LI AUTO MEGA DRIVEN! Futuristic Chinese EV drives US around Beijing!

We've had automobiles for more than a century, but more has changed in the past 10 years than in the previous 100. The cause? Electrification. EVs offer a chance for fresh approaches to design and engineering, and one such company redefining the car for the 21st century is Li Auto, with cars such as this, the Li Auto Mega. With its 800V architecture, 102.7kWh battery and incredible aerodynamic efficiency, the Mega has a range of over 700km, and with Li Auto's 5C supercharging, it can gain 500km of range in just 12 minutes of charging, the fastest charge speed in the world. After a string of successful hybrids, the Mega is Li Auto's first full EV. It's also the brand's halo vehicle, a distillation of Li Auto's progressive, family-first design philosophy. Li Xiang, our CEO, said he wants to have something extremely iconic, outstanding and unmistakably Li Auto, and that was our task, create a future icon, future icon for families basically. When you get inside the Li Auto Mega, everything has been designed for the driver and for all of the passengers. This new crop of Chinese-made EVs are designed and engineered to provide a comfortable and elevated experience for all occupants. Features such as autonomous driving, AI voice assistant, entertainment and connectivity, comfort and convenience, these are the things that Chinese car buyers are looking for. Compare that to the average Western-designed car, where power and performance, styling and driver-first comfort remain the top priorities. If you're taking a look at how Americans are approaching EVs and how the Chinese are approaching EVs, you have either form over function or function over form. You take a look at something like the Mega and it is function over form to the extreme. Even Tesla, itself a young company, which only makes EVs and trades on the idea that it's revolutionising the automobile, still engineer its cars to those legacy Western standards. But what do these differing philosophies of design mean for us, the car-buying public? These two cars may look sort of similar, but each offers a completely different experience. The Mega has been thoughtfully designed, with every aspect of the occupant's experience prioritised, governing the choices the designers have made. Take a look at the Cybertruck. What you have is this silhouette that looks like nothing else on the road, but it is challenged in every other way. It is compromised in every other way to make that work. This is kind of like the ultimate expression of designing from the outside in. The designers were constrained to create a vehicle that could pass safety standards and actually exist on the road while retaining that shape. I think the Mega could be a game changer for families who appreciate function over form. One of the main goals was to create a car with a very, very low drag coefficient, because we wanted to bring two things together. Big space and long range. And that was basically the task. Find this sweet spot, find this balance between battery size, drag coefficient and interior space. And the outcome is the product you see behind me. In order for me to find out how and crucially why these EVs from China are designed the way they are, it's time for me to visit the Li Auto headquarters in Beijing. The first thing I wanted to do was sit down with the Mega's designer, Benjamin Baum. You know that our mission here at Li Auto is to create future mobile homes for families. And according to that, we decided to create a form language, a design philosophy. A home is a timeless space. A home is something which is not following trends. And so we created a form language which we call future avant-garde form language. It's basically a mix between Bauhaus, Chinese minimalism and product design. And all our products actually follow this kind of form language. For Mega, we basically rethought the whole process of designing a car and what our form language could be in the future. It's kind of a sculpture in the end. I think you see that on Mega. And you see that it's actually a car designed with a design intention. So while the Mega was designed with its range, efficiency and interior space as priorities, a huge amount of care and attention was still placed on its looks. So Ben, here's the Mega. Why don't you take me through the design? I'd like to learn everything about this car. The curve is accelerating from here to this point, which basically leans the whole car a bit further back, but also gives it the impression that the center or the main attention is for the secondary row, which also gives the biggest space to enter the car. The opening, right. Exactly. And then basically from this point, the highest point of the car, you drop down 220 millimeters to this point, which actually enables the air to be completely attached to the roof and then rip off kind of here like on this element, which is like our basically aero edge. Without this element, actually, the drag would not be possible. We were lucky that we had from the beginning on an aerodynamic team integrated into our design. With the design team's aerodynamic goals met, the Mega's drag coefficient of 0.215 meant that the engineering team could use the smaller 102.7 kilowatt power battery and still achieve the Mega's target range of over 700 kilometers. It feels very roomy inside. When you sit inside, it feels really like a driving space. We are really concentrating on creating that like future mobile homes or families. When you get inside the LiAuto, it is designed for the passengers. It is designed for the driver. You've got charging pads at every seat. You've got cup holders within reach. It is so comfortable and it's so spacious. It's so airy. So the interior also kind of reflects how Chinese see cars, which is it's a second home for them. Ben was able to highlight for me just how much importance was placed on the interior of the car during the exterior design process. Now to learn more about the Mega's smart cabin, I caught up with product manager, Ethan. So, Ethan, thanks for your time today. I'm excited to learn more about the Mega. So we've heard a little bit from Ben about the exterior styling. Can you tell me here on the inside, some of the things that make this cabin unique? This car is really designed around the family of sort of first principle. The function includes aerodynamics, which in turn translates into efficiency and value for money. But it also includes space for everyone, not just the first row, as we'll see in the third row and second row. So really the inside and out are one consolidated design, right? So really when this car was designed and along with many of our upcoming cars, the styling department, interior, exterior, aerodynamics, packaging, engineering products, they all had to sit together and make sure that everything works together. And it's designed for every family member and give them the best experience. Most families own just one car. So this car has to be something that does it all for the family. It has to take the kids to school. It has to take the family to camping. It has to be the commute car. It also has to be fun to drive. Yeah, look cool. Still has to look cool, right? And be kind of a status symbol. Exactly. This car is really for not just getting from point A to B. A lot of people spend a lot of time in the car when the car is parked. So this is really a space where the family members can get together. Of course, this car is designed for the entire family, for every occupant in every seat. But let's begin selfishly with the driver. So you as the driver, we realise that most of the information, including navigation, speed, really needs to happen on the same level of eyesight when you're driving. So this is officially called a touch bar. Oh, I can touch this? You can touch it. Yeah. It's all interactive. Okay. And the idea is that it can work in conjunction with your other screen. It lets you switch between some of the most common functions, right? Drive mode and change the suspension setting. Wow. Our founder, Li Xiang, he is very specific about this detailed experience. Like he would spend a lot of time making sure there was no flare, no reflection. So the reason we were able to put that entire image up there is because of the quality of the HUV and all the work behind it. And then this one here, which is kind of our nerve centre, right? In terms of the operations of the car, I can see we've got the settings for the car itself. This is all the kind of stuff that you can customise. We've got the five different drive modes. So it's seamless integration into the family life. It's the car working for the family and for the individual members. I understand that we've also got a screen in the back. Yes. So should we go back there and check that out? Absolutely. I have more to show you. Fantastic. All right, let's do it. Okay, so Ethan, we've switched sides. And that is because I've heard that this is the place to be. This is the seat to be in if you want to be comfortable. Well, it's got basically everything you can think of. It's got your standard cooling, your heating. The heating covers not just the seat itself. The leg rest, the arm rest, they're all heated. And then what have we got in terms of entertainment? Well, now, instead of saying anything, I'll just use my hand. Wow. There you go. Screen number five, the elusive. That's the screen number five. God, I love it. Cool. Okay. And so what have we got here in terms of functionality? It looks very similar to the screen that the passenger has in the front row. If you want to sit here and you can just raise your hand, open it up. And you see that cursor over there. Wow. I grab it. I can just flip through these TV programs. Let me ask you a question. Do you think I'm ready to take a drive? If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't be able to wait. Exactly. So I've got a Chinese driver's license. I've come all the way here. I think it's time to drive the car. Let's put you on the road. Let's do it. All right. Just like these cars are a second home for a lot of the Chinese buyers, that means that the interior also has to support all the trappings of home. Heated massage seats are just kind of like a no-brainer, but it's the tech which makes it completely different. The way in which the Chinese are developing and refining both the interiors, the tech, and the driving experience, the autonomy is lightning quick. And they are developing these cars faster than any other manufacturer in the world. Time to hit the road. But first, a quick stop for a rapid charge. So we've come across the campus here to one of Lee Auto's 5C chargers to give it a go. So let's go ahead, grab the charging cable. Nice light cable. Nice handle. And look at this. The charging door is in the correct position towards the back of the car. Nice and easy for me to reach with the cable. And here's another really cool thing. I've just arrived in this parking space. I haven't told the charger what car it is. I haven't told the car which charging space I'm in, but they've already communicated via Wi-Fi. And if I press this button, the charging door automatically opens. That is very cool. So let's go ahead, throw the car on charge, and get this. In just 12 minutes of 5C charging, this car is going to gain 500 kilometers of range in 12 minutes. So impressive. And that gives me just enough time to grab a quick cup of coffee before we head out on the road. And now we're ready to hit the road. And I'd like to introduce you to Michael here from Lee Auto. Hey, Michael. Hi. Hi, Joel. Well, I'm excited to go on a drive with you finally. Yeah. So what are we going to be doing? We're going to be doing intelligent driving. Intelligent driving. Yeah. AD 3.0 Max is Lee Auto's advanced autonomous driving software. Our challenge today is to get from the Lee Auto campus to the center of Beijing and back, a journey of around 100 kilometers fully autonomously. And it all begins with a single tap of a screen. You've already set your navigation, right? Yes. And then you can easily press that to start everything. So we're parked. We're here where we've charged. I'm going to press this now. Yeah. We're in park. Mind your surroundings. And we're off. Now he's going to do a park out. And then... Yeah. Wow. So look at that, the 3D camera there. Driving out of the park. And it's off. It's doing a commentary as well. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. We do door-to-door navigation on autopilot. So literally, you start with your apartment parking space, and then you can go all the way to your office parking space with one press. One press. And that's it. Once you've done the route one time, it will then remember it. Do you need to necessarily tell the car, hey, remember this route that I'm going to do so that you can do it again? Or does it just... It just does it automatically. It does it automatically. Yeah. It seems as though the mannerisms of the car, when it's in this NOA mode with AD Max 3.0, it seems very self-assured and very much like it knows what it's doing. It's not hesitant. It's going to drive more like a human. That's our goal. That's the goal. Yeah. Now we've got a truck in front of us. And there we are. It scrubs a load of the speed off, but it didn't come to a full grinding stop. Even when the truck was still in our lane, the car had anticipated, well, it's in our lane a little bit, but it's moving. It's traveling. So by the time we get there, that's smart. It's predicting, you know, the path of that van there. And also how fast it's going to go, you know, and do the calculations. Which is the kind of clunky thing that previous versions of other companies' software and other iterations of autonomous driving and intelligent driving have really sort of struggled with. Yeah. We've been there, you know, probably a year and a half ago. Really? Yeah. You can tell straight away it was, you know, it was a good feature, but it wasn't driving like a human. Yeah, right. But after a year, well, after a year and a half, here we are. Which is such an acceleration and rapid growth in the technology. I know, yeah. A year and a half. That's a lot of late nights for you. Yeah, yeah. Now, what are we going to have to do here? Don't do anything. Nothing? Just wait and see. Wait and see. Okay, so we're approaching it. We've got a speed limit, which of course is being read here on the VLM. Yeah. So we've just driven through seamlessly with restrictions. There was a toll barrier in our way. And now it's going to merge into traffic. This is going to be an interesting one. So many scooters are going. They're doing the, I mean, the right thing, they are. Yeah, in their direction of traffic. And this is a unprotected left turn. I see. I mean, this is very complex. For a human, this is a complex thing. We've got three lanes of traffic, hundreds of cyclists, scooters. And where you stop is key, you know. Yeah. If you stop too far away from the incoming traffic. Maybe you can't do anything. Yeah, yeah. Let's go. Okay, let's go. Here we go. We do have pedestrians to look out for. There's a couple of scooters and bikes. Very good. Very nice. Okay, so we're arriving in our first location. It's a car park that this car has been to before. Yeah. It takes you directly to the area. Yes. It saves you a lot of trouble. So now it's in auto park mode. It's going to pull forward and then presumably back into the space. Yeah. And this is how we solve the, we call it, last 100 meters problem. Getting there and then being like, oh my god, wait. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's fantastic. So that was what, a journey of 30, 40 minutes? Yeah, yeah. And it's just done it from end to end. Yeah, exactly. And that's it. Wow. We continued on from Beijing's Olympic Park, descending into the madness of downtown Beijing in rush hour, where I'm pleased to say the Mega's AD Max 3.0 software and suite of LiDAR, radar and cameras kept us headed towards our destination in comfort and safety. It was a trouble-free and relaxing journey in which the Mega displayed strikingly human-like driving behavior. I have learned so much about the Mega during my time in Beijing, but now it's time to head back to California and draw some conclusions. I learned so much about Li Auto's approach to designing cars and their philosophy of design on my trip and ignited my imagination about what cars can be for us in the future. The design of this car, well, I personally love it. As Ben told us, it is a car that was designed with function put before form. However, I think the form, aka the looks of this car are really rather nice. I think it's a really handsome car. And to think that a space of this size and with this many interior features and functions all fits into a car with a drag coefficient of just 0.215. It's astounding. And that brings me on to the range. The range is very impressive, as too is the charging speed, the 5C charging speed that I witnessed in Beijing. Well, that was a bit of a game changer, right? 500 kilometers of range in just 12 minutes. I've got to talk about the driving dynamics of the Mega. Now, I think it's very fair to say that the Li Auto engineers have done a very good job making this rather large, rather long, rather heavy vehicle feel very well balanced. The suspension, and I'm talking both in terms of the magic carpet ride the air suspension in tandem with the camera system, which is doing its best to level out the bumps, but also the adaptive suspension and how that changes when you put the car into different drive modes. Next, I want to talk about the cabin. We've got wonderfully comfortable, adaptable, heated, cooled, massaged seats that also look really nice. The two screens here in the front. Of course, we've got the electronic rear view mirror display and indeed the screen on the roof for the second and third rows to enjoy. Li Autos say they want their interiors to promote harmony and happiness for the whole family. And you really do feel that in the Mega, where every occupant, not just the driver, is treated to a comfortable individual space full of considered technological touches that elevate the experience. The amenities are plentiful, with the second row an especially luxurious experience and a third row that is more than adequate for two full-sized adults. By comparison, the Cybertruck's interior is stark, with little in the way of luxury. Even the refreshed Model 3 and Model Y, which each boast improvements to their interior spaces, lack the amenities and overall welcoming feel that the Mega boasts. Comparing the driving dynamics of this Mega with the Cybertruck, well, there really is no comparing it. Admittedly, the two vehicles were engineered to do different things, but if you're in the market for comfort, quiet luxury, refinement, the Mega is the car of the two to have. Li Auto's ADMAX 3.0 software was, and I'm not just saying this, something of a wow moment for me. It really was genuinely very impressive to see a vehicle drive itself some 100 kilometres with just the single press of a button. It's a very impressive system. The rate at which Li Auto are developing and improving it is nothing short of incredible. Another area in which these cars really differentiate themselves is through their autonomous driving features. Right now, Tesla only uses cameras to support autonomous driving, whereas in China, you've got LiDAR, you've got cameras, you've got V2X. You have so much technology working in harmony to create an eye that looks everywhere, and it's not just a camera. Functional, check. Comfortable, check. Good looking, check. Efficient, intelligent, autonomous. The Li Auto Mega is really quite remarkable. Li Auto is showing that in a crowded market and a competitive segment, true quality speaks for itself, and that is what we have here with the Li Auto Mega.