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◆ On March 26, Li Xiang, founder and chairman of Ideal Automobile, said in the 2022 China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum: "It is precisely because it meets the needs of users, so Ideal ONE has a very good market performance in the past, we have counted all electric vehicles, fuel vehicles, PHEV together, in the past year to achieve the first place in the Chinese market in large-scale SUVs, but also a rare model in China that can achieve a price of more than 300,000 monthly sales of more than 10,000 models. This is true recognition from users and the market. ”
One day in 2016, Li wanted to walk into the office and write on the whiteboard "Make a big extended range car, for family users."
At that time, when electric vehicles had just begun to sprout in China, range extenders were not optimistic about the industry. BMW i3, Buick VELITE 5 and other models have folded, making latecomers prohibitive.
But even so, Li Xiang also insisted on taking the extender route, and even at that time, some investors told him that "I can invest in you, but the premise is to change to pure electricity", and Li Xiang was not moved. But it turned out that Lee wanted to gamble right.
In 2021, the delivery volume of the ideal ONE of extended-range electric vehicles was 90,419 units, an increase of 177.4% year-on-year, becoming the only high-end brand of new energy in China to sell more than 10,000 models per month.
On March 26, Li Xiang, founder and chairman of Ideal Automobile, said in the 2022 China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum: "It is precisely because it meets the needs of users, so Ideal ONE has a very good market performance in the past, we have counted all electric vehicles, fuel vehicles, AND PHEVs together, in the past year to achieve the first place in the Chinese market in large-scale SUVs, but also a rare model in China that can achieve a price of more than 300,000 monthly sales of more than 10,000 models. This is true recognition from users and the market. ”
It is not so much a "gamble" as it is its unique insight into products, technologies and users, which has achieved the ideal ONE.
Li wanted to say: "How we should look at the energy market, and how we should look at how passenger cars use energy, we think the two main cores." The first is what the people need, and the second is what the government needs. These two can be combined to achieve long-term healthy development. ”
From the initial controversy to the gradual recognition of the market, the extended range electric vehicle has gradually become an independent concept and a technical route from the non-mainstream, which has made the new energy automobile industry have a new understanding and thinking about the extended range electric vehicle.
What is a range extender electric vehicle?
"Range extender" literally means increasing the range of electric vehicles. The power system of extended range vehicles is mainly composed of range extenders, motors, batteries, and vehicle controllers. Compared with pure electric vehicles, the main difference is that there is an extra range extender.
The range extender is simply the engine. In general, pure electric mode is used, and when the battery energy is not enough to provide power, the range extender intervenes. The engine here does not directly drive the motor, but drives the generator to generate electrical energy to transmit to the motor, which is then converted into mechanical energy to drive the vehicle. Simply put, the traditional fuel engine is used as a "charging treasure" to charge the vehicle battery and provide a steady stream of electricity, while the engine itself does not participate in the drive of the vehicle, and the owner can enjoy the driving experience of the pure tram without worrying about the short mileage.
Yang Yusheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has a test ride view of these vehicles that the fuel saving of the extender car under hybrid conditions is much higher than that of the plug-in hybrid vehicle, because the internal combustion engine has small power and generates electricity under the best working conditions (the best fuel consumption point), which can save more than 50% of fuel. The most important thing is that this kind of car can completely rely on ground charging stations, which is greatly convenient for users. Therefore, Academician Yang Yusheng believes that this kind of car is the easiest to market.
But in fact, there have always been various doubts about the range extender in the industry. For a long time, the range-extending technology route has been in a marginal position in the industry, and in the controversy, in addition to the ideal car mentioned above, domestic car companies such as Geely and GAC have tried to enter this field.
At the 2019 World New Energy Vehicle Conference, Wan Gang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, pointed out in the face of media questions that the hybrid engine and fuel cell engine of the extended range electric vehicle are one of the key contents of the mainland's future research and development.
Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, also pointed out that promoting the development of plug-in hybrids to extended-range hybrids is the best technical route to cope with the decline of subsidies and move towards marketization, and is also in line with the current development direction advocated by the state.
Subsequently, the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" put forward a new idea, clearly dividing the controversial new energy technology solution of "extender" into the plug-in hybrid category, which indicates that in the top-level development plan for new energy vehicles, the extender technology route has finally gained a correct name.
With the advent of the epidemic and the cold flow of the automobile market, the new energy automobile industry in 2020 is full of hardships and bumps, and many new domestic car-making forces have been hit hard. Li wants to repeatedly say in public that the technology of "range extended electric vehicle" has returned to people's attention again.
From controversial to out-of-the-box
Since the large-scale promotion of new energy vehicles, the dispute over technical routes has never stopped.
In September 2020, Volkswagen China CEO Feng Sihan, who has always been cautious in words and deeds, unusually complained about the range extended range vehicles that are currently being discussed at a media communication meeting held by Volkswagen.
Feng Sihan said, "From the perspective of bicycles, range-extended electric vehicles have certain value, but from the perspective of the whole country and the earth, it is simply nonsense and the worst solution!" "The ultimate goal of developing electric vehicles is to reduce carbon emissions, but if it is to burn fossil fuels to generate electricity, there is no need to do so." ”
After Feng Sihan's speech, Wiedermann, who is responsible for the entire Volkswagen Group's China R&D department, further negated the range extender technology route: "Even for bicycles, range extender electric vehicles do not mean much, we were studying the feasibility of range extender electric vehicles a few years ago, and now we are discussing this technology is completely outdated." ”
"Straight man" Li wants to naturally not "swallow his anger", he directly carried out a "reply" on his personal Weibo, and Ideal Auto also responded to Volkswagen on Weibo.
The controversy between Feng Sihan and Li Xiang is only a microcosm of the dispute over the new energy technology route.
From a technical point of view, this controversial route of the ideal choice is quite bold. At the beginning of the birth of the ideal car, if you want to build a medium and large SUV with a price of more than 300,000 yuan and a range of more than 500km, the advantages of pure electric technology over range extender technology are not so great. On the contrary, range extender technology is the only best option that can achieve these technical indicators of the ideal car.
Although pure electric vehicles have undergone years of development, the problem of consumers purchasing parking spaces and charging pile installations criticized by pure electric vehicles still exists, and the extended range electric vehicle is a more in line with the current realistic conditions of the energy solution, while providing many benefits such as smooth electric vehicle power, fast acceleration and response, etc., it is more effective to solve the mileage anxiety caused by the inability to install charging piles and imperfect public fast charging facilities in urban living environments.
At the same time, it is more energy efficient in urban congestion conditions, and the average carbon emissions of range-extended electric vehicles are lower. "Until disruptive innovations and industrializations occur in power battery technology, range-extending technology products can give travel consumers more choice."
There is no shortage of staunch supporters of the range-up route in the industry. Yang Yusheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has repeatedly supported the extender in public. In his view, based on the small amount of battery used in the extender car, the range extender and the battery are composed of a parallel system, the safety is high; the speed of the internal combustion engine is adjusted in the narrow range of the most energy-saving, the thermal efficiency is high; the energy recovery of the braking and downhill process can save 15% to 20% of the fuel, and the range extender car is really energy-saving.
As the world's first extended range electric vehicle with a range of more than 150 kilometers, and the world's first four-wheel drive extender electric vehicle, the ideal car believes that if the mileage can exceed 150 kilometers, it can cover all mainstream large cities in the world, and it can drive in the city with pure electricity without carrying more batteries.
According to the actual results of the operation of the ideal car in the past two years, in the major cities such as beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, the proportion of pure electric mileage of ideal car owners has reached an average of 70%, and the proportion of pure electric driving time has exceeded 80%.
At present, the ideal car can not yet calculate the carbon emissions of the whole chain, but from the car side, the carbon emissions of the ideal car can be reduced by 65% nationwide and 76% in the city.
After the ideal ONE, more and more independent brands such as Dongfeng Lantu and Huawei are entering the range extended range electric vehicle market.
At present, the range extended electric vehicles that have entered the public's sight have the ideal ONE, Xilis SF5, Lantu FREE and many other car companies' products, such as Skyrim Motors, Self-Travel home, etc., and there are many extended range electric vehicles that have been declared and are being developed, which means that the range extended electric vehicles have broken out of their own world in China.
What kind of car is needed under the "double carbon" target?
Striving to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 is an important commitment for China to actively cope with climate change, and new energy vehicles are the only way to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
The "Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" issued by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China put forward six major goals for the development of the mainland automobile industry in 2035, the first of which is: the carbon emissions of the automobile industry will peak in 2028 before the national carbon reduction commitment, and the total carbon emissions in 2035 will be reduced by more than 20% compared with the peak.
In the face of this energy revolution in the automobile industry, the central and local governments have continued to introduce policies to support the supporting infrastructure of new energy vehicles such as charging piles to enhance the convenience of new energy vehicles; enterprises have also begun to help achieve carbon reduction goals from multiple angles such as realization paths and technical routes.
The development of new energy vehicles is the national strategy of the mainland, and range-extended electric vehicles are an important part of new energy vehicles. Nowadays, the ideal car has become the forerunner of the continental extended range electric vehicle, and as the market for extended range electric vehicles gradually matures, the range extended range route may also become an important technical path to promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the mainland transportation field.
To achieve "carbon neutrality", it is more necessary to pay attention to how to build a low-carbon car that consumers are willing to buy, because most consumers will not choose a new energy vehicle just because of low carbon.
In Li Xiang's view, the extended range electric vehicle has truly achieved a key point - urban electricity, which not only meets the convenience needs of users, but also meets the cost needs, and also meets the needs of environmental protection.
When the ideal ONE project was established in 2016, several key points were clarified: first: choose the range extension plan, firmly adhere to the national technology strategy - pure electric drive, and second, predict that the second child family will have high growth. Based on its use scenarios, a pure electric mileage of 150 kilometers is determined to meet the use of the city, and the four-wheel drive positioning is determined to meet the long-distance travel.
Li wants to think that consumer demand for new energy vehicles basically has three points, one is the convenience of energy access, the second is the cost of energy acquisition, the third is environmental protection, as long as the people's home parking space can install a charging pile, at least can ensure that in the urban area will no longer have to go to the gas station, charge less than 1 cent a kilometer at home, go out with public facilities 2 to 4 cent a kilometer, the cost of using fuel is 6 to 8 cents a kilometer. For example, from the perspective of the actual car, if you run a long distance, the extender can also better solve the problem of charging, especially the holiday charging is 4 to 5 times the usual queue, the extender car on the basis of the power battery and then increase gasoline power generation as a backup energy, can be in the case of insufficient battery power to generate electricity, accurately solve the consumer's queuing pain points.
This also coincides with the ideal car put forward a new concept - urban electricity, long-distance power generation, and adherence to pure electric drive. In addition to energy saving, the application of range extenders can alleviate some of the problems in the purchase, use and re-circulation of electric vehicles to a certain extent, in addition, the next generation of range extended electric vehicle platforms can be exchanged for a larger internal space of the car body by improving the energy efficiency of the system and reducing the size of the drive module.
A research report by CITIC Securities has pointed out that Ideal Auto's proprietary range extension system enables customers to take advantage of the advantages of electric vehicles while overcoming the endurance problems caused by battery electric vehicles (BEVs). At the same time, the extended range solution significantly reduces material costs, making the price of the ideal ONE more competitive compared to beV and ICE vehicles in the same class.
Diversification of technical routes has become an industry consensus
In 2021, vehicle sales reached 26.275 million units, ranking first in the world for 13 consecutive years, and sales of new energy vehicles were 3.521 million units, an increase of 160% year-on-year, ranking first in the world.
At present, the mainland automobile industry has entered a period of strategic opportunity for transformation and upgrading, from big to strong, ideal automobile believes that in the future, the extended range electric, hybrid and pure electric will be parallel for a long time, which is the best route combination to accelerate the large-scale replacement of fuel vehicles with new energy and realize the Chinese brand surpassing overseas brands.
In fact, in the policy design of the mainland, the diversification of technical routes has been given the strategic significance of seizing the commanding heights of new energy technology early on.
In 2001, the national "863" plan for electric vehicles major special projects was launched, and the Ministry of Science and Technology hired thirteen experts to form a major special expert group, which put forward a significant "three vertical and three horizontal" overall route for the development of new energy vehicles in China, and clearly pointed out the research and development and industrialization ideas of new energy vehicles.
The so-called "three horizontal" refers to the multi-energy powertrain control system, the motor and its control system and the battery and its management system, while the "three verticals" refer to hybrid vehicles, pure electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles.
According to the Action Plan for The Peak Of Carbon Dioxide Emissions by 2030, by 2030, the proportion of vehicles powered by new and clean energy will reach about 40%. At that time, the central power energy and distributed liquid energy that the mainland will arrange through the power grid will coexist for a long time, and jointly help to achieve the national energy security and double carbon goals.
"The transmission of central energy through the entire power grid, the problem we have to solve is to turn more coal power into green power, which is the goal of "double carbon" and a goal of energy security. On the other hand, in solving the problem of distribution, including chairman Ouyang said, the use of hydrogen for large commercial vehicles is the most important path next. Liquid fuels are characterized by convertible, transportable, and storable, and we will also face an important technical route, which requires not relaxing and continuing to explore how to gradually transform fossil fuels into clean fuels such as hydrogen, so as to more fully realize the autonomy and controllability of the entire energy source, and also achieve the goal of "double carbon". Lee wanted to say.
In this way, the range extended electric vehicle will undoubtedly become an important practice path to achieve the national energy security and "double carbon" goals, in this context, many people in the industry advocate giving relevant incentive policies to extend the range of electric vehicles.
At the 2022 China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, Zhou Lin, general manager of Xilis product line, said that it is recommended that new energy vehicles with extended range do not pay consumption tax and can reflect statistics separately.
In the long run, with the gradual decline of electric vehicle subsidies, the price advantage of pure electric vehicles will become less and less than that of extended trams.
In the view of Guan Chengyi, chief expert of the Beijing Transportation Development Research Institute, the large-scale promotion of new energy vehicles during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period is one of the feasible routes. "In the context of the implementation of the 'double carbon' goal, for large cities with severe carbon emissions, extended-range electric vehicles can meet the needs of pure electric driving in specific areas, and can try to deeply integrate policy routes and use mechanisms." Tian Guangyu, secretary general of the Electric Vehicle Branch of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China and professor of the Department of Automotive Engineering of Tsinghua University, also said that after the subsidy declines or even the subsidy is canceled, the advantages of extended-range electric vehicles will be more prominent. "Through the new generation of extended range technology and a new intelligent operation method, we are very confident that we will reduce carbon emissions in cities by 76% compared to fuel vehicles today, and strive to reduce them by more than 90%." We are also very happy to see that more and more companies are doing the same thing, in the past PHEV was 50, 60 km, today there are a large number of PHEV to do 150 km or even 200 km, I think this is a very effective technical route. Lee wanted to say.
Next, the ideal L9 will be officially released, this car will use a fully self-developed flagship extended range electric system, battery life of more than 200km, thermal efficiency of 40.5%, with intelligent algorithms, the entire emission reduction in the urban area by more than 90%. The ideal extended range electric system can also support the urban intelligent operation plan, in the core urban area of the big city, truly achieve 100% zero emissions, and realize the fine management of urban transportation, which may provide a new reference model for energy conservation and emission reduction in the new energy automobile industry.
Source of this article: Lookout Oriental Weekly
WeChat Editor: Guan Qiao
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