The last time I drove an electric car was two years ago in New York. It was a Tesla Model 3 and SUV and the experience was very limited–about 5 miles (approximately 10 kilometers) through a city block and a short stretch of freeway.
Over the weekend I had a chance to drive over a much longer stretch–over 200 kilometers both ways and a short hop for a medical “mission.” At the start there was the psychological fight against range anxiety, which I was to discover, like many things new is overcome by overdelivering on a promise. That promise in this case is 350 kilometers running distance.
Chery is the first brand in the Philippines to officially bring in an electric vehicle with commercial purposes in mind. In 2011, it arrived one day late for a display at the Manila Auto Show, a fact that many motoring journalists paid attention to, rather than the fact that these two EVs, the Chery M1 full electric (planned and built as an EV) and a Chery QQ3 EV (converted from ICE to EV).
No one in the auto industry paid attention to these electric cars at the launch, except enthusiasts from the Electric Vehicle Club of the Philippines which included two Cebu-based businessmen eager to test drive and purchase these EVs.
The Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP), founded in 2009, supported the initiative. But no one in government was paying attention to over 40 letters and pleas from then distributor Chery Motors Philippines Inc. (CMPI) sent to the Department of Finance, Bureau of Customs, or the Department of Trade and Industry to consider proposals for at least zero tariff for the two display vehicles. This was the reason for the delay in the release of the cars in time for the MIAS.
Fast forward ten years since, and Chery is still the first one to offer a commercially viable, plug into the wall outlet electric vehicle in the shape of the Arrizo, a car in the car company’s international sedan line up. This EV, the Arrizo 5e was first sold in 2017 in China and the following year internationally. It was designed to have charging distance of 410 kilometers, but the safe travel range is 350 kilometers.
Before Chery there was BYD with the Tang EV, an excellent platform but lacking the widespread dealership and servicing capabilities of Chery.
I was very happy that Chery Auto Philippines Inc.’s PR chief Gie Nuñez called me to say that the COVID-19 postponed test drive I had with the Arrizo electric car back on. And that I had a whole week with the car. I had plotted a course that would hopefully run out the batteries in a friend’s place where I could stay over to get a fresh charge, but the low-pressure areas on both ends of the route literally dampened that plan. I felt (like most people unnecessarily will) that water and electricity results in a shocking experience.
The Arrizo E5, unlike the Nissan LEAF or the Toyota Prius, does not enjoy a distinctiveness in external design because it has gas-powered siblings. The most notable difference in the ICE and EV versions is the lack of openings in the front grille. Also, there is an additional supercharger connector in front while the standard Type 2 charging port that charges power at 43 kW. It comes with a cable and a charging unit that has LED lights to connect to the 53.6-kwh lithium-ion battery. There still is a standard 12-volt battery to power the usual systems like the headlights, and air conditioner and coolant pump motors, power windows and doors.
The first long drive with the Arrizo stretched from Laguna to Lucena in Quezon, back into the feeder roads of Batangas to Laiya then the Lobo-Malabrigo road which is near its completion. A round trip back to San Pablo via that route is 283 kilometers–2 hours of that trip at night with all lights and other power-hungry appliances on. The power meter (looks like a reversed fuel gauge) was reading 106 kilometers of power left, but with all the equipment on it dropped to 98 kms. range. That seems pretty accurate because at full load (401 kilometers range) the graph reads 383 kilometers.
The Arrizo’s battery is similar in capacity to the Tesla Model 3’s 52kwh battery and slots nicely between than the Nissan LEAF’s 40-kwh and the LEAF+’s 62-kwh batteries. Battery capacity is the equivalent of a fuel tank’s capacity in liters which determines distance it can travel.
Speaking of distance, in the first long drive I had with my son Greg, the range anxiety was not about running out of fuel, as we had plotted places where we could possibly charge up (relatives, friends living near or around the area). The Arrizo proved to be more frugal than expected–and though we looked at the strange “remaining power” gauge, the trip was satisfying because with 98 kilometers charge remaining we could have technically gone to Chery’s Manila showroom from Laguna for a supercharger top up that would only take 30 minutes or so.
(By the way the supercharger socket is in the front of the car hidden under the evolving Chery logo.)
Range anxiety disappears when one is intoxicated by the rapid acceleration of this EV–with a sound much like my old remote control car, a muffled squeak, and whizz. The intoxication and realization of range anxiety quickly come back when one sees the instant gratification of speed is penalized with 1 or 2 kilometers off the range meter.
There is also that eerie quietness in the cockpit starts from the get go.
I had pushed the “power on” button expecting a vroom or the vibration of a diesel and purr of a gasoline engine. Instead, all I heard was the pulse of the “Reverse-Neutral-Drive” knob as it lifts itself from its hidden position. The whirr of the air conditioner fan is the next sound it generated and finally, the music from the infotainment system which I must say is one of the most comprehensive among sedans of this size. The central control display with infotainment functions measures 10 inches and is equipped with GPS navigation, Andriod connections, Carlife, 4G, voice recognition, and other functions. It also had a full LCD dashboard.
The front-wheel drive Arrizo 5e is propelled by a 122 horsepower, 250 Nm permanent magnet synchronous motor or PMSM. That takes about 90-kw of power to spin the motor. Electric vehicles however have a very linear power delivery. Stomp on the throttle (can this be applied to this car?) rather the accelerator (which is simply a giant potentiometer) and the car zooms as peak torque is available almost instantaneously. That causes the acceleration then anxiety I mentioned earlier.
On the road, the car is so quiet the only disturbances in the cockpit come from the tire and road noise. Apart from the usual car noises from the suspension or the brakes. I only logged in acceleration at about 5 seconds to 50 kilometers per hour, though carguide.ph says it comes in at 3.8 km seconds. For electric vehicles, the initial jump to lightspeed ends at 50 kilometers per hour because PMS motors spin that way to preserve power and not stress the armature which is the primary moving part of any EV.
The Chery Arrizo E5 sort of changed my view of the future of driving. Some time ago, committing to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si, I stopped bringing my diesel burners and went on to take public transport more and more. After experiencing an advanced electric car like the Arrizo, I want to go back to driving, despite Alabang traffic and heavy rains, the emission-less Arrizo e5 at P1.9M is a ride worth considering.
