Per reporter: Dong Tianyi Per editor: Pei Jianru
A few days ago, according to Yonhap News Agency, an official of the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) confirmed that the agency is investigating Tesla, saying that it exaggerated the battery performance of models sold in South Korea in advertising, suspected of violating South Korea's Act on Label Fairing and Advertising.
According to the report, some Tesla models, including the Model 3, will have a decrease in endurance when driving in sub-zero environments or on the highway, and the above situation is not noted in Tesla's official website and advertisements. It is reported that the official website shows that the single-charge mileage of Tesla Model 3 is 528 kilometers.
"We plan to hold a meeting to decide on the penalties for Tesla." The report quoted the above-mentioned officials as saying that at present, the KFTC has initiated the penalty procedure and will decide the punishment after convening a meeting of 9 members, including the leaders of the anti-monopoly agency. According to the report, Tesla did not immediately comment on the matter.
In addition, the KFTC also plans to impose penalties on Tesla's non-refundable deposit policy. It is reported that When a Korean consumer orders a car on Tesla's official website, he needs to pay a deposit of 100,000 won (about 531 yuan), but after the consumer cancels the order, regardless of whether the vehicle is shipped or not, this payment will not be refunded. The KFTC believes that the above rules infringe on the rights and interests of consumers.
Image source: Visual China
According to public information, the KFTC is the agency responsible for economic competition regulation in South Korea. Established in 1981 by the Korea Economic Planning Commission, it is now separated into an independent Korean ministerial central administrative organization. Tesla is not the first car company to be punished by the KFTC. Previously, Mercedes-Benz and its South Korean subsidiary were also fined 20.2 billion won (about 107 million yuan) by the KFTC for false propaganda.
In fact, the problem of shrinking the winter battery life of electric vehicles is not uncommon, and the reason may be related to the difference in test standards. Taking the "NEDC" working condition standard, which has long been the test standard for fuel consumption and electric vehicle mileage of mainland motor vehicles, as an example, the test method is to put the electric vehicle on the bench of the laboratory, turn off the energy-consuming configuration such as air conditioning, headlights, and audio, simulate 4 urban conditions and 1 suburban working condition test, and stipulate that the indoor temperature in the test is in the range of 20 °C ~ 30 °C. Among them, the working conditions of the four urban areas are the same, the maximum speed is 50km/h, the average speed is 19km/h, to simulate road driving, traffic jams, traffic lights and other road conditions, while the maximum speed of vehicles when driving in the suburbs is 120km/h, and the average speed is 62km/h, thus simulating national highways, highways and other road conditions.
It can be seen that although the road conditions simulated by the NEDC working condition test cover almost all the road conditions involved in daily travel, the test does not fully consider the product characteristics of electric vehicles, for example, it does not consider the power consumption of on-board electrical appliances, including air conditioning, audio, seat heating, etc.; nor does it consider the actual use environment of electric vehicles, such as power consumption under high temperature and low temperature driving. The simple test method and the overly ideal test environment directly lead to the actual mileage of the electric vehicle being difficult to reach the mileage under THEDC working conditions, which also makes the problem of the "virtual endurance" of the electric vehicle criticized.
In February 2021, the mandatory national standard (GB19578-2021) of the "Fuel Consumption Limit for Passenger Vehicles" formulated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was approved and issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China, and was officially implemented on July 1 of the same year. In this standard, the "WLTC" with a more stringent test standard replaces the "NEDC" and becomes the new "ruler" for evaluating the range of electric vehicles.
According to the mandatory national standard (GB19578-2021) of the "Fuel Consumption Limit for Passenger Cars", by 2025, the test conditions of traditional energy passenger cars and plug-in hybrid electric passenger cars will be switched from "NEDC" to "WLTC". This may mean that after the implementation of the WLTC standard, the mileage of electric vehicles will be closer to the actual endurance, and the phenomenon of "virtual endurance" will be reduced.
On the other hand, lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP), which are increasingly favored by car companies, are also another reason for the "shrinkage" of electric vehicles in winter.
Some industry insiders believe that the main reason for the shrinkage of the mileage of electric vehicles lies in the battery. As the temperature decreases in winter and the resistance of the electrochemical reaction of the electrolyte increases, the battery capacity decreases, resulting in a reduction in cruising range. Among them, lithium iron phosphate battery in the °C environment capacity retention rate of about 60% ~ 70%, attenuation to 40% ~ 55% at minus 10 ° C, minus 20 ° C only 20% ~ 40%, and ternary lithium battery at -20 ° C conditions can still maintain normal battery capacity of about 70% ~ 80%, winter for models equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries is undoubtedly "worse".
However, thanks to the cost advantage, lithium iron phosphate batteries have become one of the main power battery technology routes used by various car companies. According to the data released by the Power Battery Innovation Alliance, in 2021, the cumulative installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries in mainland China will be 79.8GWh, accounting for 51.7% of the total installed capacity, an increase of 227.4% year-on-year.
In terms of car companies, relevant data show that Tesla's current sales of model 3 and Model Y models in mainland China with lithium iron phosphate battery versions account for nearly 80%, for the standard endurance version of Model 3 and Modern Y, Tesla is also gradually adjusting to carry lithium iron phosphate batteries; BYD's models with lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries The proportion of use has also increased from 5.5:4.5 in 2020 to 9.4:0.6 in 2021.
Image source: Daily Economic News Infographic
"With the large-scale use of lithium iron phosphate batteries by leading enterprises represented by Tesla, the entire industry has gradually changed its previous prejudice against lithium iron phosphate batteries and let them out of the low-end dilemma." Li Liang, deputy general manager of Gaodian (Shenzhen) Technology Company, said in an interview with the Financial Associated Press that in the case of the gradual decline of the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, the era of high energy density in exchange for high subsidies has ended, and lithium iron phosphate batteries with better safety and higher cost performance have entered the vision of most car companies. At present, any kind of battery material has its own advantages and disadvantages, and no one can beat the invincible hand in the world, and the fight is cost-effective.
Daily economic news