On December 15, as a "new car-making force" focusing on the B-end track, Box Auto released two models for the first time: the BM-400 mainly features the car, online car and taxi market, which is scheduled to achieve mass production in 2023; the BM-600 is aimed at the mid-to-high-end rental market to meet the demand for high-quality travel, and is expected to be mass-produced and listed in 2024.
At present, the BM-400 model has received 42,000 intentional orders.
It is understood that the main company of box cars is Beijing Box Zhixing Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in 2013, and was mainly engaged in automotive product design. In 2019, Box Zhixing adjusted its future development strategy and stepped into the field of car manufacturing, focusing on creating travel tools suitable for the B-end market.
In view of the operation and use scenarios of B-end online ride-hailing, Box Car pioneered the L-shaped seat layout, abolished the co-pilot seat and trunk, and adopted the "1+1+3" seat distribution, so that large luggage and even wheelchairs can directly get on the bus. At the same time, based on the low utilization rate of the left rear door of the travel vehicle, the box car adopts the "two-door structure" of driving door + side sliding door, abandoning the left door. The right door uses a spaceless sliding form to facilitate passengers to get on and off the bus.
In the future, the interior space can also be equipped with vending machines, according to the season to provide hot and cold drinks, snacks, rain ponchos and other immediate demand of goods, or to provide seat massage, car KTV, somatosensory games and other services, supplemented by in the car inside and outside the screen advertising implantation, streaming media information push and other ways, for the operation of the end to develop a more flexible profit model.
For the pain point of the high cost of maintaining operating vehicles, the Box Car team incorporated "low-cost consumable replacement" into the product definition. Under the premise of doing a good job of standard parts and standard interfaces, 75%-80% of the slight scratches of the box car can replace the cover parts such as front and rear bumpers by themselves, and this process can be completed independently by the driver, which is conducive to reducing maintenance costs.
In terms of specific configuration, the wheelbase of the BM-400 and BM-600 reaches 2850mm and 3100mm respectively. Among them, the BM-400 is divided into two versions: 420km and 530km. The BM-600 has a range of 600km, focusing on the mid-to-high-end rental market, and will continue to explore the high-end rental and Robotaxi markets in the future.
In addition to the release of the new car, the box car also disclosed its car-making platform - the modular chassis of "Octopus" 1.0. With up to 95% of the chassis components in common, the chassis provides the flexibility to customize different bodywork, adapt to different spaces, and be compatible with battery modules of different capacities.
Box Car said that the company is accelerating the abstract standardization of interfaces and modules, and is expected to complete the construction of the "Octopus" 2.0 platform in May next year. This platform will support front-drive, rear-drive, four-wheel drive three drive forms, the use of power battery CTC structure, the front suspension completely follows the first generation of platform, while using line control and steering of the skateboard platform blessing, to further achieve advanced intelligent driving functions.
On the other hand, as a "B-end travel space provider", Box Car has also created a customizable intelligent interaction system - HIGH DO.
According to reports, "HIGH DO" not only covers the car large-screen entertainment system, in-vehicle machine vision technology applications, car networking, in-car intelligent control, etc., can realize the car large-screen game, live broadcast, on-demand, singing K and other entertainment services; at the same time can also access smart city and smart transportation, can provide urban promotional film advertising services, urban specialty ordering and other consumer experiences in the car.
Finally, in terms of the back-end support of operating vehicles, Box Car is currently planning two overfilling pile solutions of 240kW and 480kW, with a maximum voltage of 1000V. The device is expected to achieve a range of more than 200 kilometers for 10 minutes of charging in 2022 and more than 400 kilometers for 10 minutes in 2023. (This article was first published on titanium media App)