We all know that in the era of fuel vehicles, Toyota cars have high reliability and relatively conservative design. If you count the Prius Hybrid, Toyota has been electrified for more than 20 years, including heV, PHEV, EV, FCEV and other different models.
Toyota has a data here, that is, their battery, motor, PCU and other three-electric system potential core technology after 4 generations of development, recorded 0 battery system accidents. Although we can't verify this 0 accident, we really haven't heard of accidents such as spontaneous combustion in Toyota's batteries.
Toyota is building its own all-electric models – including the Toyota bZ 4X, Lexus RZ450e, etc. – all of which are pure electric vehicles based on the e-TNGA architecture.
In the era of EVs, battery safety management and long life, Toyota also has its own design concept. Let's take a look at how Toyota does it:
Toyota bZ 4X is jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, it is based on the e-TNGA architecture, and the battery cells use the battery jointly developed and produced by CATL (CATL Era). In terms of battery thermal management, Toyota mainly completes it independently.
There are two main reasons for the aging of lithium batteries: First, the normal number of charge and discharge. However, if the life of the normal rechargeable battery is very long, the most feared thing is to repeatedly charge and discharge rapidly, the battery will age within 1 to 2 years after use.
The second is that internal chemical changes lead to gradual aging, resulting in a reduction in battery capacity. In addition to time and material issues affecting aging, a constant state of high temperatures accelerates aging.
In response to the first case, the Toyota bZ 4X method controls the charge amount in an area that is not susceptible to aging to suppress battery aging, so it designs a battery temperature control system that stabilizes the battery output and can suppress battery aging. Through continuous battery status management, we deal with unexpected failures inside the battery.
For example, under each battery cell, there is a battery electric heating device, which is a method of ensuring the temperature of the battery, and the experiment proves that the charging time can be shortened by more than half at most when charged to a full state.
Moreover, Toyota has tested that even in the harshest -30 ° C environment, it can ensure that the battery heats up to a reasonable temperature within a certain period of time (8 hours).
In response to the second type of aging, the Toyota bZ 4X seeks to suppress battery aging in terms of battery material, battery pack construction, and control system. So that in the process of Toyota's electrification, Toyota will also use the advantages of the industrial chain such as parts and supporting facilities to ensure this safety and reliability.
Seeing the operation of the Toyota bZ 4X, we know the secret to ensuring the safety and durability of the battery in the charge and discharge range - to control the temperature within a reasonable range.
In fact, for the thermal management of batteries, newly developed new cars based on pure electric platforms have a way to deal with them. In the end, it depends on which of the solutions is really effective.
For example, as early as 2018 released Jaguar I-PACE, winter can be booked through the APP, the I-PACE plugged in the charging cable will use the external power supply to heat the cabin and battery pack in advance before you set off, and the design of this item can add dozens of kilometers of cruising range to I-PACE.
In addition, during the driving process, the rapid acceleration will cause the battery to heat up significantly in a short period of time, and the liquid cooling management around the battery pack keeps the I-PACE battery in the best condition.
Toyota bZ 4X protection for battery safety, the second case mentioned is often easy to overlook.
In fact, the cause of many battery fires is not in the process of charging and discharging, but due to structural failure and battery leakage. Vehicle power battery design is to fix the battery pack in the battery box, the entire system design if the material and structure is not passed to cause trouble, the manufacturing process welding and assembly is not rigorous.
Although everyone often sees the manufacturer advertise, their battery protection is very good, and the box of the battery pack is getting stronger and stronger.
But a reminder is that most of the batteries of electric vehicles are designed at the bottom of the car, and it is also one of the most vulnerable parts to collisions, so don't listen to the propaganda of those manufacturers, what "electric vehicles do not need maintenance" and the like. There's no harm in checking the battery case more often.