[Aika Car Deep Observation Original]
On April 8, at the annual meeting of C-NCAP, the China Automobile Center issued a regulation that has a greater impact on the shape of the automobile market, that is, the "C-NCAP Micro Electric Vehicle Special Evaluation Regulations". To put it simply, if micro-electric vehicles are compared to students, then the C-NCAP Micro-Electric Vehicle Special Evaluation Procedures are equivalent to reducing the difficulty of the examination papers, so what impact will the reduction of the difficulty of the examination papers have on the "students" who take the test and the entire industry?
Why tailor-made: sell well, poor foundation
Micro-electric vehicles are currently extremely popular, according to the data released by the Association of Passenger Vehicles, the sales of micro-electric vehicles are increasing year by year, and even account for nearly 30% of the total sales of new energy vehicles in 2021. It can be said that micro-electric vehicles have grown into a mainstream market segment in recent years, and there is still room for growth.
The sales of micro-electric vehicles have shown a trend of increasing year by year since 2019, and by 2021, they have accounted for 29.8% of the total sales of new energy vehicles, accounting for only 1.1% of the highest-selling compact cars. And according to the current development trend, the sales of micro-electric vehicles this year are likely to exceed compact cars.
In addition to meeting the actual needs of users, micro-electric vehicles are also limited by their own innate factors such as body size and price, and their safety performance has always made consumers worry. Between 2017 and 2018, CHINA AUTOMOBILE Center conducted nine micro-electric vehicles (body length) in accordance with the 2017 EV-TEST evaluation procedures
Since the crash test has been conducted, why the results have not been released, it is not because the results are too poor, to put it bluntly: miserable! If the results are good, they do not need to be released by the China Automobile Center, and the manufacturers themselves will jump out and brag. Therefore, this thorough test also made the "question" teacher have a score in his heart: your score is too poor. But the test is always not done, after all, the market is getting bigger and bigger, so many consumers are waiting for it, and they also have to supervise the progress of micro-electric vehicles, so they tailor a set of test systems according to the characteristics of micro-electric vehicles.
How the new evaluation protocol differs from the existing standards implemented
First throw out the conclusion: the test standard has become simpler, the crash test items have been reduced from 5 to 3, the front 50% overlapping movement progressive deformation barrier (MPDB) crash test and the side column collision test (new energy vehicle test project) have been eliminated, and the rear test is not counted in the score. Active safety configuration is selected, do not do it, does not affect the final score.
The "C-NCAP Micro Electric Vehicle Special Evaluation Procedure" test object is the body length
In terms of collision safety that people are most concerned about, only the front 100% overlapping rigid barrier collision test, the deformable movable barrier side collision test, and the low-speed rear collision neck protection test (hereinafter referred to as the "whipping test") are three, and the front 50% overlapping moving progressive deformation barrier (MPDB) collision test and the side column collision test (new energy vehicle test project) are cancelled.
100% overlapping rigid barrier crash test
The test vehicle conducts a frontal 100% area collision at a speed of not less than 50km/h, and places a male dummy in the front driver and occupant position to measure the injury of the front row personnel. A female dummy is placed on the second row (if any) seat side (left and right side random) seats to collect the second row of seat occupant collision data, not to be evaluated. If the second row is a detachable or shiftable folding seat, or if it is not suitable for adults (which should be clearly stated in the user manual), no dummy is placed.
The scoring sites are the head, neck, chest, thighs and calves of the front dummies, and the highest scores for each part are 5, 2, 5, 2 and 2 points, respectively, for a total score of 16 points. The test is scored based on the injuries of the dummy after the crash and the damage to the body structure.
Deformable movable barrier side impact test
The front end of the mobile trolley is equipped with a deformable energy-absorbing barrier to impact the side of the test vehicle at a speed of not less than 50 km/h (left and right random), and places a dummy in the front seat position of the impacted side to measure and evaluate the injury of the person on the impact side. Place a dummy in the rear seat (if any) on the impact side to collect the occupant collision data of the seat, and will not be evaluated.
In this trial, the highest score that could be obtained was 16 points. The scoring sites are the head, chest, abdomen, and pelvis of the front row impact side dummies, and the highest score for each part is 4 points. Scoring is based on the degree of damage to the vehicle after the collision and the degree of injury to the dummy.
At the same time, in these two crash tests, the electrical safety aspects such as the electric shock protection performance, voltage safety, electrical energy safety, physical protection, insulation resistance at the load end of the power system, electrolyte leakage, high-voltage automatic disconnection device, and the location of REESS (vehicle-mounted rechargeable energy storage system) are also tested. This test is identical to the existing test project standard.
Low-speed rear impact neck protection test (hereinafter referred to as "whipping test")
The driver's side seat and restraint system of the test vehicle is modeled on the original car structure, and is fixed on the mobile trolley, and the trolley is emitted with a specific acceleration waveform with a speed change of (20.0±1.0 km/h to simulate the post-collision process. The seat-placed dummy measures the damage to the neck during the post-collision to evaluate the protective effect of the driver's seat headrest on the occupant's neck.
The maximum score of the driver's seat whipping test is 5 points, and the score is based on the injury index measured by the sensor installed by the dummy, which consists of three groups, the first group calculates the neck injury index by head acceleration and chest acceleration, the highest score of the group is 2 points, the second group is the upper neck load and torque, the group has a maximum score of 1.5 points, and the third group has a lower neck load and torque, and the highest score of the group is 1.5 points. In this test, penalties of 2 points, 2 points and 5 points were given for the maximum dynamic tension angle of the seat back, the headrest interfering with the head space, and the dynamic displacement of the seat rail did not meet the requirements.
Tailor-made test standards for micro-electric vehicles
Plus: Side air curtain
In the deformable moving barrier side impact test, the external size, unfolding form, dynamic protection performance and internal pressure retention performance of the side air curtain are judged, and if the specified requirements are met, corresponding additional points are given. Among them, the appearance size, unfolding form and dynamic protection performance meet the requirements of the regulations, then 1 point is added, and the internal pressure retention performance meets the requirements of the regulations, 1 point is added. The maximum score for this review is 2 points.
Penalty item: Front seat belt reminder
For vehicles that do not have a seat belt reminder device (SBR) in the front seat position, or the performance of the seat belt reminder device does not meet the specified technical requirements, the corresponding penalty points are imposed, and the maximum penalty score of the project is -1 point.
For the front seat occupant position, there should be a seat belt reminder and seat use status monitoring function at the same time, otherwise the corresponding penalty points should be carried out, if the reminder signal does not meet the relevant requirements, then 1 point, that is, -1 point; if the reminder signal can meet the relevant requirements, but there is no seat use state monitoring function, then the penalty is 0.5 points, that is, -0.5 points.
The final rating is divided into four grades according to the scoring rate: A, B, C and D. The scoring rate is based on (100% frontal collision score + side barrier collision score + whipping test score + bonus score + penalty score) / 37. In addition, if a vehicle catches fire (an open flame is observed) within 3 minutes of the end of any of the crash tests, the vehicle will be downgraded by one notch.
In general, both the difficulty of evaluating the project and the dimensions of the project are reduced compared to the current standards. Only 5 dimensions were retained for the formal evaluation items, and only for the front row. Including the AEB, LKA, ESC and other active security configuration assessments that we are familiar with, they are all divided into audit items, and doing or not affecting the overall evaluation.
What impact will the new standard have on the development of micro-electric vehicles
This test standard is relatively easier for the current micro-electric vehicle to achieve better results. Seeing this, it is estimated that many consumers will start to scold the street, "five-star wholesale department" is worthy of the name, adulterous manufacturers lower standards, give green lights for micro-electric vehicles, disregard the interests of consumers. You don't have to worry, let's briefly analyze it, if you release the test results of micro-electric vehicles under the existing standards, then the results must be very dismal, consumers after seeing such a dismal score, many consumers who are ready to start micro-electric vehicles are likely to increase their budgets and choose higher models. The lower test score will certainly affect the sales volume of the manufacturer, the sales volume is less, and the investment in research and development will naturally decrease, which will form a vicious circle. What's more, at present, there are many manufacturers whose main sales models are micro-electric vehicles, and the matter of cutting off people's financial roads is to break the Yangshou.
At present, there are many domestic manufacturers from low-speed electric vehicles to micro-electric vehicles, the entire product line is basically micro-electric vehicles, if in accordance with the existing test standards for these models of crash test, the results are likely to directly affect the final sales of this model, for the development of the industry is not good.
So from this stage, the micro-electric vehicle segment still needs positive support, the introduction of this set of procedures, although the standard has been reduced, but more conducive to promoting the progress of auto safety technology, improve vehicle safety, and can make the formation of a benign competition between car companies in order to work together on safety, so in general, this set of "C-NCAP micro-electric vehicle special evaluation procedures" is very necessary.
Moreover, the China Automobile Center clearly stated that the special evaluation procedure was set up only as a transitional plan, guiding manufacturers to improve the safety of the body structure in advance, adding more necessary safety configurations, and finally guiding the safety performance of micro-electric vehicles to be aligned with conventional size vehicles.
The point of explanation is that you know that you are not up to the existing test standards, so you develop a separate set of test standards. But this set of standards is not the final form, but according to the actual situation can be real-time he adjusted the dynamic standard method, in this set of standards you can achieve good results, I will then raise the standard, you continue to measure, until it can be the same as the normal size of the vehicle safety factor on the market, you can. Basically, this can be regarded as a set of evaluation procedures that force manufacturers to enhance safety standards.
Taking the highest-selling Hongguang MINIEV as an example, only high-end models are equipped with main driving airbags, and with new regulations, car companies naturally need to invest more in safety.
However, since the test standards are different, is it also determined that the safety index of micro-electric vehicles is lower than that of conventional-sized models in the same use environment. If this is the case, it is obvious that the China Automobile Center needs to work with other relevant departments to frame the use scenarios of micro-electric vehicles, such as restricting micro-electric vehicles from driving at high speeds, or restricting micro-electric vehicles from driving into high-speed lanes (the maximum speed limit of highways is 120km/h, which has exceeded the maximum speed standard of many micro-electric vehicles, and such a large speed difference is enough to pose a large safety hazard for the drivers and occupants in the car). Wait until the safety index of micro-electric vehicles rises to the average level of the entire industry, and then fully liberalize the use of them.
The maximum speed of many micro-electric vehicles is only 100km/h, and most of them are less than 100km/h in time, such a speed is very dangerous on the highway, coupled with imperfect safety, micro-electric vehicles are difficult to ensure the safety of drivers and occupants in the car.
From the perspective of the market, the market share of micro-electric vehicles is gradually increasing, and major manufacturers are also launching corresponding products, resulting in increasingly fierce competition. Now that the "inner volume" has emerged, let this segment roll in the right direction. With this set of standards, manufacturers can invest more limited funds in safety and battery life, which are really important to consumers. However, with the improvement of the safety performance of micro-electric vehicles, it will inevitably bring an unavoidable problem, that is, the increase in cost. Especially after the implementation of the new regulations, it is expected that there will be a wave of price increases for micro-electric vehicles.
Written in the end: the ability of micro-electric vehicles to become mainstream, naturally because consumers have a huge demand for it, the price is close to the people, small and flexible is the biggest advantage of micro-electric vehicles. Daily short-distance transportation or the first practice car to become a novice, from the perspective of convenience and economy, micro-electric vehicles are a good choice. And the manufacturing threshold of micro-electric vehicles is relatively low, and it is easier to attract manufacturers to enter this market segment. In the face of the current micro-electric vehicle market, both consumers and manufacturers need positive guidance, and it is clear that this set of "C-NCAP Micro-electric Vehicle Special Evaluation Procedures" is one of the directions of guidance. Therefore, in response to the fact that the China Automobile Center has reduced the difficulty of testing micro-electric vehicles, consumers still need to treat it objectively, and there is no need to beat C-NCAP to death because of the reduction of difficulty.
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