Wen | Finance World Weekly Han Ling
Editor| Mao Shiyang
Driving an electric car, dare not turn on the air conditioner
Since the end of January, the whole country has begun to issue cold warning signals, and even Guangzhou, which is in the subtropics and has an average annual temperature of 22.8 °C, has also issued a cold yellow warning signal recently. This made Li Dong, who was preparing to drive back from Guangzhou to Shenyang, a bit back from the journey.
The end of the year is approaching, and the sudden arrival of cold weather has made it more difficult for many people like Li Dong to drive electric cars, especially those workers who still have to go home across provinces. "The night before departure, the cruising range was 662 kilometers, and when we arrived in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, there were only 58 kilometers left, so I quickly charged in the service area and drove more than 430 kilometers all the way." At that time, Li Dong felt that the overall performance of his tram was still good, and the real endurance could basically reach 70% of the official endurance.
However, continuing north from Jiangxi, Li Dong's journey was no longer pleasant. On the way of more than 400 kilometers, there was no warm air conditioning, and from Guangzhou all the way north, the temperature in the southern areas experienced on the way was basically around 13 degrees, which is why Li Dong would feel that the first half of the journey was pleasant.
"After entering the north, Henan and Hebei are still snowing, and more than 600 kilometers (endurance) can only drive about 300 kilometers, and the power is dropped faster." Li Dong said that since entering the north, that relaxed mentality has begun to become tense, "out of Guangdong you can't see so many trams, and you must plan your charging arrangements in advance, and you have to glance at the remaining mileage from time to time during the driving process." ”
After Li Dong successfully arrived in Shenyang, he filmed a video of himself, titled "Electric Cars Go to Northeast China Is Really Anxious.". In the video, in addition to the joy of returning to his hometown, there is also Li Dong's helpless feelings about this electric car journey. "After passing through Shanhaiguan, all high-speed service areas have no charging piles, and the high-speed charge under the halfway is charged once, and the result is that the endurance of more than 600 kilometers can only run more than 270, which is only 40% of the real endurance."
The reason why there are different experience gaps in the north-south journey is because when Li Dong arrived in Hebei, the temperature in the north was mostly around minus 8 degrees, and the endurance of electric vehicles was significantly reduced. According to Li Dong's driving data, after he entered the north, under the condition of full power, his endurance was only half, which was equivalent to a discount rate of nearly 50% off.
After that, after passing through Shanhaiguan, the temperature dropped to minus ten degrees or even more than twenty degrees, and Li Dong's electric car only had 40% of the official mileage.
At the end of the video, Li Dong said that without "mileage anxiety", the journey can be said to be perfect. He said: "The more than 2,800 kilometers of road charging only cost more than 700 yuan, which is much more cost-effective than a fuel car." ”
In fact, there are many car owners such as Li Dong who have similar experiences, and a car owner who returned to the northeast from Hainan told the "Finance and Economics World" weekly that there are charging piles along the highway they take, which can be charged at any time, and only after arriving at Shanhaiguan, there is no charging pile. And after the temperature is reduced, the battery life is greatly reduced, and the itinerary must be planned in advance and the charging location must be selected.
But the plan can not catch up with the change, in the 2021 Spring Festival, there are electric vehicle owners in the highway section encountered traffic jams, just driving in the tunnel when the battery was exhausted, can only stay in the tunnel for several hours waiting for rescue. And such reports bring the anxiety of the long-distance journey to every electric vehicle owner.
In the cold winter, it is not only returnees like Li Dong who are anxious because of the mileage, but also electric taxi drivers.
A Beijing taxi driver complained fiercely about the battery life of electric vehicles. "It's okay not to open the warm air, and the warm wind can't run for tens of kilometers, and the electricity will go down." If you don't open the warm air, both knees will be cold and painful. Subsequently, the driver master also lifted the knee pads tied to his legs, "This must be worn in a down jacket, otherwise it will be too cold to stand." Moreover, he said that even if it is fast charging, it takes two hours to charge at the end of the day, which invisibly increases his working hours, working 12 hours a day, which is equivalent to 10 hours of work.
In order to save electricity, some electric vehicle rental drivers do not turn on air conditioning in winter. Ma Bo complained in the circle of friends, saying that he hit the electric car twice in 24 hours, and after going in, he found that it was "like an ice cellar", asked the driver to turn on the air conditioner, and the driver said "broken".
Electric vehicles have not made progress in winter for 10 years
On the one hand, the battery life anxiety of electric vehicle owners on their way back to their hometowns, on the other hand, some brands are selling hard for low temperature endurance.
The "Finance and Economics" weekly search found that since the winter of 2021, including BYD, FAW-Volkswagen ID, FAW Besturn, Weima, BAIC and other brands, are marketing for low-temperature endurance, and some brands even claim that new technologies can challenge "minus 30 degrees" with only a slight attenuation.
However, on December 31, 2021, the China Academy of Automotive Engineering and the National Big Data Alliance for New Energy Vehicles released a white paper, saying that the statistics on the low-temperature attenuation data of 53 new energy vehicles at home and abroad in the past 10 years showed that the average value and distribution range of the low-temperature mileage retention rate of new energy vehicles did not change significantly during the period from 2012 to 2021.
The sales of new energy vehicles have gradually increased, so that the winter endurance problem is placed in front of major manufacturers, even if many car companies have now increased the NEDC (new European driving cycle cycle, the pure electric vehicle mileage standard used in the mainland) to 700km, but once the winter endurance is greatly reduced.
In fact, this is the result of multiple factors working together. Dai Kangwei, vice president of BAIC New Energy Research Institute, believes that the endurance decay of electric vehicles in winter is mainly affected by three factors: battery, air conditioning system and rotational system resistance.
At present, the power batteries used in new energy vehicles are mainly lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries. In the low temperature environment, the diffusion ability of lithium ions in the electrolyte is reduced, causing an increase in current loss, so the mileage of new energy vehicles is damaged, and the power battery may even stop working at extremely cold temperatures.
Dai Kangwei said that the current common practice in the industry is to heat the battery through the PTC heating system (a component with a large positive temperature coefficient) to keep it in a normal working state, but the efficiency of the PTC heating system needs to be improved.
In addition, the air conditioning of electric vehicles and fuel vehicles is not the same. Fuel vehicles generally rely on the residual heat of the engine cooling water cycle to heat, while new energy vehicles have to use electricity in a down-to-earth manner, which further aggravates the problem of winter endurance. The above white paper cites external research showing that the low temperature environment to open the warm air, will reduce the vehicle mileage by more than 40%.
In addition, the increase in air density in winter leads to an increase in the wind resistance and tire resistance of the whole vehicle, so electric vehicles will consume more electricity than other seasons when driving with the same power in winter.
In order to increase sales, many car companies have come up with many methods for winter battery life. For example, WM chose to "add some oil" to the electric vehicle and add a diesel auxiliary heating system to the battery pack to reduce the loss of battery power at low temperatures.
Xiaopeng Automobile officially issued a "winter guide" for the winter endurance and charging of vehicles. It is mentioned that "the temperature of the air conditioner is recommended to be set to 22 degrees, the owner of the car should maintain good driving habits, try to drive at a uniform speed, and park the car in a warm house or a place with a suitable temperature during the day in winter."
However, these suggestions are more difficult to implement, and are considered by car owners to make driving a "stressful mountain".
This is also the reason why electric vehicles are jokingly called "electric daddies". "Car companies can't solve the problem of charging piles themselves, so they have to work hard where they can." He Jijiang, executive vice president of the Energy Transition and Social Development Research Center of Tsinghua University, said.
Poor mileage in winter discourages consumers
The poor winter endurance of electric vehicles has always been a much-criticized problem, but in recent years, the number of domestic electric vehicles has still achieved substantial growth. In 2021, domestic new energy passenger car sales and penetration rates have increased year-on-year.
According to the data released by the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, the penetration rate of domestic new energy passenger vehicles in January-December 2021 was 14.8%, which was significantly higher than the penetration rate of 5.8% in 2020. In terms of sales, new energy passenger vehicles sold approximately 2.904 million units, up 158% year-on-year. In this regard, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, also raised the expected sales target of new energy passengers in 2022.
In January last year, when Weilai released ET7, it officially said that the endurance was as high as more than 1,000 kilometers. In December, GAC Aeon said that the new 1,000km endurance silicon anode battery will also be mass-produced in the fourth quarter, and the first model to be equipped with it is gac Aion AION LX. In addition, SAIC's high-end brand Zhiji Automobile also announced that its models will be equipped with a battery with silicon-doped lithium supplement technology, which can achieve a maximum range of more than 1,000 kilometers, and is expected to be listed within two years.
For a time, the 1000km endurance has become a new publicity gimmick for electric vehicle companies. However, models with high range may also pose safety issues. The industry believes that it is not necessary for car companies to launch models with a range of 1000km, and it is not easy to achieve commercialization.
Generally speaking, when consumers buy electric vehicles, one of the most important parameters is the mileage. Manufacturers target this pain point, and when launching new cars, they often focus on marketing their mileage to attract consumers' attention.
For example, most car companies will announce the battery life at a constant speed of 60 kilometers per hour and the endurance measured by the NEDC working condition standard, but these two standards do not truly reflect the true mileage of electric vehicles under complex working conditions.
In 2019, Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Auto, once angrily rebuked on Weibo that 60 is a false mileage number, "I saw that many domestic car brands with heads and faces were still using 60 constant speed to promote their own mileage when promoting electric vehicles, and even directly pasted such false mileage numbers on the rear of the car." ”
Subsequently, electric vehicle manufacturers, including Weilai, basically removed the publicity of the maximum mileage and only used the NEDC comprehensive endurance logo. However, Li Mengliang, senior chief expert of China Automotive Technology and Research Center, once pointed out that the NEDC working condition test has shortcomings such as short test time, small mileage, and simple test methods, and does not reflect the actual use of the situation.
For electric vehicles, high-speed cruising, rapid acceleration and climbing are the most expensive links, so many car owners share their long-distance travel of electric vehicles, in order to reduce the decline in mileage, the speed can only be maintained at 90km/h, while the high-speed requirement is 120km/h.
However, the endurance difference of electric vehicles in winter is almost common knowledge, manufacturers of course understand the user's pain points, so in the promotion will emphasize their NEDC endurance, and will not specifically explain how much its mileage has shrunk in winter.
At present, the thermal insulation measures of electric vehicle models have been improved, and many car companies have adopted the way of increasing electric heat pump systems, such as Weilai EC6, Xiaopeng P5, and BYD's dolphin based on the e-platform 3.0.
But at the heart of the problem, it has not been solved. Previously, Hua Jianfeng, chairman of the Ouyang Minggao Academician Workstation, said that to solve the problem of low temperature endurance, it is necessary to change the power battery material, or use some new electrochemical methods, but it is not realistic to achieve it at present.
The sharp decline in winter battery life has made many potential northern electric vehicle consumers hesitate and turn to hybrid or range extended products, and even fuel vehicles.
"An electric car can only be driven for three quarters a year, and it is basically not used in winter." One Beijing car owner said, "That's the equivalent of buying three-quarters of a car." ”
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