Dong'an Power, which Xiaomi has set its sights on, has been abandoned by Li Auto and its peers.
Starting from July 23, Li Xiaoshuang, Vice President of Xiaomi Auto, has been warming up for the range extender at the Xiaomi Pengcheng launch event a week later, namely the Dongan Power M15DRE 1.5T four-cylinder range extender. On the evening of July 30, the full picture and complete data of this power system named "Kunlun Super Range Extender" were presented to the public.
It is not known whether it is a coincidence that on July 24, Zhou Ruyu, product operation head of the second product line of Li Auto, also revealed on social media that the maximum driving range of Li ONE has exceeded 500,000 kilometers, and the Dongan Power three-cylinder range extender it is equipped with has withstood the test of long-term and high-intensity use.
At this point, Dongan Power has once again become the focus of public discussion. The history of this company can be traced back to 1948, but it was not officially established until 1998, with the full name of Harbin Dongan Auto Engine Co., Ltd. Now it is affiliated to China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd., which was newly established last year, the parent company of Changan Automobile.
In the era when independent brands had not yet developed the forward R&D capability for engines, Dongan Power adopted the technology introduction route. Its most representative 4G63 series engines were widely installed on early models of independent brands. Later, independent car enterprises successively established their own engine R&D systems, and customers left one after another, leading to a sharp decline in the total engine sales of Dongan Power.
In 2018, the total engine sales of this company dropped to only 168,900 units, with its net profit plummeting by 87%, which was almost on the verge of bankruptcy. It was also in this year that Li Auto released Li ONE, which was claimed to be the pioneering work of range-extended electric vehicles in China's new energy era. And its range extender chose the 1.2T three-cylinder engine from Dongan Power.
Driven by Li ONE, Dongan Power has transformed from an engine factory abandoned by independent brands into the preferred range extender supplier for all brands entering the range-extended track. In 2025, the sales volume of Dongan Power's range extenders reached 820,000 units, and its customers covered new energy brands such as Leapmotor, Voyah, Zunjie, and XPeng in addition to the two car enterprises mentioned above.
01
A Turning Point Opportunity
As early as 2017, Li Auto began to look for range extender solutions for Li ONE. Tang Jing, head of the product line of Li Auto, later recalled on social media that Li ONE failed to use a 1.5T four-cylinder range extender, "It's not that we don't want to, it's that there really isn't a better third-party range extender on the market at that time."
At that time, Li Auto had just been established for a few years and did not have the ability to independently develop engines, so it could only find ready-made third-party solutions on the market. It is said that it had negotiated with leading fuel vehicle manufacturers such as Honda and Volkswagen, but the cooperation was not finally reached due to commercial interest issues. In addition, the market generally held a skeptical attitude towards the range-extended technology route, and suppliers were unwilling to specially develop 1.5T four-cylinder range extenders.
Finally, the 1.2T three-cylinder engine from Dongan Power became the only available option with the most matching power and size at that time. However, the nominal parameters of this 1.2T three-cylinder engine model DAM12TD are not outstanding. Moreover, the three-cylinder engine has inherently uneven ignition intervals, which makes a "putt-putt" sound that is discontinuous and unsmooth.
In order to solve the NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) problem, the engineering team of Li Auto almost used up all conceivable methods. They made efforts on the range extender itself, including strengthening the cylinder block and optimizing the camshaft; they specially designed a set of acoustic packages for both sound insulation and sound absorption to wrap the range extender; sound insulation materials were added on both the inner and outer sides of the firewall.
Although this engine has been constantly controversial, the reputation that Dongan Power's engines are cheap and suitable for range extenders has been fully established. After Li Auto, Dongan Power successively received range extender orders from car enterprises such as Leapmotor, Hozon Auto and Voyah. An engine factory almost abandoned by independent brands was brought back to life because of the choice of new car-making forces.
For new car-making forces, the time window is tight. Choosing a set of power solutions that have been verified by the market can greatly shorten the launch cycle of new cars. In addition, Dongan Power's products later have obvious cost advantages. For example, the ex-factory price of its 1.5T range extender is about 8,000 yuan, the thermal efficiency reaches 42% to 44.3%, and the oil-to-electricity conversion rate is about 3.4 kWh per liter.
To independently develop a range extender of the same level, car enterprises need to invest hundreds of millions of yuan, and the cycle from R&D to production line implementation is very long. For new car-making forces, controlling BOM cost is the key to survival. Just as Xiaomi Pengcheng now chooses the combination of domestic range extender and battery, it also helps to control costs and improve price competitiveness on the premise of ensuring performance.
Of course, technology is also one of the important factors. From the 1.2T three-cylinder engine to the third-generation range extender today, Dongan Power's product line is constantly upgrading. For example, the DAM15NTDE 1.5T four-cylinder range-dedicated engine equipped on Zunjie S800 has a maximum power of 115kW, and adopts technologies such as 350Bar high-pressure in-cylinder direct fuel injection, deep Miller cycle and ultra-high compression ratio.
I believe many people have noticed that in the past few years, Dongan Power's stock price has experienced two large fluctuations. One was at the end of 2023, and the other was from October to November 2024. The former gained 10 consecutive daily limit increases, and its stock price hit a record high. The latter hit a new high again after falling back in the past year.
However, subsequent analysis shows that the two record highs of Dongan Power's stock price were not caused by the sales surge or fundamental improvement of new energy car enterprises supported by its engines, but by the speculation driven by hot money. For example, the 2023 surge happened on November 26, when Changan Automobile issued an announcement to sign the "Investment Cooperation Memorandum" with Huawei. As a company under the Changan system, coupled with the Huawei concept, Dongan Power experienced a sharp rise.
Dongan Power issued a clarification announcement on November 29, clearly stating that the above cooperation project does not involve Dongan Power. In fact, in the first three quarters of 2023, Dongan Power's operating revenue decreased by 17.87% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies decreased by 72.14% year-on-year. This round of stock price rise was more driven by market sentiment, rather than the result of the company's fundamental improvement.
The background of the second rise is different from that at the end of 2023. Stimulated by the news that XPeng Huitian's flying car made its debut at the air show and Dongan Power provided range-extended power for it, the market listed it as a leader in the low-altitude economy. However, this project has not yet entered the stage of large-scale mass production and sales, so no actual revenue has been generated.
In any case, Dongan Power obtained a total of 43 designated agreements from 21 enterprises in the first half of 2026 (including 7 newly developed enterprises). Coupled with the participation of Xiaomi Pengcheng, Dongan Power said it has "locked" 3.8 million units of sales in the future, of which 2.7 million units are planned for the new new energy market.
02
Some Partners That Left
In fact, thanks to the inherent popularity and traffic of Xiaomi Pengcheng, the cooperation mode between Dongan Power and these manufacturers has also been deeply explored. It is rumored online that a suspected Dongan Power employee came forward to give anonymous scores on the supply chain control of other car enterprises, taking Xiaomi Auto's Kunlun Super Range Extender as the 100-point benchmark, and the lowest score was only 10 points.
Through comparison, it is found that different new energy car enterprises have very obvious differences in their intervention methods for Dongan Power's range extenders, which are directly reflected in the energy consumption and NVH performance of the final products.
For example, the earliest 1.2T three-cylinder engine of Dongan Power on Li ONE mainly carried out NVH optimization at the vehicle level, with very limited core modifications to the range extender itself. The fuel consumption of Li ONE in the power-depleted state announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is 8.8L/100km, and the problem that the three-cylinder engine "does not sound good" has never been completely solved. Tang Jing's comment is more direct: "The three-cylinder engine has done its best."
Another example is Xiaomi Pengcheng's participation, which belongs to in-depth customization and joint development. It is said that among more than 200 parts of the whole engine, the two sides have carried out key optimization for 57 parts, of which 7 core parts account for nearly 50% of the total engine cost, all of which have been re-selected and specially developed. Li Xiaoshuang specially thanked Dongan Power and praised its "technical strength and manufacturing experience".
In addition, Xiaomi also cooperated with Shell to customize the API SQ 0W-16 engine oil for this range extender, which meets the highest standard level in the industry. Finally, the thermal efficiency of the range extender reaches 44.3%, realizing the minimum WLTC power-depleted fuel consumption of 5.7L/100km, and the whole vehicle series can be compatible with No. 92 gasoline.
In fact, Dongan Power has another cooperation mode with other new energy car enterprises. For example, in February 2026, Voyah Auto and Dongan Power jointly unveiled the "New Energy Power Joint Innovation Center", marking that the cooperation between the two sides has been upgraded from the traditional "product supporting" relationship to an in-depth "technology co-creation" strategic stage.
It is not difficult to see that Dongan Power's recognition in the range extender market is still very high. However, it should still be noted that more and more car enterprises are beginning to abandon Dongan Power and turn to other suppliers or independently develop range extenders.
Li Auto, which first used Dongan Power's range extender, was also the first to abandon it. Since 2022, the Li L-series has adopted the 1.5T four-cylinder range extender produced by Li Auto Xichen Technology. This engine is improved based on the BMW Prince series CE16 engine. In addition, Li Auto Xichen is a joint venture between Li Auto and Mianyang Xinchen Power.
Subsequently, Leapmotor also took the same path. The early Leapmotor C11 range-extended version was equipped with Dongan Power's 1.2T three-cylinder range extender, with a thermal efficiency of about 38%. Later, it was replaced with a 1.5L self-priming four-cylinder range extender produced by Chongqing Xiaokang Power, and the thermal efficiency was increased to 40%. In addition, its released "Super Range Extender" system adopts a new generation of 1.5L Atkinson cycle four-cylinder range extender, with the engine fuel consumption rate as low as 220g/kWh.
It is worth mentioning that the new Zunjie S800 was declared through the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on February 6, 2026, and the range extender model it is equipped with is M8100PHD. This range extender has a displacement of 1.5T and is produced by Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd., replacing the original Dongan Power range extender.
This makes the market can't help thinking about where Dongan Power will go in the end. For car enterprises with insufficient sales scale, purchasing Dongan Power's range extender is still the most cost-effective choice. As a professional third-party power supplier, Dongan Power still has the ability to serve small and medium-sized car enterprises that do not have the ability or are unwilling to independently develop range extenders.
In addition, Dongan Power is also actively deploying new technical directions. In December 2025, the single-rotor engine was successfully ignited, and in June 2026, the dual-rotor supercharged engine R10TE was successfully ignited, and patents such as "portable modular rotor range extender" were obtained. It is said that the rotor engine has the advantages of small size, light weight and high liter power, which is suitable for the low-altitude market.
Therefore, whether it is Li Auto's choice and departure, or Xiaomi's current choice, it is not difficult to see that for suppliers, the trend is important, the choice is important, and the effort is equally important.
This article is from WeChat Official Account "Auto Commune" (ID: iAUTO2010), written by Yang Jing, edited by Wang Yue, and authorized for release by 36Kr.