Easy Living In Leapmotor's £36k Ev - With A Petrol Lifeline

It has taken us a couple of months to get our hands on a Leapmotor C10 Hybrid EV – the new D-segment range-extender – because this Chinese manufacturer has been busy launching several models at once as a way of competing with other high-fliers like Jaecoo and BYD.

There has been a lot of attention, for instance, on the smaller Leapmotor B10, which comes in two differently powered forms, and a pure-electric C10 has also been taking its own share of the limelight.

However, we reckon the C10 plug-in range-extender version deserves extra-special attention because it is one of very few cars you can buy in the UK whose nose-mounted petrol engine has no other function than to drive an on-board generator and charge a battery that, in turn, powers the rear wheels via an electric motor sited between them.

On paper, this system ducks much of the complexity of normal plug-in hybrids by making no mechanical connection between petrol engine and wheels. It needs no engine clutch, no driveline and no gearbox. Because the engine runs in a narrow power band, it can be designed for extra lightness, smoothness and efficiency. For occupants, this C10 feels just about as smooth and quiet as a regular EV.

Best of all for many, the combined range from its 28.4kWh battery (90 miles) and the petrol in the 50-litre tank (500-plus miles) is around 600 miles. Given the good battery range, many owners will be able to drive for weeks on home-fed electric charge alone, but with the reassurance of knowing a long trip is possible at the drop of a hat.

This car has the same 'comes with everything' approach to equipment as the rest of the Leapmotor line-up, and its impressively low £36,500 purchase price is identical to that of the C10 BEV, so it looks a spectacular bargain. Doesn't it?

Well, yes, it does. Except for a surprisingly large collection of unknowns. Because of wrinkles in the WLTP test regime, this car comes with comically unrealistic official ratings for fuel consumption (942mpg) and CO2 output (7g/km): what are they in real life? How often does the petrol engine need to run and what do you, the driver, experience when it starts?

Can the charge motor provide enough power to run the car as quickly as you want, including at a fast motorway cruise? Is the car noisy? Do you have control over running the engine and turning it off? There seems a lot to find out.

Luckily, it's all simpler than it sounds. True, there are many variables in the car's screen-based control and instrument set-up, and you're wise to spend a couple of half hours in your first days with the car to work out your preferred adjustments. But it falls into place.

So far, with about 1000 miles driven, I have found the controls and dynamic adjustments reasonably easy to understand. I have figured out how to disable the twin bugbears – speed bongs and lane departure assistance – by pushing one button. I have found my ideal dynamic settings (steering effort, acceleration, strength of regen braking) and grouped them under a 'custom' setting.

I've got the Leapmotor app and can lock and unlock the car remotely. I've easily set my favourite radio stations and worked out how to play music from my phone. I've not entirely conquered the voice control, but it will come.

Meanwhile, the dynamic questions are on the way to being answered. I can see, sitting in the office, that the car has averaged 11mpkWh and 67.2mpg so far. Pretty good. The promised 600-mile range seems real, give or take 20 miles. Automatically plug it to your wallbox, as I've learned to do, and fuelling becomes something you practically forget about.

There's quite a lot to like about the driving too. It feels robust and has a decent primary ride, staying flat over rough sections, even if there's a fair bit of rumble over bad ripples. It copes well, though not especially quietly, with potholes. Using the middle of three steering effort settings, I find the car easy and quite sensitive to steer, provided you don't start chucking it about too much, when it begins to understeer. The brakes are strong and sure, though their powerful early attack takes a little getting used to. But this is a perfectly decent car to drive.

As for the powertrain, you spend most of your time thinking of the C10 Hybrid EV as a pure EV. There are four power-mix settings (EV, EV+, Fuel and Power+). I've been using EV in town and Fuel out of it, to get the results so far cited, and I can't see any reason to change. There's a hum, hardly noticeable, when the engine starts. You forget about it. There's a strong and smooth response to the throttle in the Sport mode (of four) I prefer. The others simply dull things down.

There's still much more to learn, but so far the C10 Hybrid EV is turning out to be practical, enjoyable, spacious and efficient transport. But bigger challenges, such as multi-passenger trips and long-haul journeys, lie ahead.

Update 2: Calm at a cruise

The bit I’m learning fast to relish about my Leapmotor C10 Hybrid EV is the steering. Not because it’s magnificently communicative in on-limit corners but because it’s so serene and stable when cruising. It’s one of the very best bits about a pretty decent and long-legged car. 

Mileage 1414

Update 3: REx makes us question logic behind PHEVs

We're starting to bond, the Leapmotor C10 Hybrid EV and me. And it's the steering and ride that are doing it for us. Both are better than I had expected. As you might recall, the main reason for my asking to run this machine is because it's one of a very few (but growing) group of hybrids on sale that drive at all times like EVs, with the petrol engine only ever working to generate energy.

Range anxiety is therefore never a factor: charge this Leapmotor's 28.4kWh battery to its full 90-mile potential, fill its fuel tank and you have around 570 real-world miles to play with. It takes you right back to the day of the big-tank diesel.

Originally there was none of the usual desire-to-own sentiment involved in my choice of the range-extender C10, just curiosity. So it has been a surprise to discover that I enjoy driving it. The seats are comfy on my usual 100-mile commute. It's big but turns neatly on tight roads and in town. And because it's tall, you can see apices well. It's a bit fat for one-lane suburban streets, but so is everything else. And the ride isn't bad, certainly by the lumpy standards of a Vauxhall Grandland that took its place for a few days.

Took its place? At the height of the recent heatwave, the C10's air-con conked. Fan went dead. The problem was weird: there were no funny noises and the readouts were normal. At speed on the motorway, I even received some cooling as the breeze forced its way through the system. But it wasn't comfortable.

I looked at an online handbook and then into the fuse box, and concluded that the 40-amp fan fuse had blown. Except when I whipped it out, it hadn't. It was time to call the Leapmotor tech squad, who understandably wanted to review the problem, because this car is new in the market. It turned out to be nothing sinister, just a loose power connection to the fan motor.

What I'm coming to appreciate is this car's refinement. Because the engine just sits there like a sack of spuds turning a low-load generator (instead of being much more firmly mounted because it needs to propel wheels through a transmission that kicks back when it feels like it), it's extremely quiet at all times. Hearing the engine is a bit of a novelty: it probably means the battery is completely depleted (unusual), you're in a hurry and you're running on a very quiet road surface. And there's never vibration.

Bottom line: I'm liking the whole notion of this range-extender. In fact, I'm struggling to understand what the true benefit of having some of the engine's power directed to the wheels might be, as in most plug-in hybrids. Perhaps it saves fuel at a fast cruise, but the C10's 50kW generator seems to provide power for any eventuality and the economy figures are very strong.

For a bit of sport the other day, I ventured onto Thruxton's ultra-slippery low-speed skidpan. The C10 is rear-driven and has plenty of low-end torque, so it proved inclined to slide easily enough. But finding and turning off several levels of traction controls is quite a trick. I thought I had achieved it but discovered much later that there was a one-for-luck function left, buried in the electronics. Still, the big old thing did slide and responded well to recovery action. Another thing to like.

Update 4: Too much information

It has taken me weeks to figure out the precise meaning of the multifarious economy and efficiency statistics available in various places in and around my Leapmotor C10 range-extender, mainly because there's just so much information available.

There are three key sources. There's a panel directly in the driver's view just to the right of the speedo. That measures fuel used in MPG (plus distance and time) since refuelling. It also gives you the rate of your electric power consumption since the last recharge. The car typically returns 46-52mpg, or 3.8-4.0mpkWh – both decent figures for a car of the C10's considerable size, weight and performance.

You can unearth stats in greater detail a couple of levels down under a Vehicle Status app on the central screen. The handiest info there is a bar graph (at the top of the screen) that tells you the proportion of petrol to electric power you've used on your latest trip, and another (at the bottom) that keeps a cumulative proportion for all trips.

I can thus tell you that over the past 2000 miles my journeys have been 42.2% electrically powered. There's other stuff, too, echoing the readout info ahead of the driver but with cumulative totals over longer distances. This app's most serious flaw is that the font is far too small and you have to strain to read it, especially if you've turned the instrument lighting down a bit.

There's yet more C10 info on your phone via the Leapmotor app. This app knows a lot about you and your driving (provided you've shared your details) and can provide a kind of driver's diary.

As I write, for instance, I'm aware that I've driven 668.5 miles in the past seven days. I even know that I used mainly electric power during the second of the past six weeks. And mainly petrol during the fifth week because I spent a lot of time on motorways. There's probably more: I'm still getting to the bottom of it.

Meanwhile, it's enough to say that the C10 headline economy figures quoted – along with its 'everything full' range of 605 miles, which seems genuine – represent a very good performance, especially given the C10's space and bulk. And because of the battery's starting range of 90 miles, you can seemingly go for weeks without using much pump fuel at all. That's a pleasant feeling at a time like this.

I've started seeing C10s on the open road, and two things strike me: first, how much bigger they seem in company than on their own. The clean lines have a certain compactness and have come to appeal to me, along with really brilliant features like the way the rear wiper retracts out of sight under the rear roof spoiler when not in use, yet it has a much wider blade than most. A nice piece of design.

The biggest fault? Understanding and operating the air conditioning, which, as well as having separate temperature controls and an auto setting, seems to need further coaxing with the fan switch and a screen button labelled 'cooling'. I think it's operator error, but finding out how it really works seems to be a matter of trial and error.

Still, I'm enjoying the Leapmotor. It's far more than a cheapo, catch-all Chinese car with an unfamiliar name. As I write, I've got a 400-mile round trip in prospect tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it.

Milage 2933

Update 5: Keyless, but not effortless

Lately we’ve had a variety of ways of turning cars on, but the Leapmotor’s is still novel. It needs communication with an app in your phone (or an RFID card as back-up) and once it’s installed you still need to punch a four-digit number into a pad on the central screen – before dialling out three or four unwanted ADAS features. It takes several minutes to get going, but you feel rewarded when it’s done. 

Mileage 3454 

Update 6: Range-extender is the powertrain of the moment

People keep telling me the C10 looks a bit like a Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Not sure if that's a compliment or not, given that car's oft-perceived resemblance to an electric London cab, but if I half-close my eyes and stand well back, I can see what they are getting at.

There's something about the C10's high stance and tall, bluff nose (less pagoda radiator), along with its generally uncluttered lines and the shape of its rear side window, that gives it a stately quality. Since the resemblance was first mentioned I've been looking for a Cullinan parked in the street to create a cheeky two-car shot on my phone, but I live in hope. Or perhaps I just live in the wrong place...

Meanwhile, the C10 is wheedling itself usefully into my life. My reason for requesting this car in the first place was to understand, as someone with a liking for electric cars and the way they drive, what a range-extender brought to the party that a pure EV and a conventional hybrid (regular or plug-in) did not. Now, I think, I have it.

In everyday use, the advantage over a pure EV is obvious: this range-extender (or Hybrid EV, as Leapmotor labels it) has a mighty range. Charge it and fill it and it will do nearly 600 miles before you need to do anything else. That makes it more a set-and-forget car than any of the others.

Over a standard PHEV I see two advantages. For one, few rivals (especially if they're as large as a C10 in the cabin) have a 90-mile electric range like this one. For two, fewer have the Leapmotor's satisfying mechanical simplicity.

There's no clutch. The departure from standstill is an EV-glide. Electric charging is done at home. The running of the power-generating engine (which happens or doesn't happen according to which of four driving regimes you choose) is usually barely perceptible, with no vibration through the pedals. This feels like an EV, albeit an EV that will take me from my house in the Cotswolds to the Lake District and back without needing any form of refuelling.

I'm not sure how to compare the C10's economy with rival systems, because all my C10 battery charging is done at home. The petrol cost can be zero for weeks on end, if your journeys are, say, 75 miles or less. But if you need to use the car for long distances you will usually see 50mpg on the readout, which also usually plots battery power usage at 4.2mpkWh.

My overriding impression, which will surely please an owner, is that the car always feels efficient. Stop for juice and you'll be surprised how little it needs; plug it in at home and it will be ready again in an hour or three. You'd be dead wrong to expect anything sporty from this powertrain, apart from enjoyably strong thrust on take-off, but in other ways it's first class.

The de-bonging procedure still provides mild annoyance, but I'm largely over it. That may surprise some, given that by the time you dial up and disable the four worst things – lane departure warning, emergency lane keep assist, the over-zealous speed limit warning and the awful 'pay attention' monitor – you've poked the main screen at least a dozen times.

Yet the procedure has become a habit and I almost don't mind it. Far worse is forgetting to go through the routine. Realising after 200 yards that the unwanted systems are operating at full potential is the dangerous bit: they're far too destabilising to leave running, so your choice is to kill them while driving (deeply unwise) or stop to do it (inconvenient and bad for your prestige as a driver). Best to ingrain the correct start-up habit – and stop complaining.

Mileage 4082

Update 7: Touchscreen frustrations

I’ve been getting so carried away with the efficiency and decent drive of the C10 Hybrid EV that I’ve forgotten to complain enough about its touchscreen. It’s very picky about the duration and effort needed for a command so nearly always needs a repeat action. Other Chinese cars show that better screens are available. This needs fixing, and fast. 

Mileage 5409

Update 8: Must you drive like a saint to get heavenly economy?

There I was, cruising along the inside lane of the M4 at my usual circa-65mph, congratulating myself on the energy I was saving, when another Leapmotor C10, also metallic green in colour, steamed past in the overtaking lane, briskly dispatching all the quicker traffic as it went.

It made me wonder what I was doing. I have been driving electric cars and plug-in hybrids most of the time for the past four years or so and have become used to easing along motorways in the inside lanes, telling myself (usually accurately) that there's only a minute or two's difference in journey time on my average 100-mile drives between cruising easily and clogging it.

I have no way of knowing whether this much faster C10 was a purely battery-driven version or another range-extender like mine (the latter's exhaust pipe is hard to spot), but it looked pleasantly purposeful forging along, rather than somewhat apologetic like the crawling versions I've seen, so I decided to try driving a fair bit more quickly over distance to see whether I would enjoy it and what damage this would do to the economy.

So I set off at a decent lick, using the smooth and easy torque without my usual qualms and taking no significant account of the down slopes that I've instinctively learned to turn into charging opportunities. It felt a bit irresponsible but rather bold, and the car felt eager as you'd expect of a machine that puts 236lb ft of torque under your right foot without even having to idle to do it.

A fast cruise was smooth and easy to maintain (that torque keeps you speeding easily up long slopes) and there was very little vibration. As it happens, the C10 generates very little wind noise, even if road noise is inclined to make up for it on the older, noisier bitumen surfaces that seem to abound in the UK.

Going even quicker, the C10 felt well planted and directionally stable through its wheel, probably because, even though it's a big car in which you sit higher than in a saloon, the overhangs are short, the wheelbase is long and the centre of gravity is low. Steering corrections are small and hardly necessary.

I kept this up for about 80 miles, eyeballing the trip computer on the straight-ahead driver's screen. I'm used to seeing about 4.2mpkWh and 48-52mpg as the powertrain swaps between petrol and electric; on this mainly flat motorway the battery contributed very little and the petrol engine returned about 10mpg less, still promising around 400 miles from a tankful before the battery (maintaining a potential contribution of 60 miles) chimed in.

Of course, I knew that as soon as I reached a town or a B-road the MPG would climb again to erase any impression that quicker cruising is costly; in this 'Hybrid EV' it isn't.

Many drivers are impervious to consistently good economy, possibly because many fuel bills are paid by employers. But I find it consistently pleases me, which makes driving the C10 a particular pleasure. It never seems to get truly thirsty. In fact, the bong warning for low fuel or low charge takes me by surprise, just as refuelling always seems pretty cheap.

Chuck in the long range (the promise of 605 petrol-electric miles seems truthful) and you have a seriously economical all-rounder – however you choose to drive it.

Mileage 6661

Update 9: The power of a clean finish

One thing about my Leapmotor that has consistently amazed me is how its metallic green paint comes alive when cleaned. When dusty the car looks dowdier than most, but show it a hose and a sponge and it soon gleams. People start complimenting you on the lovely paint job. The whole thing has turned into a minor goldmine for our local hand car wash; they see me so often I’m even given a special rate.  

Mileage 7343

Update 10: Over-the-air update brings more power

My C10 range-extender has started offering me a software upgrade, which is an exciting modern development. It seems to yield various performance changes. A reader suggests it might change the performance available in Power mode, which I especially like, so tonight’s errand is looking online for forum advice to discover whether it’s worth doing. Car ownership really has changed...

Mileage 7742

Final report: Novel range-extender powertrain impressed - as did much else besides

When we decided to run a Leapmotor C10, our main aim was to assess the technology and capability of the unusual range-extender version, quite different from the better-understood pure-electric C10 also on sale.

The C10 Hybrid EV offers a rare-in-Britain combination of plug-in hybrid capability and a better electric range than usual (90 miles), plus a petrol engine that only ever drives a generator to replenish the battery when power is needed.

Conventional PHEVs have an electric motor inserted into the drivetrain between the engine and wheels, capable of driving the car purely on its battery for a relatively short distance (commonly at 30-60 miles) before the petrol engine gets on with powering the wheels via a conventional gearbox.

This range-extender needs no clutch or multi-speed gearbox, because its wheels are only ever propelled by its single 215bhp electric motor, mounted between the rear wheels. Yet despite this greatly reduced complexity, it still offers the key advantage of all PHEVs: cheap short- to medium-haul electric motoring combined with a very long overall range.

In theory, you can drive a fully fuelled C10 Hybrid EV for a total of 605 miles – London to Aberdeen and then some – without needing to stop for a fill or a charge. On first meeting, the C10 feels big and cumbersome: it's as big and tall as the Range Rover Velar. But soon it begins to shrink around you as the very decent steering and easy, predictable accelerator response come into their own.

Mind you, getting this far requires you to get on terms with the various adjustable driving modes (I chose sporty for the accelerator and medium for the steering), which first requires you to penetrate the lost world of the screen graphics.

No advice from me is going to help. All I can say is that you should dedicate 15-20 minutes to going through the settings on first acquaintance to discover what they offer, which settings make sense and – frustratingly – which turn themselves off after every use.

I eventually got used to reconfiguring the car through fully 10 different actions every time I drove, but it always felt like a deeply silly waste of time that seemingly delivered no discernible improvement in safety.

Even so, it was easy to settle into the C10's capability. All local motoring was done on electricity from home, and most of my 100-mile commutes were electrically assisted. There's a selectable 'Fuel' setting that mixes electric and petrol power expertly, such that you hardly hear the engine.

A more strident 'Power' setting uses the engine more volubly, to little extra effect. You could also benefit from a night school class or two on the subject of the air-conditioning system. There are so many settings for airflow that you can easily bamboozle yourself, and the impenetrable handbook won't help.

The best plan is to fiddle for a few days, find what works by accident, then afterwards only ever twiddle the temperature and fan. Until, of course, some helpful passenger destroys your carefully honed settings.

My car's fuel economy was always impressive. The excellent Leapmotor smartphone app (which can also double as an ignition key, although if you're wise you carry a key card in your wallet) says my 8740 miles were amassed using a combination of power sources at 74.3mpg and 13.5mpkWh. Running only on petrol it returned 52mpg; running solely on electricity it did between 4.0mpkWh and 4.2mpkWh.

It's a nippy car rather than a fast one (0-62mph in 8.5sec, which is 1.0sec slower than the C10 EV), but because its full 236lb ft of torque is deployed from standstill and it's the rear wheels that are driven, your getaways can be pretty quick even on wet road – if you've seen one of those lately.

The Hybrid EV is 60-80kg lighter (at 1950kg) than the EV, because the aggregate weight of its smaller (28.4kWh) battery and combustion engine is a bit less than the EV's 69.5kWh traction battery.

I've read various complaints in rival organs about this car's poor ride over suburban bumps, and it's certainly not the smoothest at very low speed. But the truth is it improves beyond 30mph, is always decently quiet over bumps and gives the impression of a dependable and pleasant residual strength.

I really got on well with the steering: nicely weighted and geared with good sensitivity near the straight-ahead and a thick wheel rim that felt very comfortable for my hands. The chassis is okay too: stable and decently grippy.

Having started life with this C10 mainly investigating its novel powertrain, I ended up enjoying it as a car. Whisper this, but I'm sorry to see it go. Because its name and shape are still unfamiliar to most people, I was always asked for a bottom line on its capability and desirability. I found myself always answering the same way: it's a good example of an affordable, economical, do-anything car.

I'd definitely go for the Hybrid EV over the EV, just for its extra flexibility. In fact, I find it hard to believe range-extender technology has been practically ignored by mainstream EV makers for so long.