New PHEV version of GWM’s Tank 500

What do you get when you cross a Tank 500 Hi4-T with a 59.05 kWh battery? A Tank 500 Hi4-Z. OK, not the funniest of jokes but the Tank 500 Hi4-Z is no joke according to the latest round of filings from a government department. It gives the PHEV a battery the size of which would make many pure EVs happy and the car also gains the new Miller cycle engine.

Visually the car is identical on the outside except for the new Hi4-Z badge. Dimensions are 5078, 1934, and 1905 mm (l/w/h) and it has a wheelbase of 2850 mm.

From the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) we can know that the main difference of this five seater is the battery. Whereas the Tank 500 Hi4-T has a 37.1 kWh battery the Tank 500 Hi4-Z bumps that up to 59.05 kWh unit. The battery pack is a ternary lithium (NCM) unit from Great Wall Motor battery spinoff Svolt. With the larger capacity battery all electric range is up from 120 km to 201 km. Weight however is now 2980 kg up from 2830 kg.

GWM’s Tank 500 Hi4-Z uses the new Miller cycle E20NB engine, as recently debuted in the 2024 update to the Tank 500 Hi4-T. Although this increases the efficiency of the engine the maximum power of 185 kW and peak torque of 380 Nm are same as before with the E20NA version of the engine. The main benefit is the reduction in fuel consumption which in the Tanks 500 Hi4-Z is reduced even further, down from 8.8 l/100 km in the Hi4-T to 8.6 l/100 km.

An electric motor powers the front wheels producing 120 kW power and 400 Nm torque. When combined with the petrol engine the system power is 300 kW and combined torque is 750 Nm. Top speed is 205 km/h significantly up on the Hi4-T’s 180 km/h.

Autohome speculates that the HI4-Z will have more aggressive all-wheel drive performance. The car will presumably have the new intelligent four-wheel drive system introduced by the 2024 Tank Hi4-T.

From the filling pictures we can see there is an option for a towing hook.

One problem with the Tank 500 Hi4-T is that the battery is directly under the trunk floor meaning that the floor is much higher than in the ICE version of the Tank 500. Presumably the battery of the Tank 500 Hi4-Z will take up an even larger volume making this