Great Wall, a Chinese automotive corporation making cars under its own brand as well as Haval, Ora and Wey brands, has finished designing L.E.M.O.N. DHT, its latest-and-greatest electrified car powertrain.
The system comes bundled with the L.E.M.O.N. tech platform of the latest Haval Chulian (see video). It took three years to develop and will be used in most future Great Wall SUVs.
In Serial Mode, the car runs all-electric, while the gasoline motor remains uncoupled from the axles and only functions as a power generator when power level drops low. Floor the pedal, and it will switch to Parallel Mode, which lets the IC engine drive the front axle via a special coupling and reduction gear.
In its most basic form, the powertrain is “mild”, which means it comes with a 1.8-kWh battery that you cannot charge from a utility socket. The gas engine is a naturally aspirated 1.5-liter four-cylinder rated at 102 PS (101 hp / 75 kW). You may opt for a turbo setup and 156 PS (154 hp / 115 kW) if you wish. The electric motor churns out 136 PS (134 hp / 100 kW) and 250 Nm (183 lb-ft) in its standard form, and those who find it lacking can pay extra to get 177 PS (175 hp / 130 kW) and 300 Nm (221 lb-ft). Due to the way the two motors are combined, the actual output of the system maxes out somewhere between 190 and 245 PS (187–242 hp; 140–180 kW).
Things become serious in the PHEV spec, which is also FWD-only, but otherwise has a number of useful perks. For one, its battery can be charged from a wall socket. Depending on your chosen size (13–45 kWh), it may yield up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) of all-electric range, which is quite impressive for a plug-in hybrid. The gasoline engines stay the same as above, but electric motor tweaks raise the cumulative output to 231–326 PS (228–321 hp; 170–240 kW).
Rounding off the list is the top spec, which finally introduces all-wheel drive thanks to an extra rear-mounted electric motor rated at 184 PS (181 hp / 135 kW) and 250 Nm (183 lb-ft) of torque. This one can ht the road with 435 PS (430 hp / 320 kW).
The first production cars to make use of the innovative L.E.M.O.N. DHT platform will go on sale in 2021 under Haval and Wey banners.
