Braving mountains and valleys, determined to turn obstacles into pathways!
On October 11th, Yutong Heavy Truck embarked on a challenging journey across the treacherous mountain roads of Sichuan and Chongqing, starting from Shizhu County in Chongqing amidst the surrounding mountains. With millions of online viewers witnessing the event, Yutong’s 400-kWh electric tractor demonstrated its outstanding performance, racing through the “Devil’s Mountain Road” and fulfilling its promise of reliability during real-world operational conditions.
For heavy truck users operating in mountainous regions, issues such as rapid power consumption, insufficient power, poor maneuverability, and driving safety are common during conditions like long-distance climbs, continuous curves, and steep downhill slopes. Yutong Heavy Truck conducted a real-world performance verification challenge, addressing these user concerns through real operational scenarios. This time, the Yutong 400-kWh electric tractor set off from Shizhu County, traveling deep into the mountains, passing through the breathtaking and perilous Zhangziya cliff road, the winding 351 national highway’s “108 Bends,” and roads with an altitude difference of over 400 meters, demonstrating excellent performance in energy efficiency, power, maneuverability, and safety.
To address user concerns regarding energy consumption and power when operating new energy heavy trucks on mountain roads, Yutong Heavy Truck conducted a full-load challenge on Zhangziya, focusing on extreme energy consumption and power. Starting from Shizhu County and ascending to Zhangziya, with an altitude difference of over 400 meters and an average slope of 10%, the route was long, steep, narrow, and winding, bringing a significant challenge to the energy consumption and power performance of the pure electric heavy truck.
Facing rugged terrains, Yutong Heavy Truck displayed excellent energy consumption and power performance. The Yutong 400-kWh electric tractor, with its powerful performance, reached the peak of Zhangziya in 42 minutes under full load. After a round trip between Shuanghui Village and Jinling Township in Shizhu County, it recorded a 40% battery consumption, used 164 kWh of electricity, and covered 133 km, with an overall energy consumption of 1.24 kWh/km. The strong power performance is attributed to the vehicle’s motor, which can deliver 330/450 kW of power, offering high and stable output for climbing steep slopes, thus improving operational efficiency for customers. The excellent energy consumption performance is due to Yutong’s new-generation Ruikong E electric exclusive technology platform, integrated software and hardware control, efficient system coordination, and the use of a highly integrated electric drive axle paired with a controller, intelligent vehicle thermal management, and precise all-condition SOC power display, reducing energy consumption during mountain operations and eliminating “false power” concerns, easing range anxiety for users.
Continuous downhill with curves requires a high degree of maneuverability regarding the vehicle’s turning radius. If the turning radius is too large, it would lead to frequent reversing and adjustments on mountain roads. In terms of handling on continuous curved mountain roads, Yutong Heavy Truck also achieved remarkable results. The Yutong 400-kWh electric tractor, under full load, successfully navigated 60 turns downhill from Zhangziya in just 18 minutes, demonstrating exceptional performance. With a wheelbase of 3800+1350 mm and a turning radius of only 8.75 meters, the short wheelbase and small turning radius allow for smoother navigation on mountain roads.
Safety is a top priority for heavy truck customers when driving on complex mountain roads, particularly regarding braking performance during continuous downhill descents. To address this, the Yutong 400-kWh electric tractor simulated emergency braking during continuous downhill conditions, successfully reducing speed from 60 km/h to 0 km/h within 4.6 seconds, stopping the vehicle safely. Yutong Heavy Truck utilizes a five-level braking energy recovery system, allowing for smooth downhill driving and greatly enhancing braking safety and reliability.
At the event, Yang Jinguo, Vice General Manager of Zhongqi Brothers and founder of Zhongqi Truck Brothers Club, announced and presented Yutong Heavy Truck’s impressive challenge results. He stated, “The China Commercial Vehicle Comprehensive Performance Testing Committee, together with Yutong Heavy Truck, conducted this pure electric heavy truck performance test to provide more excellent product certifications for the Chinese commercial vehicle industry and truckers. After prior tests on Yutong Heavy Truck’s performance in high temperatures, extreme cold, energy saving, and range, and today’s complex mountain road test, we witnessed the outstanding product strength and excellent performance of Yutong Heavy Truck. Especially in today’s challenge where the Yutong Heavy Truck climbed the Zhangziya mountain road with an altitude difference of 400 meters and an average slope of 10%, according to national highway technical standards, urban road slopes range from 3% to 6%, with slopes above 8% considered steep. This means that Yutong Heavy Truck exceeded the slope limits of social roads.”
It is worth mentioning that the route for this challenge is a daily operational route of Siping Transportation Co., Ltd. in Shizhu County. Yutong Heavy Truck was delivered to Siping Transportation in July and has been in operation for over two months. At the event, Chen Jun, General Manager of Siping Transportation Co., Ltd. in Shizhu County, said, “In our company’s operational scenarios, the Yutong 400-kWh electric tractor primarily operates under a loaded outbound and empty return mode, covering 133 km round trip from the Shizhu Southwest Cement Plant to Jinling Township in Shizhu County, with an average energy consumption of about 1.24 kWh per kilometer. Additionally, it achieves a discharge depth of up to 5%, extending the range. According to our calculations, each Yutong Heavy Truck saves 300 yuan in energy costs per day, 9000 yuan per month, and over 100,000 yuan annually per vehicle, which clearly demonstrates that saving is earning.”
Mountain roads, long climbs, sharp turns, narrow paths, and heavy loads—each presents a significant challenge to a pure electric heavy truck. In this real-world challenge across the cliff roads of Sichuan and Chongqing, Yutong Heavy Truck demonstrated excellent performance and cost-efficiency, essential traits for a qualified new energy heavy truck.
Racing forward, conquering the extremes. This challenge by Yutong Heavy Truck is not just a test of its product capabilities, but a real-world endorsement for new energy heavy trucks under the most complex and stringent conditions. In the future, Yutong Heavy Truck will continue to push the limits with courage and determination, leading the new energy heavy truck industry with technology-driven confidence and a customer-centered approach, providing more, better, and more reliable new energy heavy truck products for its customers.
