On March 26, the 2022 Annual Power Day of "Heart of China" was held in a combination of online and offline. More than 30 corporate guests from "China Heart" 2021 Top Ten Engines, Top Ten New Energy Vehicle Power Systems, and Powertrain Components reviewed the new trends of automotive power technology in 2021 with experts from the automotive industry, opening a new direction for the "China Heart" 2022 annual activities.
The dual-carbon strategy guides the direction of automotive power development
In 2021, under the strong public pressure of the "ban on combustion" in the global automotive industry, Chinese auto companies will keep up with the trend of electrification and make faster and faster progress in terms of power, fuel economy and emissions. In the list of the top ten engines in 2021, the 1.5T engine is still the mainstream, the company still adheres to the pursuit of hybrid high thermal efficiency engine, and the application of advanced technologies such as variable compression ratio technology and variable cycle control is accelerating...
Xu Min, dean of the Automotive Engineering Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and director of the expert review committee of the "China Heart" Annual Top Ten Engine Selection, reviewed the fundamentals of engine technology in 2021 online for the participating companies, and commented on the technical highlights of last year's award-winning models, the architectural differences between different enterprises in the hybrid route and the trend of new technology application. "We noticed that engine technology has rapidly shifted from downsizing to increasing liters of power to new tracks that pursue high thermal efficiency. The research and development of new technologies and the acceleration of industrialization have created new possibilities for improving the technical indicators of engines. Some car companies have formed their own characteristics in some refined technologies. Xu Min said.
Xu Min believes that the future dual-carbon strategy will guide the future development direction of automobile power. Specifically, high thermal efficiency has become the main target of the internal combustion engine, and hybrid is the main technical path for the power of the internal combustion engine in vehicles. Low-carbon and carbon-neutral fuels are key to achieving carbon neutrality. "There is no doubt that full-life cycle carbon emissions are the scientific criterion for evaluating the diversified power technology route." He said.
"In 2021, mainland car sales reached 26.275 million units, which already accounts for one-third of global car sales. Under such a huge market volume, the promotion and application of carbon reduction and emission reduction technology as soon as possible is of great significance. Shi Jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said.
When reviewing the development of powertrain components last year, we found a new trend: under the long-term control of the global epidemic, car companies have driven a new round of localization of parts and components out of the needs of safe and controllable automotive industry chain. The attention of the main engine factory to domestic parts and components enterprises has further heated up, the proportion of domestic parts and components has increased significantly, and the application of new engine technologies has also been reflected in the new products of parts and components. It is foreseeable that in the process of great changes brought about by the new four modernizations of automobiles, the entire parts industry will have the opportunity to cooperate with vehicle enterprises to overcome core technologies around electrification and intelligent innovation and development, crack the 'card neck' problem, accelerate cross-border integration between industries, and reconstruct the new ecology of the automobile supply chain.
New energy vehicles enter the era of private car consumption will usher in the market "big test"
"China Heart" 2021 top ten energy vehicle power system and its mounted models, from the perspective of the power platform, including electric, plug-in hybrid, range extender all three technical routes, but most of the products are based on pure electric drive systems. From the product positioning, the differentiation of models is more obvious, both the hot-selling models with close prices and the pure electric models with strong power and facing the high-end market fully reflect the diversified needs of consumers. Reviewing the market in the past year, it can be found that new energy vehicles have moved towards the era of private car consumption.
The rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market also confirms this. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China showed explosive growth in 2021, reaching 3.545 million and 3.521 million units respectively, with a year-on-year growth rate of 159.5% and 157.5%, far higher than the growth rate of traditional fuel vehicles. This year's government work report has also proposed that it will continue to support the consumption of new energy vehicles.
Tan Yuesheng, global vice president and president of BorgWarner, said that sales of new energy vehicles have exceeded the 3.5 million mark in 2021, including electric drive systems and components supporting BorgWarner. Tan Yuesheng said that BorgWarner, which has fully turned to electrification, is willing to put the latest technology in the field of new energy vehicles into the Chinese market and work with car companies to promote the development of new energy vehicles in the Chinese market.
However, for many new energy automobile companies, there are still many challenges to go steady and far. In March this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Notice on the Recall of Automobiles and Consumer Goods nationwide in 2021", showing that in 2021, the mainland implemented 59 recalls of new energy vehicles, involving 830,000 vehicles, accounting for 9.5% of the total number of car recalls in the whole year; the number of new energy vehicle recalls and the number of recalls increased by 31.1% and 75.9% over the previous year. Affected by the State Administration of Market Regulation's defect investigation, there were 54 recalls, involving 2.561 million vehicles, accounting for 29.3% of the total number of recalls in the whole year. It accounts for 52.5% of the defect clues of new energy vehicles. This warns companies to always put the safety of new energy vehicles in the same important position as market growth.
Hou Fushen, deputy secretary-general of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, said that it is expected that new energy automobile enterprises will continue to exert efforts to improve quality and enrich product types while resisting the pressure of current raw material price increases and unstable supply chains, and explore a high-quality development path.
Advocate enterprises to donate the latest engine to build a public welfare platform for production, education and research
Donating engines is an important part of the 2022 Power Day of "China Heart" on that day, and it is also a traditional public welfare of the "Chinese Heart" platform. "Since the first session of 'China Heart' held in 2006, we have actively advocated and called on major auto companies to donate award-winning power system prototypes to domestic universities, so that future automotive engineers can understand the best power system products in China." Over the past sixteen years, our initiative has received a warm response from award-winning companies, and many award-winning power system prototypes have continued to enter universities and be applied to scientific research and teaching. Yang Jianjun, editor-in-chief of Automotive and Sports Magazine, said that "China Heart" is a platform to promote technical exchanges and progress in the automotive industry, and it is also a platform to promote industry-university-research cooperation between schools and enterprises. Advocating enterprises to donate engines to major universities can not only help improve the scientific research and academic level of China's internal combustion engine, but also greatly promote the research and development and exchange of schools and enterprises.
The companies donated this year are SAIC-GM and GAC Trumpchi. SAIC-GM donated an eighth-generation Ecotec 1.5T four-cylinder turbocharged engine to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. GAC Trumpchi will donate the third-generation 1.5T GDI engine of Julang Power to Tsinghua University, Tongji University, Jilin University, Beijing Institute of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with a total of five units.
Ge Yunshan, director of the National Professional Laboratory for Automotive Dynamics and Emission Testing at Beijing Institute of Technology, attended the donation ceremony as a representative of the university. "We are very grateful to SAIC-GM and GAC Trumpchi for the engines donated to universities, which represent the latest technical level at home and abroad in terms of power, economy, thermal efficiency, emissions and other indicators." This is of great significance for teachers and students of colleges and universities to understand the development trend and trend of technical level at home and abroad, and also helps to enhance the young students' love for the automotive power major. Ge Yunshan said.
From the "China Heart" annual top ten engines to the "China Heart" annual top ten new energy vehicle power system, and then to the "China Heart" annual powertrain parts, "China Heart" has gone through a 16-year process. "On the platform of 'China Heart', we have successfully brought together all the enterprises of the automotive power system, discussed China's future power trends through open exchanges such as power tasting sessions and China Automotive Power Technology Conferences, and coordinated with all parties in the industry to promote technological development, which is the value of the 'China Heart' platform." Yang Jianjun said that the relevant activities of "China Heart" in 2022 have been launched, and will continue to promote technical exchanges and progress between industries in the fields of engines, new energy vehicle power systems, powertrain components, and intelligent network connections.