Written by | Yu Jie
Edit | Yang Guang
Produced | Automotive Sankei
"For the traditional automotive industry, [embracing the technology] means some of the challenges in terms of interests. I hope that traditional car companies can not be conservative in their original field. ”
At the UP DAY product launch on January 11, Li Peng, founder and CEO of Yo-Run Technology, challenged the traditional car-making concept as soon as he came up.
Li Peng pointed out that while lowering the threshold for car manufacturing and realizing "freedom of car manufacturing", the skateboard chassis also poses unprecedented challenges to traditional car-making methods and their business models.
For example, contracting core components such as the chassis to a third party is another "soul" problem.
However, it is precisely because of the cramped reality that it leaves more room for imagination in the future.
Yo-Yo chooses to seize this outlet.
A leisurely path
The skateboard chassis has several recognized features:
First, the chassis is modular.
The skateboard chassis is composed of mechanical structural parts and electronic structural parts, which can be divided into three parts: front axle, middle axle and rear axle.
The front axle includes the front suspension, the subframe, motor, and steering machine; the middle axle includes the battery, collision avoidance structure, and thermal management system; and the rear axle includes the rear suspension, the secondary frame, and the motor.
The second is wire control.
The in-wire control is the control of electrical signals, which replaces the traditional mechanical or hydraulic drive. As a result, the interior space can be arranged more flexibly. Wire control technology is also one of the core technologies that many car companies are developing themselves under the trend of intelligent driving.
On the basis of the realization of the first two points, the skateboard chassis can achieve "separate coupling of upper and lower body".
Different from the "vehicle integration development" platform, the car-making mode developed by the upper and lower splits can reduce the threshold, cycle and cost of car-making.
Finally, in the usual sense, skateboard chassis is classified as a "non-loader body". Therefore, it is more suitable for pickup trucks and off-road vehicles, which have low requirements for comfort.
However, Li Peng repeatedly refuted this view at the press conference and in media communication meetings.
He said the concept of a skateboard chassis may not be the same as it is understood. The UP super chassis of Yo-Yo-Yo "can be separated and decoupled from top to bottom, and can be carried up and down together".
"Since our patent has been applied for, when the patent can be disclosed, you can see that the UP super chassis is a combination of the common force of the upper and lower body."
Compared with many companies on the skateboard chassis track focusing on pickup trucks, logistics vehicles, etc., Yo-Tro emphasizes that it can adapt to various body bodies such as cars, sports cars, SUVs, and commercial vehicles.
The YO-Y UP Super Chassis emphasizes four major technologies, in addition to achieving full-line control of the whole vehicle, there are pluggable ring network electronic architecture, CTC battery system and highly integrated thermal management system.
Among them, CTC (Cell to Chassis) technology can achieve a high degree of integration and modularization by directly integrating the battery cell inside the chassis frame and integrating the design with the chassis, and the utilization rate of battery compartment space can be increased by 10%.
Compared with models of the same length, the endurance can also be increased by 10%, and the longest range can reach 1000 kilometers.
Judging from the official publicity data, research and development based on the Yo-Run UP super chassis can shorten the development cycle of new models on the same platform by 6-12 months compared with the traditional platform.
UP super cabin family
Twenty years ago, the concept turned red
2021 is the year that the concept of skateboard chassis has turned popular.
On November 10, 2021, EST, Rivian landed on the NASDAQ. On the first day of listing, its market value once exceeded the 100 billion US dollar mark. On the fifth trading day of listing, Rivian's stock price reached a high of $179.47, with a market value of $161.523 billion, ranking among the top three car companies in the world by market capitalization.
Why is capital so fanatical about Rivian?
As a manufacturer of electric pickup trucks, Rivian entered a blue ocean market with scarce characteristics, and was therefore known as the "Tesla killer". The core weapon of Rivian's car is the self-developed Skateboard skateboard chassis.
Based on this platform, Rivian can quickly create different models and also license them openly to third-party manufacturers.
Due to Rivian's popularity, the skateboard chassis concept has spread all over the world. At last year's electric vehicle 100 people's meeting, Academician Ouyang Minggao also listed it as one of the two major directions of future electric vehicle technology.
Rivian's Skateboard chassis
However, the concept of a skateboard chassis was first proposed by General Motors in 2002. However, at that time, GM applied the concept of skateboard chassis on a hydrogen-powered concept car.
20 years later, electric vehicles without the traditional engine and transmission structure have given the skateboard chassis the opportunity to be reborn.
Nowadays, domestic and foreign companies entering the skateboard chassis track have received different degrees of attention.
In addition to Rivian, which makes pickup trucks, Canoo, another electric vehicle company in the United States, makes various vehicles: commercial logistics vehicles, passenger cars, and pickup trucks. In addition, Canoo has also launched a unique electric vehicle "subscription". Apple is also said to have made a purchase request for Canoo, but was ruthlessly rejected.
The domestic PIX Moving has released the second generation of skateboard chassis in November last year, and its products mainly focus on commercial scene logistics cars.
Canoo defines the space in the car
Ideals and reality
"Our border is a brand that yo-yo does not do C-end. C-end cars will still have their own partners, who define and operate their own customers. Currently we have customers like Rivian and Ford, Rivian and Amazon customers. ”
Li Peng defined the business scope of Yo-Run in this way.
The way Rivian and Amazon cooperate is that the former builds cars and the latter buys cars – as Rivian's biggest supporter, Amazon has signed a contract with Rivian for 100,000 electric trucks.
But the latest news is that last week Stellantis announced that it would sell its own electric Ram ProMaster van to Amazon from 2023, and the news came out, triggering investors to sell Rivian.
As of January 6, 2022, EST, Rivian shares have fallen 51.34% from their highest point. And, in terms of delivery, Rivian is also stepping on the pit that Tesla once stepped on:
Not to mention the huge losses in consecutive years, Rivian has only delivered a few hundred vehicles so far, and its production and delivery capabilities have been doubled in the context of the global chip crisis.
If Youpao wants to help other brands build cars, it will also face the same risk. Before that, the more pressing problem is that Yo-Yo-Pao must find a car company like Amazon that is willing to extend an olive branch and make yo-yo's ideal landing.
At present, the strategic cooperation with car companies announced by Yo-Tro is only Kaiyi, the content of cooperation is a package framework agreement, the first stage of work has been carried out, is joint development and OEM.
However, as for customers who are willing to use skateboard chassis to build cars, it has not yet been announced.
In addition, youtube's chassis products are scheduled to be mass-produced next year, but the product plans for the whole vehicle are still unclear.
Write at the end
"Today, the main engine factory that still regards the chassis as a housekeeping skill will be eliminated in the future by the era of intelligent electric vehicles." This sentence also made Li Peng a hit.
And this time, can the skateboard chassis go to the mainstream of the times under the admiration of Rivian, Canoo and Yo-Yo? It may take industry-wide time and patience, but it also requires entrants to step out of the PPT and prove themselves.
I hope that the track of skateboarding chassis, as well as Rivian and yo-yo runners, can become the choice of the times, not the bubble of the times.