A Beijing EV200 electric car, seen in a BAIC BJEV dealer in Beijing in 2016. The small EV looked nice in white, with minuscule wheels, blue detailing, and a bright red interior. Handily, the price was displayed on a display on the roof: 116.900 yuan, and after paying I could go home with that very car at that very moment. But I didn’t.
The Beijing EV200 was manufactured by BAIC BJEV, the electric vehicle division of the Beijing Auto Industry Corporation, or BAIC for short. Their early cars had names starting with EV. Later on, the company changed that to EU, with a U instead of a V. BAIC BJEV still uses the EU names today.
The Beijing EV200 had an interesting history. It was based on the petrol-powered Beijing E-Series, which in turn was based on the first generation Smart ForFour/Mitsubishi Colt twin, which was made at NedCar in the Netherlands.
After production there ended, the platform, production lines, and the Mitsubishi engines were all sold on to Beijing Auto Industry Corporation (BAIC), the owner of the Beijing brand and the Chinese partner of the Beijing-Benz joint venture.
Beijing subsequently launched a sedan version of the E-Series and various electric variants. Later on, the name was changed into D20, and it was brought under the then-new, and since deceased, Senova brand.
When the Beijing EV200 launched, BAIC had just gone through one of its many restructurings. One result was that the company had moved all their EVs under a new BJEV division, so that’s where it ended up.
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The interior of the EV200 was high-tech for its time and segment, with an LCD in the instrument panel and a screen in the center stack. The drive selector was a round knob located on the center tunnel. The mechanical hand brake looks a bit out of place, but those were quite common in affordable EVs in those days. The seats are in a fancy faux-red leather with dark blue stripes, and there is some more blue trim to emphasize the new-energy-ness of the EV200.
The Beijing EV200 was launched in 2015. There was also a more basic version called the EV160.
The EV200 was powered by a single electric motor located at the front, powering the front wheels. It had an output of 72 hp and 180 Nm. Top speed was 125 km/h and 0-100 took … … … 15 seconds. The motor was mated to a 30.4 kWh battery for a 200 kilometer NEDC cruising range. Energy consumption was 15 kWh per 100 km. Charging took nine hours on 220V. The specs may seem outdated today but for 2016 it was all pretty good.
The dealership was decorated with all sorts of slogans and posters, like this one: “EV Your Life”.
BAIC BJEV also sold chargers, these were for installation at companies or public places, not at home.
A white EV200 outside, with fancy decals and totally black windows.
The signage post next to the road.
Sadly, the EV200 never became a popular mass market electric car. Range was just too short and there weren’t enough charging stations yet. How time shave changed today!
For a while, there was a large semi-experimental fleet of electric taxi’s based on the EV200 model in the Beijing suburbs, fitted with swappable batteries. I will post about those in a later post.