We often refer to the brands of Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, Weima, Nezha, etc. as "new forces", but at the end of the year, another group of people quietly jumped out and took away this title. Among them, including the "box car".
Unlike others, when everyone focuses on the C-end consumer, the box car unexpectedly focuses on the B-end market.
Sound familiar? Yes, the last time I did this was the D1 model jointly created by Didi and BYD.
Last night, Box Cars held a brand and model debut, let's take a look at what Box Cars intends to do? And what was done?
It feels like déjà vu
Let's start with the product.
Box Cars focused on the B-end track, and at last night's press conference, a total of two models BM-400 and BM-600 were released, let's first look at the known information of these two cars:
BM-400 (Time to Market Q4 2023)
Body size: length 4530mm, width 1900mm, height 1790mm, wheelbase 2850mm;
NEDC endurance: 420km, 530km;
Support 600V fast charging, support power exchange;
It has a three-row, five-seat layout.
BM-600 (Time to Market Q3 2024)
Body size: length 4900mm, width 1900mm, height 1790mm, wheelbase 3100mm;
NEDC endurance: 600km;
Support 600V fast charging;
It has a three-row, six-seat layout.
According to the information given by Box Car, the BM-400 is aimed at the chauffeur-hailing, online car and taxi markets, and the BM-600 is aimed at the mid-to-high-end rental market, and will continue to explore the high-end leasing and Robotaxi markets in the future. At present, the BM-400 model has received 42,000 units of interest orders.
The exterior design of the two models is indeed like a "box", and the exterior design of both models takes a simple and futuristic route. But as a model for the mobility industry, the real design should be in the car.
In the case of the BM-400 model, the three-row five-seat layout of "1+1+3" was adopted, and the passenger seat was cancelled and replaced by a storage space for luggage and vending machines.
The second row also adopts a single seat design, and the area near the sliding door is vacated, one is to facilitate the boarding and disembarking of the passengers in the third row, and the other is the placement and fixation of the user's wheelchair for the disabled.
A single seat is designed in the three seats of the third row of seats, known as the "King's Seat", which is a business seat with leg rests and a 30° elevation angle.
That's all we can get about the model design part, so I'd like to think of something "I want to say."
Back in time to the week before the launch, I attended the box car's closed-door appreciation meeting and saw the BM-400 model in advance. My first impression at the time was: The Chinese version of Canoo is coming?
I don't know if you remember canoo, an electric vehicle startup in Los Angeles, and their first electric vehicle product, The Canoo EV?
If you can't remember, look at a few pictures to recall.
First of all, from the appearance point of view, the two models of the box car also adopt such a minimalist design, and Canoo's design concept is called Mobility box, which can be called "mobile box" in the literal translation.
Although the BM-400 of Box Car and Canoo EV have certain differences in cabin layout and design, both cars abandon the traditional seat layout and have made a lot of ideas for more travel modes and travel scenarios.
Although it is not exactly the same, but more or less...
Filled me with doubts
Both the BM-400 and BM-600 models are based on the "self-developed" Octopus 1.0 platform modular chassis, with a 95% ratio of common parts in both vehicles.
It can also be seen from the body data that the two cars are only slightly different in length and wheelbase, in other words, the BM-600 can also be called "BM-400 L".
Information given by box car:
In the future, the construction of the Octopus 2.0 platform will be completed in May 2022, which will support three driving forms of front drive, rear drive and four wheel drive, using a power battery CTC structure, the front suspension completely inherits the first generation platform, and at the same time adopts the skateboard platform of line control and wire steering to further realize advanced intelligent driving functions.
As for the CTC structure of the power battery, the full name is Cell to Chassis, there is no independent pack, module, or even a separate battery pack, the battery cell is directly installed on the ground, and the battery shell becomes part of the body structure. It can effectively reduce the number of parts and the total mass of the battery pack, reduce the production process, and thus help to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and ultimately increase the range of electric vehicles.
At present, only Tesla will adopt CTC structure on models using 4680 batteries in 2022, and CATL will launch CTC battery technology around 2025.
For the two models currently unveiled, the BM-400 >600, Box Auto has also created an interactive system: HIGH DO. It will cover the city, operating enterprises, drivers and passengers, and can realize the on-board large-screen entertainment system, the application of machine vision technology in the car, the Internet of Vehicles, the intelligent control in the car, and can also realize the large-screen game, live broadcast, on-demand, singing K and other entertainment services in the car. At the same time, access to smart cities and smart transportation can provide consumer experiences such as city propaganda film advertising services and urban specialty ordering in the car.
However, as for the true appearance of HIGH DO, the box car did not talk in detail at the press conference.
In addition to these, Wang Zhe, co-founder of Box Car and chairman of Yousen Technology, mentioned:
Box car plans 240kW and 480kW superfill pile solutions with a maximum voltage of 1000V. This set of equipment has the advantages of power sharing, intelligent scheduling, matrix control, flexible charging, intelligent charging, etc., and is expected to achieve a 10-minute endurance of more than 200 kilometers in 2022 and a range of more than 400 kilometers in 10 minutes of charging in 2023.
Gac Aeon has also announced this technology before, involving a model equipped with AION V equipped with 6C super fast charging battery technology. The 6C Super Fast Charge Battery Technology is complemented by a 480kW high-power charging pile, and the AION V model equipped with Super Fast Charge Battery Technology can charge up to 900V and the maximum charging current exceeds 500A.
This matter, in fact, can be understood, in terms of existing technology, high-cost 1000V charging solutions are really difficult to quickly promote and lay. At present, in the mass production energy supplement scheme that is promoted faster and can be experienced, in addition to the highest efficiency of the Weilai replacement power station, the maximum charging power of Tesla's V3 super charging station 250kW should be the highest. When I experienced the Tesla V3 before, charging at full power for 30 minutes can make up for about 300km of cruising range.
In addition to the CTC battery structure and 1000V charging scheme, the Octopus 2.0 platform of the box car even mentions wire control and steer-by-wire technology.
So, can the "debut" box car really achieve these technologies on the Octopus 2.0 platform in half a year? I'm still skeptical.
At last
Compared with the D1 models created by Didi and BYD, the starting points of both models are the same, and they will be put into the online rental travel market. However, the core of the box car is the "sales space", through the innovation of the travel space to create a travel scene that meets the diversity of users.
For today's car-making industry, the B-end market is indeed still a blue ocean, but how much market the box car can grab is still unknown.
At the press conference, Wang Zhe, co-founder of Box Car and chairman of Yousen Technology, said a word: It is simply ridiculous to run an online car with a low-end private car!
When this sentence is spoken, we seem to hear a "pride" in the bones of the box car.