Aito M5 EV launched with up to 620km range

Huawei pulled all the stops for its latest product release. The launch conference itself took 3 hours and it was strategically planned to give Huawei’s latest smartphone a bit of advantage against Apple who will launch its new products tomorrow. The Huawei Mate 50 wasn’t the only star of the show though - the other one, maybe even more important, was the first pure electric SUV - the AITO M5 EV.

It isn’t a brand new car, AITO M5 has been around since March of this year and we reviewed it, but this is a pure electric version of it and it comes with Huawei HarmonyOS 3.0-powered smart cockpit.

There are two versions of the car - standard edition starts at $41,470 and the performance version comes at $45,985, both prices are inclusive of EV subsidies.

Standard version of the car comes with a single electric motor powering rear wheels, in a new energy saving mode the car can apparently achieve 620 km of driving range, but that's on the very optimistic CLTC test cycle.

The performance option has two motors and all-wheel drive system and it clearly affects the range - CLTC test claims the car is good for 522 km on full charge. The front motor is AC asynchronous and the rear one is a permanent magnet synchronous item. The power figures weren’t disclosed but the car can accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in 4.5 seconds.

AITO M5 EV comes with an intelligent charging function, it can show current energy consumption and remaining range and it can find a nearest charging point and guide the driver using the built-in satnav. The car is compatible with 35 different charging station operators in China and it can use 97% of public chargers.

The M5 is a medium-sized SUV, at 478.5 cm of length it is 10 cm longer than Mercedes EQB and 28 cm longer than the BMW iX1, but it is 10 cm shorter than BMW iX.

This all-electric SUV uses the Huawei DriveONE ePowertrain architecture with a LFP battery pack. Thanks to aluminum alloy chassis the car weight is kept in check with the single motor version weighing in at 2,235 kg and the twin-motor coming in at 2,350 kg. Smaller Mercedes EQB 350 4MATIC weighs 2,580 kg - a full 230 kg or 10% more.

On the inside, we have the latest HarmonyOS 3.0 powering Huawei Smart Cockpit tech, there are two wireless 40W chargers for smartphones and two wired 66W rapid chargers with an additional 18W charger for slower devices.

The central infotainment screen can be used as a second screen for a laptop, voice assistant Celia can help with route guidance and can control many functions of the car. Arguably, AITO M5 EV has the smartest vanity mirror on the market - you can adjust not only the brightness of its backlight but the color temperature as well, in no less than 9 smooth steps.

One last item discussed during the launch conference was glass of the AITO M5 - the panoramic roof is made of special highly insulated glass that cuts out 99.9% of UV light and keeps the interior of the car cool. The manufacturer used double-layer sound insulation across the M5 to ensure a concert-hall level of noise reduction to allow for quiet conversation at even higher speeds.

If you were wondering if this car will ever be popular - wonder no more. Just a few hours after the official launch, Huawei announced it received over 30,000 orders, although the orders were actually open since July 27.

Placing an order early with a 1,000 yuan refundable deposit ($140) gives the buyer a 2,000 yuan discount towards accessories but placing a non-refundable 5,000 yuan deposit ($700) comes with another 2,000 yuan benefit and a priority production slot.

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