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Chinese car maker Chery has carried out a dramatic three-car crash test to showcase the structural integrity of its new electric car.
Electric Cars
Chery has crashed two of its electric cars into a third for a dramatic safety test demonstration designed to showcase the integrity of its battery packs – as well as the overall safety of its vehicles.
As reported by Carscoops, instead of using two ‘trolleys’ to crash into a real vehicle, Chery instead used three actual vehicles to perform its latest safety tests which were designed to simulate a U-turn gone wrong.
A red stationary 2025 Chery Exceed Sterra ES – an electric five-door liftback similar in size to the Tesla Model 3 – was hit simultaneously by two white Exceed Sterra ES travelling at 60km/h.
One moving vehicle hits the stationary Chery from directly side-on, its front-end hitting the stopped car’s passenger-side doors directly.
The other vehicle hits the front driver’s side guard at around a 30-degree angle, with both moving vehicles striking the stopped Chery at around 60km/h.
Chery supplied all three vehicles at the test, carried out under the supervision of China Automotive Technology and Research Centre (CATARC).
Chery said the cars performed as intended, as Carscoops reported, with the stationary car’s B-pillar – the central vertical support on each side – remaining intact, with the vehicle’s seven airbags deploying and doors unlocking.
A key element was to demonstrate the integrity of the battery packs, which after the impacts reportedly showed no signs of leaks, smoke or fire, the high-voltage system shutting down as it’s designed to in a collision.
While the Chery Exceed Sterra ES electric vehicle isn’t sold in Australia, it uses batteries from CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited) – the world’s largest producer of batteries – as does the Chery Omoda E5 electric SUV sold here since 2023.
The Omoda E5 achieved a five-star safety rating from ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program) when it went on sale in Australia matching the petrol-powered Omoda 5 SUV.
The Chery Tiggo 7 Pro SUV and Tiggo 8 Pro Max SUVs currently on sale here were also rated at five stars, while the car maker’s most recent release – the Tiggo 4 Pro small SUV – is expected to be assessed in early 2025.
It’s a significant improvement over Chery models tested here more than a decade ago, with the J1 hatch and J11 SUV posting three and two-star ANCAP ratings respectively in 2011.
In 2017, the MG GS SUV was the first Chinese-made vehicle to achieve a five-star ANCAP safety rating – outscoring rivals from Toyota and Mini – after an equipment upgrade elevated it above its early four-star result.
It’s worth noting crash tests performed in Australia by ANCAP are deliberately independent to ensure an objective evaluation of the results, with the car maker deliberately not actively involved.
A new vehicle is purchased from a dealer – without the manufacturer’s knowledge – to best represent a customer car on public roads, with the dealer also unaware of its planned future use in a crash test.
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