IAA-review: from the last gasp of the combustion engine to solid-state batteries!

Seal 6 Touring mid-range station wagon with extended range extender concept    
(Mit freundlicher Genehmigung/Courtesy of BYD Company Ltd. [Homepage])

Now that the dust has settled somewhat after the trade fair, it is time to report on topics that received somewhat less attention amid the flurry of activity at the IAA.

The topic of “range extenders” received a lot of attention. Even the German Chancellor is now familiar with this term and is calling for the EU ban on combustion engines, which is set to come into force in 2035, to be lifted. Mr. Merz hopes this will give the German automotive industry more time to switch to electric drives. 

The history of this drive variant is interesting: developed in the 2000s by GM, Opel, and BMW, among others, and installed in early EVs, the range extender soon disappeared from the scene – not least thanks to enormous advances in lithium-ion cells and alternative hybrid variants such as the parallel hybrid. The surprising revival came in the early 2020s thanks to Li Auto. Founded in 2015, the Chinese start-up achieved a meteoric rise within a few years with its large SUVs.

Alarmed by the success of Li Auto, start-ups such as Xpeng and Leapmotor, as well as established car manufacturers such as Ford, Stellantis, and Volkswagen (Scout), are now planning to develop range extender models.

In range extenders, the combustion engine is relegated to a kind of auxiliary motor: without mechanical connection to the wheels, it is only used to generate electricity. This type of drive is thus symbolic of the increasing loss of importance of the combustion engine.

Ironically, it was BYD that surprised everyone at the IAA with an announcement that was largely lost in the hustle and bustle of the show. The world’s largest manufacturer of battery-electric vehicles will export its mid-range Seal 6 Touring station wagon to Europe.       

What makes this model special is its drive system, which is based on a further development of the range extender: at high speeds, the combustion engine can be connected to the electric motor via a clutch to support the electric motor, which is inefficient at high speeds. BYD markets its technology under the term DM-i, which stands for “Dual Mode – intelligent.”

Is this technology new? No, Mercedes-Benz presented a similar approach back in 2011 at the IAA in Frankfurt with its “Concept B-Class E-CELL PLUS” concept vehicle. However, the Swabian carmaker never went into series production. 
 
It will be interesting to see how competitors position themselves now: will they stick with the simple range extender variant or follow BYD’s more complex approach? However the range extender issue develops, we do not believe that this technology will help traditional vehicle manufacturers in the long term. 
 
Of course, the IAA 2025 also offered a glimpse into the future: three European vehicle manufacturers presented vehicle projects with solid–state cells, which are, so to speak, the holy grail of lithium battery research. But we’ll report on that next time.