinese battery giant for electric vehicles, has just teamed up with tech giant Huawei to supply batteries for both its own models and those of partner manufacturers. Its first electric vehicle, the Avatr 11, finally arrives.
As you know, if you have been following automotive news diligently, Huawei is no longer only specialized in the world of technology and smartphones.
The Chinese giant is working on its first electric car and with that in mind, but not only, it has just partnered with another Chinese battery giant this time around, namely CATL. The latter will supply batteries to Huawei for its future electric cars, as well as to manufacturing partners.
The birth of some other Chinese products?
The signing of this partnership also represents an increase in the two companies' investments in smart and connected electric vehicle technology, and their joint efforts to build a global brand of premium cars
This is not the first cooperation between Huawei and CATL, the two companies have already used their strengths to create new Chinese car brands.
In fact, on August 24, 2021, Chinese auto giant Changan Automobile joined Huawei and CATL to introduce its new premium electric vehicle brand: Avatr Technology. Huawei does not own a stake, but provides the hardware and software platform.
A year later, Avatr launched its first product, Avatr 11, a model that featured battery provided by CATL and Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system.
The brand was previously known as Changan Nio, a joint venture between Changan and Nio, but the name has since changed after Nio left the joint venture to focus on his own business.
AVATR 11 in just a few numbers
Returning to the Avatr 11, which is emblematic of this partnership, it is an SUV coupe with a length of about 4.8 meters and equipped with two electric motors with a total power of 600 hp and 650 Nm of width. The car accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in less than four seconds and has a top speed of 200 km/h.
In terms of battery selection, Chinese customers will be able to choose between two CATL packages of 90kWh and 117kWh. It will have a range of 555km and 680km on a single charge. However, these numbers come from the Chinese CLTC homologation cycle, which is more optimistic than the European WLTP.
In terms of charging, the all-wheel drive vehicle delivers 240 kW of power, which theoretically allows you to recover 200 km of autonomy in 5 minutes. This is made possible by the 800V architecture (750V to be exact).
Deliveries of Huawei's electric vehicle, the Avatr 11, are expected to begin in China in a few days. Then it is necessary to calculate between 349,900 yuan (about 47,000 euros) and 409,900 yuan (about 55,000 euros). But beware, if this car makes it to Europe, the prices will be much higher.
With HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit, Huawei is competing against Android Automotive in the car market
With the HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit unveiled at a year-end conference, Huawei aims to step on the tiptoe of Android Automotive with an AI-enhanced system.
The end of the calendar year was marked by a major Huawei conference, where several new products were presented: from the P50 Pocket clamshell smartphone to the new Watch D smartwatch and a brand new car operating system based on HarmonyOS.
For its launch, the HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit has been integrated into a rechargeable hybrid also launched: the Aito M5, which is inspired by the Seres SF5 and whose range, thanks to thermal engines and electrics, reaches more than 1,200 kilometers. It also accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds.
LIKE A TESLA AIR
But what interests us here is not so much the car's interior and performance as its on-board systems. The latter actually positions itself as a direct competitor to Android Automotive, mainly inspired by Google OS and the Tesla interface.
The lower bar, dedicated to heating, air conditioning or volume, for example, recalls the ergonomics of Tesla screens, even duplicating the position of the functions. It can hardly be worse. The icon and app pack reminds us of Android Automotive, but it's done better.
Huawei really manages to give its user interface roundness and a refined look, which, let's face it, has little effect. The Chinese manufacturer also mentions a Smart Dock, a kind of quick access bar that can store your favorite applications (music, calendar, audiobooks).
ONE VOICE ASSISTANT FOR EVERYTHING
Apps integrated into the Smart Dock can be prominently displayed as a widget to provide visualizations. The idea of HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit is to give you a lot of space in terms of user interface customization. They must do everything to make me feel at home.
In general, the system has well thought-out and intuitive ergonomics, but is enhanced above all by artificial intelligence. The Chinese company spoke at length about its voice assistant "Célia", which is presented as your best travel companion. With you can do just about anything with your voice.
Basically, you can use voice commands to open the car window, play music, increase the volume, pause the music, ask about the weather, call a contact, go to the settings, adjust the light mood or change the driving mode.
SPLIT SCREEN
Simply put, Huawei wants you to prioritize voice commands over on-screen interactions. And for those who prefer the opposite, the interface construction will commit to providing a user experience worthy of the name to compete with Android Automotive and Tesla.
The Asian giant also offered other small features, such as the possibility of splitting the screen into two parts to use two applications at the same time: navigation on one side, music on the other, for example. More specifically, the navigation is managed by the Petal Maps service, which was domestically developed by Huawei after the US embargo.
And proof that Huawei won't try to limit itself to China, HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit will be available in more than 70 languages going forward. Today it will already support English, Arabic, French, Spanish or even English. So there is a real desire to deploy its operating system internationally.
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