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Along with the first working day of 2022, there is also Mercedes-Benz's new vision EQXX.
Once 2020 was a year in science fiction, today it is about 13 months ago; once 2021 was regarded as hope by us in the epidemic, today it has become the object of writing mistakes and then crossed out; once 2023 only existed in the PPT of car companies, today it is only separated by more than 360 pages of calendar.
The EQXX concept car itself is not the focus of YY, after all, the concept is somewhat far from reality. What is more noteworthy is the series of ideas revealed by Mercedes-Benz from the EQXX, making it necessary for us to stop again and look back, and take a plate of real-time progress of the German BBA on the road of pure electricity.
Mercedes-Benz: High-end first, water flows to the lower places
Putting aside the EQXX concept car for the time being, Mercedes-Benz is currently the most dynamic and high-end of the three BBA companies.
The EVA pure electric platform has developed two models, EQS and EQE, the former has been sold, and the latter is on the string. As can be seen from the tail letters of their respective car names, EQS and EQE are positioned in the middle and high-end. EQS and S-Class sell for equal prices, and EQE is likely to be the same. The relatively beginner EQA/EQB/EQC belongs to the general platform of oil and electricity (high emotional intelligence).
EVA platform, this figure we often use
EQE is the current "lower limit" of the EVA platform
The newly released EQXX concept car, although the unique long-tail design looks "running" and also increases the body size; the 2800mm wheelbase figure reveals that it (the production version, if any) will be a compact -- medium-size car equivalent to the A-class Sedan and CLA.
Very high-end GT? It's actually a little guy
There are many kinds of "concept" methods for concept cars, some are pure display shells, some are feasible previews of the future, and some are directly quasi-mass production versions. The EQXX has a lot of gorgeous concepts that are unlikely to be mass-produced in the near future, such as the long-tail design, the deformable diffuser, the 47.5-inch giant screen, etc., but as long as these are aside, it is ready for mass production.
For a concept car that dares to announce the complete structure, I would like to give basic and sufficient respect.
This image will be used later
This picture is in the "electric drive system to battery energy utilization rate of 95%" cloud cloud, but we can also see that the EQXX concept car has a complete and detailed chassis suspension structure. So Mercedes-Benz proudly said in the official draft that it took only 18 months to develop, but not 18 months to develop a shell with a bunch of fancy things.
The basic layout of EQXX is as follows:
Rear single motor + five-link rear suspension, indicating that it is mainly a rear drive (or can be on the dual motor four-wheel drive), the reason can be seen in the "Electric Age Without Suspension What Things". The McPherson front suspension, which indicates that it will not be a high-end high-performance model, combined with the 2800mm wheelbase on the front, once again shows that this is a pure electric platform for A-class to C (GLA to GLC), below EVA (EQS/EQE).
(Although the EQXX has a great "dazzling endurance" quality, the former McPherson may also be partly out of extreme weight reduction considerations; but it is difficult to say that Mercedes-Benz will be purely for a single concept car, to do a low-level platform that does not consider mass production, and the basic structure of the suspension still has reference value for future mass production.) ）
The former McPherson is both a need for weight loss and a reflection of future identity
The pure electric platform is naturally appropriate (otherwise it would not be possible to have a 1000km end-of-life), and mercedes-Benz uses an integrated die-casting process that has become famous with Tesla, and the position is the same as the Model Y at the bottom of the rear body, replacing a large area including the rear wheel arch, rear crossbar, and rear longitudinal beam.
Previously, some traditional car companies, including BBA, were seeking a body-integrated die-casting solution. If the EQXX or other production vehicles based on this platform (such as the derivation of SUVs) are mass-produced in a few years later, such as 2025, it is not unusual for new platforms and models to use die-cast body directly.
In addition, cast aluminum parts don't stop at large integrated rear bodies – Ben Hu has seen many articles confuse "die casting" with (Tesla-led) "large one-piece die-cast parts" (see "Your Model Y, being "pressed out"). The front suspension tower top and front steering column bracket of the EQXX concept car also use a die-casting process, which Mercedes-Benz calls BEONICAST (said to be using a bionic design).
The cast aluminum tower top brings 4kg weight reduction, which is a must for the EQXX concept car with a range of 1000km. However, if it is mass-produced, considering the so-called "bandwidth" of the platform that is backward compatible, models of this size and level like EQXX may not be able to use the cast aluminum tower top (if you use it, please thank the budget department for its strength of Kaien & competitors).
The same reason for THE BEAMICAST cast aluminum parts, but less likely to appear on a production platform, is the carbon fiber rear subframe of the EQXX concept car. The possibility of carbon fiber components on such a spectacular scale and appearing in mass production cars at mainstream prices is basically zero, which can be said to be the private use of EQXX concept cars, so that the official press release does not even introduce it.
Another major carbon fiber component is the upper cover of the battery pack, before the EQXX concept car, NIO also released the carbon fiber battery housing developed in cooperation with the German SGL two years ago. So if you think about Weilai's pricing, you can imagine that the possibility of Mercedes-Benz's entry-level electric vehicles using this thing in a few years is also very limited.
Carbon fiber rear subframe & rear axle electric drive
So is there anything realistic? Again to reduce weight, the EQXX Concept does not use traditional steel coil springs in the rear axle, but instead a very special composite (FIBERGLA REINFORCED PLASTIC) spring. From the official picture, the upper end of the rear spring is connected to the subframe rather than the body-in-white body, which means that the filter path for road vibration is added, which may be good news for NVH.
The top right image is to be reversed 90° for installation
Previously, the Volvo SPA platform used a similar composite spring, which is said to have played a 3kg weight reduction effect. However, its shape is a monolithic plate with one left and right (but still independent suspension), while the EQXX is a zigzag shape with one left and one left. Composite springs are relatively realistic and are considered to be one of the future trends, and the probability of mass production appearing and becoming the standard on the platform is there.
Volvo SPA platform rear axle, yellow-green plate composite spring
Having said so much, I want to express it in fact: although the current EQXX is a concept car, a showmanship for the purpose of 1000km endurance, and has a lot of technical weapons regardless of cost, but at the same time it is likely to be based on Mercedes-Benz's future popular pure electric platform, only waiting for the budget department to take the knife, and what you get is the EVA platform "his brother" - waiting for Mercedes-Benz to give a good name.
So what is this new pure electric platform that "will not cross the existing C-class positioning at most", in fact, can be peeping in the tube: the front McPherson, the rear five connecting rods, the rear drive, making full use of the superiority of the pure electric layout, and volkswagen / Audi MEB ideas are consistent; it is likely to use the "special" large-scale cast aluminum body, as well as new material technologies such as composite springs, reduce costs, reduce weight and increase battery life; the size limit will not exceed the wheelbase of 2800mm a lot, suitable for C-class / GLC (may or may not contain) the following models.
As for the EQXX concept car itself, in fact, it can be said that it can not be said. It's all about 1,000km endurance, and most of these can and may be "realistic" in mass production:
With the help of long tail design, variable air-moving parts, etc., the wind resistance coefficient is as low as 0.17;
400Wh/L high volume energy density battery, 100kWh battery pack is 50% less volume than EQS, weight is reduced by 30%;
Cast aluminum, carbon fiber, magnesium alloy wheels all up to greet, this volume of this battery, the weight of the car is only 1750kg;
The 900V platform is fast charging and weight reduction, and the 150kW single motor is obviously not performance-oriented, achieving 95% energy utilization.
Variable rear diffuser with long tail drag reduction
The advent of such a highly completed concept car as EQXX means that Mercedes-Benz is lower than the EVA platform and the pure electric platform with lower positioning is probably close to completion. According to Mercedes-Benz's previous "stop the research and development of the internal combustion engine in 2025" to infer, the series production car it derived from it was probably around this time.
At that time, the existing EQA/EQB/EQC have completed their historical mission, the main line of the pure electric market will also be expanded from high-end to mid-range luxury cars, and the addition of the second pure electric platform will allow Mercedes-Benz's new generation of electric vehicles to pave the product line from the current EQS/EQE downwards.
BMW: Get up early and catch up late, it's time
Since the i3 and i8, which were not very successful at the market level (mainly i3, of course), the "early morning and late set" has been hanging on the head of BMW's electric series and is difficult to dissipate.
The BMW i series is the earliest in the BBA, and it is not yet a star and a half early. In 2014, Tesla still only had a pillar of Model S, Model X or fresh goods that could not be seen and touched, and Tesla ran Uber or could be searched on the Internet. However, the i3 is like the 21st century version of the Audi A2, (in terms of structural properties) and the carbon fiber monocoque shell body of the supercar are expensive, advanced and insufficient. The idea of improving battery life by losing weight instead of a large battery is proving to be an expensive detour today.
Probably because of this, most of the outside world speculates that because of this, BMW did not launch the next pure electric iX3 until 2020. Although the iX3 is based on the CLAR universal platform and has been questioned as a result, BMW did not sit back and watch the world change in 2014-2020.
First of all, the plug-in hybrid product line has become the climate, which is still the most existential in the BBA, and indirectly promotes the imperial creation of the Ningde era. Compared with EQC and e-tron, the iX3 is the only one of the three that can be lowered to the bottom (yes), and the overall electric performance is achieved with a smaller impact range. The best cost-to-efficiency ratio of the three is ultimately reflected in the largest sales volume.
Many people seem to have forgotten the cost advantage of the CLAR platform when they laugh at the iX3's sales compared to Tesla's — who would expect it to outperform the Model Y?
Based on the premise of the oil-power generalization platform, the iX3 is up to standard
The i4 after the iX3 and the upcoming new i3 (pure electric version 3 series) are actually siblings with the iX3. However, in the battery system, we can still see BMW's small steps in the so-called "oil to electricity": from the iX3 to carefully leave a lot of redundant space and structure, to the i4 tile a larger and thinner battery pack. These changes Ben Hu mentioned in "You May Need to Re-recognize 'Oil to Electricity'".
BMW's generous claim to the new pure electric platform will not wait until the Neue Klasse (German New Class) in 2025 , named after the 1960s BMW classic Car New Class, which separates the "egg car" Isetta era in the early post-war period of BMW and the era of the 3 Series 5 Series 7 Series that we are familiar with today.
But at the end of 2020, BMW launched a new pure electric model iX without the previous work.
What is the origin of this iX, is it oil to electricity or pure electric platform? This question should never be answered by the car company. Asking car companies (and even some media) whether a car is a pure electric platform is as meaningless as asking your boss if it is selling genuine products – who will tell you it is not?
In view of the fact that the friends who can see here are already our high-value readers, here is a simple and practical, basically not wrong oil to electricity identification method: look at the body in white.
Yes, it's the one that made Teacher Ka call out to you huge boring.
The official body-in-white pictures are often angled and will not expose the private parts to you in vain, so we need to have some special observation skills. The official body structure of the Porsche Taycan is like this, please look closely at this angle and what parts are obscured:
So when taking pictures, the angle is very important
From the front, it is very obvious that the central tunnel, which is the structural feature of the longitudinal engine fuel vehicle, is used to arrange the drive train and exhaust pipe on the fuel vehicle, which is unnecessary for pure electric vehicles, and the oil to electricity has to be directly inherited. Taycan's platform is called J1, but that doesn't hide that J1 was developed from volkswagen group MSB platforms (Panamera, Bentley).
Back to the point. BMW's CLAR universal platform electric model (again high emotional intelligence), iX3 needless to say, the official structure of the i4 (did not give the BIW map) looks like the same thing, but once the forward perspective is turned, the central tunnel structure of the longitudinal fuel vehicle is revealed.
It can still be seen vaguely
So finally around, is the iX the product of BMW's continued oil to electricity, or the beginning of BMW's determination to pure electricity?
The answer is, both.
Whether it is BMW's official BIW schematic diagram or a screenshot of the body manufacturing process, it clearly shows the iX "private part" of the one-horse Hirakawa, without any trace of fuel structure. In fact, only three models of BMW so far have chassis codes i:i3(i01), i8(i02) and iX(i20), while iX3 and i4 follow the G-head of the CLAR platform.
Note that the front row of feet is completely flat
There is no "ditch" in the middle of the body
The front body of the iX, for the oil car, the structure at the arrow has blocked the engine
However, the underlying platform of iX does not have a new name, because it is actually a product of the highly customized CLAR platform. BMW used a series of aluminum, carbon fiber, high-strength steel components to create an almost tailored body structure for the iX, so we can see a large number of cast aluminum materials in the BIW diagram.
On the good side, such as the one-piece die-casting of Model Y, a large number of newly designed aluminum materials have played a role in reducing weight, improving production efficiency, and increasing body stiffness, and the NVH advantage of high stiffness also makes the iX afford expensive; on the downside, iX itself is expensive and expensive, and this highly customized pure electric variant of CLAR does not have (or is difficult) to be backward compatible with lower-priced models - such as EQS to EQE.
So BMW after the iX, the next pure electric model will be the flagship sedan i7, only this priced electric car has the conditions of "opening a small stove" to customize the body (whisper: then we are still too expensive). So although the i4 and iX are almost the same period of development of new cars, but because of the huge gap in pricing and level, iX is already a pure electric body structure, and i4 and new pure electric 3 series will continue to use a SIMILAR CLAR generalized body similar to the iX3.
The biggest difference between the customized body structure of iX and the pure electric platform is that the latter must be compatible with a whole (or at least partial) product line from low to high, can quickly develop a variety of derivative models, and also consider the future development when designing, leaving a certain room for the evolution of all aspects of the product line in the next few years. This naturally takes years to develop, and the more things you have to do, the longer the cycle you need, and there are no shortcuts.
BMW's truly new pure electric platform New Class is scheduled to be in place in 2025, considering that BMW only announced this decision in early 2021, the probability that New Class has just started at that time, and the possibility of early completion is very small. Previously, the iX and the new i7 could have an electric performance that was basically comparable to that of a pure electric platform, and the product line below was still supported by CLAR's original generalized design.
Talking about good news and bad news, latecomers have the advantage of latecomers, and the decision to develop a pure electric platform in 2021 is different from that of a few years ago, and resources and confidence are different. According to the current very limited news, the New Class will be in place in one step in terms of fast charging, directly 800V high voltage; it will replace the existing FAR (horizontal) and CLAR (longitudinal) two major fuel platforms, and will not be like Mercedes-Benz (EVA +EQXX new platform) and Audi (MEB+PPE) two-line operations.
Competition and development from oil to electricity to pure electric platforms are dynamic, and there is no magical technical point that hangs on the line once it is unfinished and once it is achieved, it will sit back and relax.
Audi: With your back to a big tree, it's not just good to cool off
Compared with Mercedes-Benz BMW, Audi's situation is actually relatively simple.
Audi is the first in the BBA to fully embrace pure electricity, of course, partly because of the overall strategy of the Volkswagen Group, and partly because Audi subjectively prefers to transform as soon as possible to gain a first-mover advantage.
Although Mercedes-Benz's high-end pure electric platform is in the forefront, if you pull the perspective away, the overall progress is actually the front of Audi. Volkswagen planned two major pure electric platforms, MEB and PPE, a few years ago, and now the former has been sold from 2021, and the latter is ready to be launched in 2023. Audi will soon have the technical conditions for full line of pure electrification, and both Mercedes-Benz and BMW will need to wait until the earliest 2025.
The basic situation of the MEB platform need not be said more, the Volkswagen ID. series has gradually been on the right track, and Audi has SAIC Audi Q5 e-tron and FAW-Volkswagen Audi Q4 e-tron ready to go on the market. Backed by the Volkswagen Group, Audi can have a pure electric platform that adapts to mass production at the fastest speed and the lowest cost.
But on the other hand, Audi also needs to explain what is different between the MEB with the Audi logo and the Volkswagen ID series. In the era of fuel vehicles, this problem has plagued the Audi entry car series of MQB horizontal platforms, and this problem will only be more prominent in the era of pure electricity.
Everyone is MEB...
The general situation of the PPE platform has also been exposed for a long time, and the main difference with MEB is the higher chassis hardware configuration (front double wishbone, air suspension, all-wheel steering, etc.), 800V high-voltage fast charge (MEB is 300-400V), and the battery scheme that is more suitable for low body (which is conducive to derivative coupes and the like). Of course, the body material will also be more high-end, but there is no mass production car as a case.
The PPE has both high and low configurations and is suitable for coupes or SUVs
The PPE platform is currently known for planning at least two new cars, the A6 e-tron and the Q6 e-tron. According to meB's experience, the final performance of PPE is not worrying, and the higher-end positioning is not easy to have trouble such as MEB drum brakes, but Audi still has to face the same problem: how to distinguish it from Porsche, which cooperates in the development of PPE platforms, how to divide and overlap the two, and what characteristics each presents.
The Audi e-tron GT, which shares the J1 platform, is about to face the same roommate as the Porsche Taycan.
THE SCOPE OF ADAPTATION OF PPE TARGETS THE HIGH-END MARKET
The A6 e-tron concept is very close to production
Under the same roof of the Volkswagen Group, Audi can enjoy (of course, it must also contribute) the advantages of meB and PPE platforms as fast and systematic, but also face the "identity problem" that does not exist in the other two BBA. In the electric age, this problem will only be more difficult to explain than in the fuel age, and there is no precedent to follow.
As for the future, the Volkswagen Group has also planned a next-generation SSP platform, thinking more about intelligence and electrification. But that is a more distant and uncertain future, and it is beyond the scope of this article.
Although in the Internet world, traditional luxury brands "once turned around immediately seconds Tesla" and "nokia in front of Tesla" for a while, if you are willing to calm down to observe and understand, it is not difficult to realize that the above two views are the oversimplification problems that are widely poisoned by the Internet today, either one or the other.
Ashkenazi luxury brands have a difference in the progress of pure electricity, but none of them are decisively advanced or backward, and there is a cost of surpassing the former, and there is backward capital. Betting always depends on your own chips, all-in is the best decision to start empty-handed, and for people who have cards to play, ensuring that they never get off the table is the most important.