In the past few days, the public announcement of Sony's car-making has spread on the Internet. Many people even feel surprised. But I don't think it's a surprise at all! Because Sony said to build a car has been shouting for more than 2 years. This is the first time I have seen a physical sample car come out.
Of course, the major media have always been eager for the topic of "stock price and market value". Maybe there will be media that SONY is nothing more than doing a thing that can drive stock prices and increase market value. Maybe the shareholders are planning to divide the money... Because this kind of operation is not uncommon in major automobile companies today.
But after all, SONY is a world-class famous enterprise over 75 years old, perhaps the style of doing things will not be as unreliable as the popular PPT car in China now, right? ——So let's analyze it specifically, sony's car is reliable or not! Or is his car worth the wait! Because of sony's historical "urine nature", although it is impossible to lose money to build a car, the possibility of small profits and high sales is not small.
SONY makes electric cars!
Motors, electronic controls, that's not a big deal
The topic is pulled back to the technical level: take a look, sony-built cars, not traditional fuel vehicles, but electric vehicles. So the technical difficulty is actually relatively small (otherwise those "cats and dogs" in China have all launched into the water to build cars?). ）。 For electric vehicles, it is nothing more than to get the "three electricity" system, plus a set of chassis, other things are very easy.
The first is the "three electricity" system: battery, motor, electronic control. SONY does not produce high-power motors itself. But at present, the motor is already in a "rotten street" state that can be bought everywhere. This is still the case in China, let alone the motor power - Japan? Don't forget the famous "Nidec (Nidec)" company, the technology of switching reluctance motors is the strongest sound in the world!
As for the electronic control system supporting the motor, it is enough to spend money to buy it, and it is ready-made! In the "three electricity" system, the motor and electronic control are no problem, and the battery is left. We often talk about the phrase "the only technical obstacle to electric vehicles is the battery." And SONY itself is a lithium battery maker! Few people may know that in fact, SONY itself is the father of lithium batteries!
Lithium battery pioneer "3 people group"
One of them is the Japanese
Here's a historical story: the general idea of lithium batteries operating on the "rocking chair principle" of "relying on ion embedding reactions to carry electrons" was first born in 1912 (you heard it right, the year the Titanic was silent). But for decades, all individuals or units around the world that study lithium metal energy storage have failed because lithium metal is too active, easy to catch fire and explode, and has a short lifespan.
Until the industry titan Goodenough developed the LiCoO2 material (now widely used lithium cobalt oxide) at Oxford University, successfully made the battery cathode with this material; and Akira Yoshino, a top expert of Asahi Kasei in Japan, developed mature low-temperature graphite and successfully made the battery anode with this material; After Professor Stanley Whittingham proposed the overall architecture of a cyclic rechargeable lithium battery... Lithium batteries are really becoming a reality.
Therefore, the above 3 top coffee makers, on October 9, 2019, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their great contributions to the field of lithium batteries. These 3 Nobel laureates are also recognized worldwide as the pioneers of modern lithium batteries. However, theoretical research is very far from actual mass production.
The father of modern lithium batteries, Xi Meixu
Worked at Sony all his life
How to create a product that people can hold in their hands and see and touch is no less difficult than theoretical invention. Responsible for the development of rechargeable lithium battery products was Somy Nishi, then head of the battery development department of Sony's Central Research Institute. Director Nishimi led Sony to produce the first truly mature lithium battery on the planet that meets commercial standards.
This is why many people have identified Sony as the inventor of lithium batteries, and it is for this reason that journalists in the Japanese scientific community feel that Nishimi is more qualified for the Nobel Prize. In any case, SONY's lithium battery technology is definitely no less than any other company on the planet! To be precise, Sony knows too much about batteries! So in the field of "three electricity", they do not lack batteries!
Will sony's new car use a "skateboard chassis"
It is still unknown, but the "skateboard chassis"
Ideal for electric vehicles
After the "three electric" system has no technical obstacles, SONY only lacks chassis technology. But since it is an electric car, the difficulty of chassis design seems to be less intimidating. ——Because the future trend of the development of electric vehicle chassis is bound to be the "skateboard chassis". And Sony, as a new player, will certainly not "catch up with the trend".
In fact, the so-called "skateboard chassis" is essentially the ancient non-bearing girder chassis (that is, the "three types of chassis" often called by automotive engineers). It was only specially modified for electric vehicles: the middle of the entire chassis is a flat battery pack; at both ends is the "power zone", distributed with motors and reducers, controllers and other assemblies.
Tires, suspension parts, shock absorbers, steering wheels, and various types of transmission differentials, half shafts and other components are also fully installed in the "power zone", so this "skateboard chassis" is the same as the chassis of those hardcore off-road vehicles, plug in the steering wheel, press the pedal assembly, and then throw a small bench at will, the driver can drive the entire chassis away...
Traditional cars and SUVs "load-bearing body"
The structure is complex and the development is difficult
And our traditional cars and SUVs can't play like this at all. Because traditional cars and SUVs actually have no chassis! Because they all use "load-bearing bodies". A-pillar, B-pillar, C-pillar, front longitudinal beam, rear longitudinal beam, and the entire vehicle floor (four beams and six columns)... All involved in the force.
If you cut away the shell of a traditional car or SUV, you can't hold on to a bare "floor" alone. Because it will be as soft as noodles, it will show you minutes how to "be crushed by yourself"... Therefore, electric vehicles equipped with "skateboard chassis" will be more convenient to maintain the chassis system in the future!
In the 1960s, SONY developed and produced it
Fuel cell vehicles that do not carry chassis structures
It is precisely because the difficulty of "skateboard chassis" design and development is much lower than that of traditional cars and SUVs, so for SONY, it is obvious that choosing "skateboard chassis" is the most sensible. But so far, SONY has not disclosed any information about the chassis of their new car.
But Sony himself has built a non-carrier car! It's true! As early as the late 1960s, SONY began to develop fuel cell vehicles, and it used zinc-air (Zn-Air) fuel cells that still sound very tall even today. As a pure experimental car, there is no shell and body, only a pair of "class II chassis".
Therefore, SONY does not lack the design and manufacturing capabilities of non-load-bearing chassis, and the most suitable "skateboard chassis" for electric vehicles itself is also derived from non-bearing structures, so SONY's car manufacturing is not doubtful at all! After all, everyone has built a sample car, and sony's industrial mass production strength, I don't need to say...
The "SONY Dafa" is declining day by day
I don't know if I can return because of the car!
However, back to the SONY brand itself, their sense of existence is obvious to all the "deterioration": when I was a child, it was a terrible thing to have a SONY stereo at home, but now? In addition to the game otaku is still dead PS game console, who can turn out SONY?
I have to say that I am still looking forward to SONY's mass production car, of course, if you can engrave the words "Sony Dafa good" on the steering wheel, and constantly prompt users to believe that the balance is sufficient, maybe it may also sell well Oh ~ Then what do you think about sony car manufacturing? Will you choose to wait and see?