From March 25 to 27, the 2022 China Electric Vehicle 100 People's Conference was held, in addition to discussing topics such as helping the dual carbon target and ensuring the supply chain of raw materials, the participants also reached a broad consensus on "advocating the diversification and diversification of technical routes for the development of the automobile industry".
In fact, the characteristics of the diversification of new energy vehicles are gradually becoming clear. At present, the proportion of pure electric sales in the market is gradually declining, and the diversified new energy vehicle categories represented by the range extender have begun to strengthen.
Taking Chongqing as an example, before 2021, pure electricity will account for 80% or 90% of local new energy vehicle sales. In December last year, local pure electricity accounted for 76.3% of new energy vehicle sales, in January this year, pure electricity accounted for 68% of new energy vehicle sales, and in February the proportion fell to 65%. The situation across the country is also similar to that of Chongqing.
It is worth mentioning that in the non-pure electric sector, the sales of EVR (extender) models such as Ideal Car have grown particularly rapidly, and the current Ideal ONE ranks in the top five in terms of stable local monthly sales, not to mention more than Tesla MODEL Y and BYD pure electric series.
Industry insiders believe that this marks that the extended range technology has been widely recognized by the market and the industry.
Why can the range extender become one of the main forces in today's new energy vehicle market from a niche in the past?
The extender effectively replenishes the lack of pure electricity
After years of development, the mileage of pure electric vehicles has become longer and longer, but whether from the perspective of consumer experience and professionalism, pure electric technology is still far from mature, coupled with objective reasons such as inadequate infrastructure matching, charging anxiety, low temperature anxiety, safety anxiety and so on are still very prominent.
"In the supporting facilities of new energy vehicles, the 'vehicle pile contradiction' has always been prominent and will continue for a long time." Ideal car related people said that in addition, there are a series of technical bottlenecks in the pure electric route itself, and it is necessary to carry out diversified technology exploration and attempts to find the best "roadmap".
Li Xiang, founder and chairman of Ideal Automobile, also pointed out at the China Electric Vehicle 100 People's Conference that what the Chinese people need is the convenience of energy access, the low cost of access and environmental protection. If the pure electric mileage of new energy vehicles exceeds 150 kilometers, it can cover all mainstream large cities in the world. This has generated the demand for urban electricity, long-distance power generation, and adherence to the product route of pure electric drive. It is in the above context that the extender, as a direction that can match the current industry and market demand, has received attention from all sides.
Ideal Auto founder and chairman Li Xiang
Market observer Qu Yunchao said that the extender is a full-time electric drive, with the same driving control performance as EV, in the urban working conditions basically do not need to start the range extender, energy saving and environmental protection, in the long-distance travel battery life is also guaranteed, can effectively solve the current consumer charging anxiety, low temperature anxiety, safety anxiety and so on.
Take the ideal ONE as an example. The model adopts the technical solution of large-capacity battery pack + extended range power generation system + dual motor, accounting for more than 64% of pure electric mileage and more than 80% of pure electric use time in major cities.
Compared with fuel vehicles, the fuel consumption of this model is reduced by more than 60% per 100 kilometers, and the carbon emission is reduced by 76%. Compared to pure electric models, the ideal ONE has a lower purchase cost.
"I mainly like it to have a more flexible way of replenishing energy and meet the needs of family cars." Shapingba citizen Cheng Zhongyun recently purchased an ideal ONE, he said that his work to long-term travel between Chongqing and Guizhou, the increase in the range can save a lot of fuel costs, the power and 3.0T luxury fuel vehicles have a comparison, and there is no charging anxiety, the six-seat layout can also take care of the needs of the elderly and children, he is very satisfied.
Industry insiders believe that the range of technology brings lower car purchase costs, lower use costs and stronger performance, a series of advantages that can not be replaced by other categories, and the market potential is huge.
The industry is growing rapidly, and giants have laid out one after another
The range extender market is continuing to grow at a high rate.
Recently, in the national market, Ideal Auto has achieved the only monthly sales of new energy high-end brands with more than 10,000 sales, becoming a real market hit. The brand delivered a total of more than 90,000 units in 2021, an increase of 177.4% year-on-year, while the total delivery volume has reached nearly 140,000 units as of the end of January this year.
Based on optimistic expectations for the late market, Ideal Automobile is embarking on a series of major moves and has put forward the goal of "selling 1.6 million new energy vehicles per year by 2025".
A number of new energy automobile companies have also increased the layout of the range extender sector.
A few days ago, the first model of the brand AITO jointly built by Huawei and Xilis, the range extender new energy medium-sized SUV, was officially launched. Yu Chengdong said in public that Huawei and Xilix have jointly participated in the development of the car's product function definition, quality control and consistent experience, and at the same time, another extender model, Thex Huawei Smart SF5, has also entered Huawei's offline stores for sale, and huawei Smart Select car sales will reach 300,000 in 2022.
Zhou Lin, general manager of the Xilis product line, introduced that Xiaokang Group and its subsidiary Xilis have been developing high-end intelligent electric vehicles in the global layout since 2016, and have invested more than 10 billion yuan in the research and development and production of new energy vehicles with extended ranges.
In addition, Dongfeng also launched the Lantu FREE medium and large extender electric SUV, intending to share in the range extender market. Industry insiders look forward to the increasing number of participants in the extended range electric technology route, which will play an increasingly important role in accelerating the large-scale replacement of fuel vehicles with new energy.
In this process, there must be a redividing of the market map. According to industry analysts, the fast-growing Chinese range extended range car market is just a weakness for international brands. The brand represented by the ideal leads the sector to achieve industry leadership, which can enable domestic brands to gain a stronger advantage in product strength and strengthen the attraction to potential users of new energy. This also provides the best "route combination" for promoting China's new energy vehicle brands to surpass overseas brands.
Provide an "optimal solution" to advance the achievement of the double carbon target
At the 2022 China Electric Vehicle 100 Conference, many industry representatives and experts pointed out that range increase and hybrid will be parallel to pure electric for a long time, but the ultimate goal is to promote carbon reduction and oil reduction to zero carbon and zero oil. In the process, the range extender technology route will create unique and important value for the industry.
"The development of EVR can reduce the pressure on battery supply." An industry expert said that the current industry is facing the situation of "lack of core and less electricity", and the price of basic raw materials is rising. Compared with the same level of models, the installed battery capacity of EVR is only 30%-35% of pure electricity. In addition, EVR can promote the transformation and upgrading of transmission engines and develop into an intelligent range-increasing system integrating engines, generators, reducers and controllers.
Ideal Automobile related people also said that the autonomous and controllable whole industry chain of extended range electric technology provides a solid guarantee for the high-quality development of the industry. At present, in terms of batteries, there are Pang main battery systems and excellent enterprises CATL, Yadi, Hive, Sunwoda, etc.; in terms of motors, China has Huichuan Power, Huawei, Hive Power and other high-quality independent electric drive enterprises, and the technology and products have been verified by large-scale markets. "In terms of range extender, although the range extender is an internal combustion engine, it does not directly drive the vehicle, its use conditions are relatively controllable, you can borrow the mature engine technology and production capacity in China, and the ideal car has formed its own relatively mature and leading technology accumulation."
Chen Qingtai, chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association, pointed out that at present, the technical barriers and system barriers of future auto parts have not yet been fully formed, some technical routes still have room for choice, and many new technologies are still under development, which has brought historic opportunities for the development of China's parts and components enterprises, especially some technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises.
In the view of many experts, advocating the coordinated development of different technical routes can reduce the intensity of infrastructure investment in the process of promoting a zero-carbon society on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can also take into account the protection of energy security and promote industrial technology upgrading, and achieve the "optimal solution" of macro input and benefits.
"Ideal's own product roadmap is also a parallel range of extended-range electric and pure electric." Li Xiang said that at present, the mainland automobile industry has entered a period of strategic opportunities for transformation and upgrading, from big to strong, and driven by strong domestic demand, the industry has continued to develop with high quality. Looking to the future, Ideal Automobile will further play a leading and exemplary role in promoting the development of China's automotive industry and achieving the goal of "double carbon".