2021 can be called the beginning of a new era of electric pickup trucks, although the tesla Cybertronck, which is known as a subversive product, has repeatedly jumped the ticket, but the emergence of four products of Ford F-150 Lightning, Hummer EV, Rivian R1T and Chevrolet Silverado EV has continued the topic of electric pickup trucks, and the future Ram 1500 EV, GMC EV and Toyota electric pickup truck will also be available. The electric pickup truck boom originating in the United States has reshaped pickup truck products, which will inject new thinking into the development of the pickup truck industry and have a great impact on the development and evolution of pickup truck models.
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The development process of world mechanical technology and the development of human civilization are closely linked, and power machinery in different periods has its own characteristics, which have promoted the leap-forward development of human society. The application of primary technologies such as wheels has promoted a fundamental change in the way humans travel; the steam engine has promoted the first industrial revolution, and mankind has entered the "industrial age"; the internal combustion engine has dominated the second industrial revolution, and social productivity has achieved leapfrog progress. Nowadays, with the energy crisis, environmental pollution, global warming and other problems gradually becoming prominent, mankind is undergoing the fourth power technology exploration, that is, the new energy revolution represented by electric energy.
Electric drives are not really a new concept, and they were born even earlier than the internal combustion engine. As early as 1834, the first practical motor in human history was born, and four years later, in 1838, the first electric transmission device in human history was born. However, due to the limitations of storage media, charging efficiency, basic physical theory, energy supply and other factors, electric drives have not been paid close attention to by the civilian automotive industry until the 21st century, and have become the main development trend of the passenger car market, and even commercial and dual-use products such as pickup trucks.
The most intuitive product experience brought by the motor drive is the great improvement of power performance, the fuel power system has a large physical upper limit due to thermal efficiency and space occupation problems, and the electric drive system is more flexible, the power output is stronger, and the space constraint is smaller. At present, the electric drive system equipped with new energy vehicles is mainly AC induction motors and permanent magnet synchronous motors, and more advanced wheel motors. The hub motor can independently control each wheel, which is more efficient, better steering control, less space occupation, and better performance than traditional fuel vehicles.
Hummer EV as the most explosive performance parameters of the pickup truck products, the maximum power of 736kW / peak torque of 1626N·m, 100 km/h acceleration in just 3 seconds, CrabWalk (crab mode) can allow four wheels to turn in the same direction at the same angle, to achieve diagonal driving; Rivian R1T maximum power 614kW / peak torque 1230N·m, 100 km/h acceleration takes only 3.5 seconds, which can be achieved by clicking on the separate control, and the wheels on both sides rotate in the opposite direction to achieve a real sense of in-situ rotation tank U-turn, with a level of maneuverability and power that far exceeds that of fuel pickup trucks. Ford F-150 Lightning, Tesla Cyberruck, Chevrolet Solod EV and other products also have performance parameters far superior to traditional internal combustion engine pickup trucks, and have different functions of four-wheel steering mode, giving full play to the advantages of motor drive.
Domestic pickup trucks are subject to emission regulations, fuel prices, truck attributes and other factors, and need to find a balance between power and fuel economy, and it is difficult to provide power performance comparable to overseas products at the technical level of the internal combustion engine. The introduction of high-quality motor drive systems, the transition from the traditional internal combustion engine drive to the hybrid mode, and the development of advanced pure electric drive systems may become an excellent way for domestic pickup trucks to upgrade performance, expand functions, upgrade products, promote brands, and catch up with international mainstream brands. At the same time, the introduction of new energy technology will become an important boost for domestic pickup trucks to break through the restrictions of truck attributes and break into the passenger car consumer group.
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Hummer EV, Rivian R1T, Tesla Cyberruck and other emerging electric pickup products can get high attention from the market, in addition to the appearance of blood-pumping performance parameters, the exploration of multi-functional practical attributes is also of reference significance. Can you imagine that in today's very serious anxiety about the range of electric vehicles, a car product with super performance will take the power output function as the main functional feature? The object of the output power supply is not small electrical appliances, but electric vehicles, houses, and large electric machinery tools. I believe many people will scoff at this, but the Americans have done just that.
Taking the F-150 Lightning as an example, as the product with the shortest mileage (482km) and the lowest battery pack capacity (110-145kWh) among the five electric pickup trucks that have been released or delivered, Ford is equipped with a professional on-board power management system, providing 120V, 240V, USB and other power supply interfaces, which can output a stable current of 7.2-9.6kW. It can provide power support in scenarios such as field camping, engineering construction, outdoor rescue, etc., and can even be used as a home power supply unit to power the house for three days, which can charge and last for other electric vehicles. The reference significance of power output technology is not in the technology itself, but in the way of thinking in the expansion of product functions.
The United States is a large country of electricity consumption, the United States pickup truck users are the main force of power consumption, agriculture and forestry planting, engineering infrastructure, water conservancy and post and telecommunications, off-road crossing, camping and fishing and other commonly used scenes of pickup trucks are huge demand for power supply, power output technology can save users the cost of purchasing independent generators. When natural disasters strike, mobile powered vehicles can also be used as temporary emergency rescue tools, and pickup trucks with transmission technology such as the F-150 will play a key role in the Blizzard disaster in the United States in 2021. Therefore, although the power output technology will affect the battery life, it can provide greater help in planned travel and make full use of the maximum characteristics of electric vehicle products.
The design of overseas electric pickup trucks in terms of space utilization also follows this concept, most of them have a front load compartment, which can shelter the wind and rain to improve the passenger attributes of the pickup truck, while retaining the versatility of the open cargo box. In addition to the front load compartment, the Bollinger electric pickup truck enables front-to-back penetration; the Rivian R1T designs a through-the-line hidden storage space at the container and cockpit connections; and the Chevrolet Silverado EV has a multi-segment structural container that makes full and reasonable use of every detail of the product.
At present, domestic pickup trucks are actually expanding multi-functional practical attributes, but most of the product development ideas do not grasp the fundamental essence of practicality, and various official special models and cooperative modification products still stay on the basis of the main appearance and stacking configuration, and do not really consider the real needs of users. The exploration of the multi-functional attributes of domestic pickup trucks should learn from the concept of overseas pickup trucks starting from actual value to ensure that the practical value of multi-functional attributes of pickup trucks is maximized.
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Whether it is the application of the electric drive system or the expansion of multi-functional attributes, reflected in the product development and design process, its core thinking is modular architecture. Modular architecture and platform emphasize the same versatility, the purpose is to shorten the development cycle, reduce development and manufacturing costs, but the core of the modular architecture from a single object concept to a system concept, the use of building blocks thinking to continuously replace the architecture components, to maintain product forward-looking and advanced. A car's power module, electrical module, chassis module, body module, etc. can be freely combined like Lego bricks, and the module interface has been standardized and shared at the beginning of the architecture design, so the R & D personnel can easily achieve the free combination and collocation of different modules on the same architecture, and develop different models.
In short, the modular architecture can give enterprises greater production flexibility, so that the new car development cycle is greatly shortened, the difficulty of product diversity expansion is greatly reduced, and the constraints are minimized to achieve flexible development and production. Hummer EV, Rivian R1T and other electric pickup products are based on modular architecture to build, its architecture system to adapt to the small, medium, full-size pickup truck wide range of product range, battery pack, motor drive system, intelligent technology configuration and other aspects can be replaced and reorganized according to the needs, can be quickly developed for different user groups needs of the corresponding products.
Take the Volkswagen MQB we are familiar with as an example, there are polo, golf, Maiten, CC, Touron and a series of models, the length of less than 4 meters of small car polo and the length of more than 5 meters of medium and large SUV Touron system out of the same origin, which in the car production many years ago is unimaginable, and this is the magic of modularity. In the future vision of mainstream car brands, through the modular architecture, even the maximum exclusive customization of each car can be realized, and consumers can freely choose the desired functional configuration, appearance style and powertrain in the component catalog.
At present, China's pickup truck industry is undergoing industrial upgrading, pursuing passengerization, diversification and intelligence, trying to meet the personalized needs of consumers through the high segmentation of pickup truck products, and achieving the purpose of breaking into the passenger car consumer population. The modular architecture can help domestic pickup truck brands to achieve rapid advancement in this process, and optimize and upgrade each component of the product according to the market demand, so as to ensure the rapid launch of products that meet the new market demand. Modular architecture can also enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of Chinese pickup truck brands, modular architecture is an important embodiment of the comprehensive capabilities of international car enterprises such as R&D capabilities, production management level, enterprise financial strength and supply chain integration.
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