Test Drive Aion Y Plus: Range of 490km, a Highly Practical Family Electric SUV

The GAC Aion brand has not been in the Thai market for long, but many people have come to know this new energy brand from China through channels such as Facebook and large outdoor billboards. Aion Y Plus is the main model of this brand in the Thai market. Although Aion ES is also on sale at present, compared with it, Aion Y Plus is more updated and interesting in terms of technology, design, and configuration.

I came to the agreed dealership to get the test-drive car of Aion Y Plus at noon on a regular working day. Next to my test car was a white Aion Y Plus being delivered, with a family happily handling the procedures and taking photos with the new car. The store manager told me that now they can sell an Aion Y Plus almost every day, and its customers are basically like the family who came to pick up the car today.

So, is the Aion Y Plus a good household pure electric SUV? With this question in mind, I started my test drive experience.

Basic information about the test drive model:

Model: GAC Aion Y Plus 490 Elite: 1069000 Thai Baht

Body size: 4535*1870*1650mm, wheelbase: 2750mm

NEDC pure electric range: 490km

Drive Mode: Front motor Front wheel drive

Motor Parameters: Maximum Power 150kW (201PS), Peak Torque 225N·m

Battery Capacity: 63.2kWh

0-100km/h acceleration: 8.5 seconds

I. In terms of driving experience, is the Aion Y Plus a good household pure electric SUV?

How to determine if the Aion Y Plus is a good home electric SUV? I believe everyone's standard is different; thus, I just set a few key consideration parts for my test drive experience and I hope it will be helpful to answer this question.

In terms of driving experience, I need to consider the following questions:

- Is this car easy to drive?

- Are passengers prone to feel dizzy and uncomfortable?

- How is the comfort of the chassis?

- Can the range and charging status of the vehicle be convenient for home use?

1, Is Aion Y Plus easy to drive?

I think the answer is yes. From power to feeling of steering to brake response, this car gives me an overall feeling of ease. For someone who hasn't driven an electric car much or is driving the Aion Y Plus for the first time, this car is easy to get started. However, I must admit that this ease of driving is not perfect, because it is indeed difficult to bring me enough driving pleasure and make me want to drive it.

This contradiction is very obvious in the feel of the steering wheel. In addition to the single pedal mode, the Aion Y Plus also has ECO, NORMAL, and SPORT modes. But no matter which mode you choose, the steering wheel is always very light. With this lightness comes a noticeable slack in steering, which is easy to understand. If the steering wheel is very light, there will be a lot of minor adjustments in daily driving. If the steering is very precisely tuned, the vehicle will be difficult to control, which is not a good thing for the driver. This is why many cars that emphasize control performance have heavier steering wheels. But obviously, the Aion Y Plus emphasizes the lightness of the steering wheel, and consequently, it needs to sacrifice some of the driving pleasure brought about by precise control.

If the steering adjustment of the Aion Y Plus is a little tighter, I think it would be better. In this way, it will have a greater increase in the fun of control, and it will not have a big impact on its driving comfort. Aion Y Plus is built on the GEP2.0 pure electric platform and its front-to-rear weight ratio reaches 50:50. Because of the role of the battery pack, compared to traditional SUVs, Aion Y Plus has a lower body center of gravity. These features can make Aion Y Plus have better handling, and in reality, it is the same. In the curve, what I feel is that this car's lower center of gravity makes it closer to the ground, the body's posture is more stable, and the coordination between the front and rear of the vehicle is very good. However, the shortcoming is the light feel of the steering wheel. Compared with the dynamic performance of the body, the steering system is a bit too "relaxed".

The performance of the power unit also shows a positive driving experience. The characteristics of the motor determine the power characteristics of electric vehicles. Hence, the motor can quickly release high torque, providing a sudden and intense acceleration experience. This experience is indeed thrilling for those who like to drive fast, but it is not suitable for family use and can affect the safety of daily driving. The Aion Y Plus only reacts sensitively to the accelerator pedal in SPORT mode, but it does not allow the power to come suddenly. In the other two modes, even if I accidentally step on the accelerator too much, there is seldom any unexpected excess power output. In other words, the power is very well controlled and I can get as much as I need, and it is effortless to establish this kind of tacit understanding.

Many electric vehicles use rear-wheel drive, and some even release high-performance versions with four-wheel drive. These are not found on the Aion Y Plus. It still uses the front motor and a front-wheel-drive commonly found in traditional family cars, and the power provided by the motor follows the principle of "enough is enough". The official 0-100km/h acceleration performance is 8.5 seconds, which reflects that the power performance of the Aion Y Plus is just right for family use. The 550km range version uses the same motor, but because the power battery is larger and heavier, its acceleration performance is slower, only 9.0 seconds.

2. Is it easy for passengers to get dizzy?

I didn't feel dizzy during the short-riding experience. The energy recovery brought by the Aion Y Plus does not bring a sudden braking effect, it can be seen that it has fully considered and prepared for this issue. After releasing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle does not slow down significantly suddenly, the entire deceleration process is relatively gentle, and the driver's brake control can easily simulate the smooth braking effect of traditional cars.

As for the single-pedal mode, it doesn't offer a great riding experience for passengers. After all, it relies more on the braking force brought about by energy recovery. This braking force is a completely different experience from engine braking. Whether the engine is accelerating or braking, it's a slow linear process, whereas the electric motor is more like a temperamental youngster, with higher difficulty in control. In single-pedal mode, we rely on energy recovery rather than the brake pedal for braking. Compared to manual deceleration operations, the system's smoothness in deceleration is much worse, but of course, this is also more likely to make people feel dizzy.

Also, as mentioned earlier, there's a pretty large slack in steering, which is not necessarily a bad thing for passengers. The driver's subtle controls don't show up in the vehicle's performance, which increases the smoothness of the vehicle's ride. In addition, the Aion Y Plus has excellent noise control. On the one hand, there's no engine noise and vibration. On the other hand, in terms of tire noise and wind noise, this vehicle also has decent control. The drag coefficient of Aion Y Plus is only 0.278Cd, which is pretty low for an SUV.

3. How comfortable is the suspension?

A family SUV mostly needs a soft, comfortable suspension, and the suspension tuning of Aion Y Plus fits this style. The soft suspension tuning can effectively handle larger speed bumps or uneven terrains, and the shock absorber can fully compress and release, so it won't feel bumpy. However, the Aion Y Plus's suspension is not so thorough in filtering out the minute vibrations of the road. Perhaps to better compress the shocks, the initial setting of the shock absorber is relatively loose; hence, when the shock is fully compressed, the suspension's texture can be better displayed. But when faced with slight bouncing compression brought about by minute vibrations, the suspension lacks some texture.

At the same time, the softness of the suspension is also shown in the corners. During high-speed cornering or taking rather sharp turns, the vehicle will have a noticeable tilt, which is related to the longer suspension travel and softer tuning.

4. The 490km range is suitable for home use

Due to the short period of our test drive, we were not able to test the range capability of this car in real life. The official NEDC range is 490km, but we should take into account actual usage, the use of air conditioning, and the variation in vehicle weight when loaded with family members and other factors. Therefore, in reality, our 490km test drive model can't reach 490km, and a daily actual range of around 400km would be more reasonable.

Even if the range is estimated to be 400km, if your daily travel distance is around 60km, a full charge should last about 6 days. Of course, it's unlikely that we will use the battery's power to near 0% every time, so a more realistic usage is about 4-5 days on a full charge, and if there are charging facilities at home, daily use will be much more convenient.

The battery pack capacity is 63.2kWh, if we calculate the cost of charging 1kWh at 7 Thai baht, a full charge will cost approximately 442 Thai baht, which gives an approximate travel cost of around 1 Thai baht per kilometer at a range of 400km. Compared to traditional gasoline cars, the travel cost of Aion Y Plus will be significantly lower.

II. Is Aion Y Plus a good family-use pure electric SUV in terms of static experience?

The evaluation of the static experience part is still based on the identity of Aion Y Plus as a pure electric vehicle. Therefore, its performance in terms of space has to be more spacious than traditional gasoline cars, and its design needs to have more properties of pure electric vehicles while catering to the aesthetics of most family members, not being too avant-garde. In addition, we should also see if its configuration can serve family use well.

1. The design meets the aesthetics of most people

From a design perspective, it can be seen that the Aion Y Plus is in line with the current popular style of pure electric vehicle design. The exterior adopts an enclosed front face, and the design of the headlights is very dynamic, looking like a flying wild goose, which the official calls 'the wings of an angel'. The overall exterior design is named 'Sky City' by the official, distinguishing it with a range of exterior trim options. This is advantageous as it meets mainstream aesthetics while also demonstrating individual character.

Specifically, the design of the Aion Y Plus is very simple, this simple and generous design with some MPV style can be accepted by young people and elders at home. In addition, users can choose their favorite decoration in parts of the vehicle's wheel brows and hubs. The silver decoration board around the Aion Y Plus already looks very fashionable.

The design of the interior is mainly simple, which is also a mainstream design style for electric cars. The flat center console surface has no curves, and the instrument panel and central control large screen make up the main body of the interior. This design is not very innovative, but it is practical and able to bear.

2. Spacious and versatile interior space

Aion Y Plus also uses a short front and rear suspension design. The body length of 4535mm brings a long wheelbase of 2750mm. Most of the interior space of the vehicle is given to passengers. We only need to sit in the back row to experience how spacious its space is. The flat floor of the back row allows three people to sit side by side without feeling very crowded, and the remaining space in the head and legs of the back row is also very roomy.

A major highlight of the Aion Y Plus is that the front seats can be fully reclined, connecting to the rear seats to form a bed. Aion officially also offers a matching mattress accessory. When the family is camping outdoors, the mattress can be carried in the trunk. When in use, inflate it, and it can act as a bed cushion. Paired with the large-sized panoramic sunroof, you can lie in the car and look at the stars. This very lifestyle scene design is a charming feature of Aion Y Plus.

3. The 490km model lacks intelligent configuration

Intelligent configuration is necessary for improving the safety of family cars, but unfortunately, the Aion Y Plus only comes with a complete intelligent driving assistance system in the 550km endurance model, which includes ACC adaptive cruise control, AEB active braking, LKA lane keeping, etc., but the 490km endurance model we test drove was not equipped with this.

This point reveals that the competitiveness of the Aion Y Plus in terms of configuration is insufficient because models like BYD ATTO 3, BYD Dolphin, and MG ZS EV, which have prices comparable to or even lower than the Aion Y Plus 490 Elite, have already been equipped with complete intelligent driving assistance systems. In this way, the price of the Aion Y Plus seems a bit expensive.

Another regrettable detail is that the Aion Y Plus only has two USB ports, one each in the front and rear rows. Considering the convenience of the whole family traveling, having only 2 USB ports seems a bit inadequate.

See the table below for specific configurations of the Aion Y Plus:

Test Drive Conclusion:

For the Aion Y Plus, it is easy for me to conclude from the test drive experience that it is an excellent family pure electric SUV. It is easy to drive, can provide passengers with a quiet and comfortable travel environment. It also has a spacious sitting space, and can be used for several days without charging.

However, I think its shortcomings are also quite obvious. The comfortable and easy-driving home style it emphasizes actually conceals its control potential to a certain extent. In other words, it can be even more fun to drive, while preserving the characteristics of comfort and ease of operation, and meeting the needs of households. I don't think the Aion Y Plus has grasped this balance point well. In addition, considering its price, if the 490km range model could be equipped with an intelligent driving assistance system, its overall performance would be more outstanding and competitive.