The owners of Weima have no choice.
The "locking the electric door" incident, which had been silent for more than half a year and thought that the dust had settled, was once again pushed into the public eye before the arrival of 315 in 2022.
A Wei ma owner claimed on Weibo that this would be "the last time all users of WM rights protection call out To Shen Hui and WM Motors". The owner of the car said that for "WM's private power lock and the follow-up storm caused by it", WM has not directly docked with rights protection users.
We may wish to review the power lock incident of Weima again: back in May 2021, some Weima owners found that their Weima EX5 actual mileage dropped by 50 kilometers compared with the original after receiving free maintenance in summer. Subsequently, more and more Owners of Wei Carriages in the same situation occurred. Some car owners found that after the BMS (battery management system) upgrade of WM manufacturers, the full voltage of the battery was reduced from 408V to 397V, resulting in a 15% reduction in cruising range.
The term "lock electricity" also began in the owner circle of WM from then on, so that the entire automotive industry later prevailed. The industry has given a professional explanation for "locking electricity": it means that car companies lock the SOC (battery charge state) by rewriting the BMS battery management system of electric vehicles, which in turn affects the battery capacity and charging and discharging performance.
Wei ma car owners began to collectively defend their rights, believing that WM motors "without the consent of the owner, without the consent of the owner, by upgrading the BMS software, setting the upper and lower thresholds for charging and discharging to reduce the hidden danger of battery defects, resulting in a serious contraction of the vehicle's mileage", and there are huge safety risks in the battery.
The media began to pay attention, but Weima remained unmoved. In addition to inviting users back to the store for testing and saying that the test results are "all right", the behavior of "locking the power" is almost "zero response".
In the denunciation of "locking electricity", people found that "locking electricity" is not just a case of Weima. The ensuing GAC Toyota iA5 "power lock" incident, its momentum almost covered up the limelight of Weima, allowing Weima to breathe.
It is also GAC Toyota that, without informing customers and with their permission, upgraded the battery management system BMS through a background OTA for a large number of GAC Toyota iA5 models produced before June 2020, artificially reducing the usable capacity of the car's power battery. After the fermentation of the Internet, this matter once made headlines in major media, and eventually attracted the Intervention of the State Administration of Market Regulation. But to this day, GAC Toyota, like WM, has not made any formal conclusions and replies to the "power lock" incident.
If you search carefully on the web, you will also find more brands and cases of "locking the power":
Gac AEION S, which is homologous to GAC Toyota iA5, has already had the problem of "locking electricity" as early as 2020. It was only when the "locked electricity" was finally recognized by the manufacturer, and the car owner was given a 1,000 yuan care package per person at that time, which did not cause greater waves.
In March last year, the owner of baic motor EX360 broke the news that after the official recall system was upgraded, the car had problems such as speed reduction, shortened endurance and steering wheel weight, and the vehicle was suspected of being "locked".
Since July 2020, SAIC Roewe has officially upgraded the Roewe ERX5 system, after which some owners found that the endurance was reduced by nearly 100 kilometers. By May 2021, there were again complaints from saic motor Roewe ERX5 owners, questioning that the vehicle was secretly "locked" after the system upgrade.
At the end of September 2021, some Euler IQ owners told the media, "After the recall in July, the manufacturer did not give a solution approved by our car owners, but only went to the door to give the BMS a mandatory upgrade, but the upgrade follow-up mileage became shorter, and the charging time became longer." Although it is not pointed out, experienced people will think of "locking the electricity" when they look at it.
Searching for the keyword "lock electricity" on the car quality network, we can also see that some pure electric models of Changan and Geely have been complained by car owners that they are suspected of locking electricity. Even Tesla, as the leader in the field of electric vehicles, has also adopted protective upgrades for older models through OTA software upgrades in 2019 to control the available power and charging speed.
It's just that these behaviors have not attracted much attention like Weima and Guangfeng. Except for gac ace, the rest of the manufacturers did not make a positive response to the "locking power".
Some industry experts believe that most new energy vehicles can be upgraded with OTA software, but the specific parameters of power batteries are difficult for third-party institutions to obtain and test. Even if the vehicle is locked in electricity, if the mileage reduction is small, the user generally cannot easily determine whether the power is locked. However, because the data is not public, "locking electricity" cannot be regarded as an industry "unspoken rule" now.
But in fact, the default behavior of all car companies is essentially an "unspoken rule". It is just that there is no conclusion as to whether the use of this "rule" is correct, reasonable or not.
Behind this is the contradiction between the blind pursuit of high mileage and the safety of immature technology in the industry and the market. As a manufacturer, car companies are not willing to face this contradiction, which should be paid by the enterprise, but in the end it is the user who pays the bill.
Similar foreign rights protection incidents on the attenuation of power battery mileage have made new progress. In May 2021, Norway penalized Tesla's old Model S and Model X batteries for attenuation. I think it is time for the domestic car companies' "power locking" behavior last time CCTV's 315. (Text/UVIS car old cannon) Note: The picture comes from the network, the rights belong to the original author, thank you together! This article only represents the personal views of the author and does not represent the position of Univision Automobile.