2022 is a big year for the products of BBA's three major luxury brands of new energy.
In mid-to-late April, what new products and what did the BBA do? Mercedes-Benz released EQS SUV, Mercedes-Benz EQXX to achieve pure electric endurance of 1000km; BMW released a new 7 series, i7; Audi pure electric concept car urbansphere world debut. The turnaround of the big factory has a kind of late-start ability, which comes from the accumulation of technology, technology and strength in the manufacture of fuel vehicles.
After Mercedes-Benz EQXX achieved pure electric endurance to break through 1000km, it brought a thought, should the next generation of electric vehicles be built like this?
Several traditional brands are concentrated, what is the current status of new energy?
Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, these three luxury brands in the fuel vehicle market is impressive, has a solid enough car foundation, presumably the transformation of the pure electricity market "offensive" will also be very fierce. In fact, the electrification strategies of these three luxury brands are relatively conservative, and some transitional products have been launched in the early stage.
In the face of the strong growth posture of the new forces, the BBA has collectively launched flagship new energy products, Audi's urbansphere concept car; BMW pure electric flagship sedan i7; Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV. The above models represent the standards and definitions of luxury electric vehicles of the three luxury brands, and are also the development direction.
The Audi urbansphere concept car uses the high-end pure electric PPE platform shared by Audi and Porsche, equipped with 800V charging technology and equipped with Audi pure electric drive system, and the WLTP comprehensive cruising range is expected to reach 750km. This concept car is also defined by Audi as a self-driving car that can achieve L4 level, but there is no excessive disclosure of how it will be achieved, we temporarily regard it as Audi's definition of the development of electric vehicles after high intelligence.
Unlike the leading direction of the Audi urbansphere concept car with a high degree of intelligence, Mercedes-Benz still puts the sense of luxury in the first place in the field of pure electricity. The Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV is mercedes-EQ's third EVA platform model and the flagship SUV of the current EQ series. The car continues the digital cockpit design, with MBUX ultra-screen as the interior core, supplemented by many exclusive materials and innovative processes, presenting a luxurious atmosphere.
However, the intelligent field is still somewhat conservative, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV in the intelligent driving assistance components including intelligent pilot distance limit, active blind spot assistance, disembarkation safety warning function, active lane keeping assistance function, etc., basically belong to the level of L2 level.
Unveiled with BMW's new 7 Series, the BMW i7 is internally known as the "BMW Electric Vehicle to New Heights", and the internal cockpit is equipped with a driver's eye monitoring camera that can monitor the driver's status in real time. The front windshield is also equipped with high-resolution cameras and multiple millimeter-wave radars to achieve driver assistance functions such as lane keeping, blind spot warning, automatic lane change, and automatic parking. BMW official information, BMW i7 using advanced computing platform and intelligent equipment, in the technical level with L3 level of automatic driving level.
Also in April, Lexus and Lincoln also released their own Lexus RZ and Lincoln Star concept cars. The Lexus RZ was developed using the Toyota e-TNGA platform, and the specific mileage was not officially announced. The Lincoln Lincoln Star concept car did not disclose much technical and parameter information, but it can be speculated that the 4 pure electric SUVs launched before 2026 may adopt similar designs.
Mercedes-Benz EQXX is very strong, is it right to build a car like this?
The topic is a bit far away, the recent Mercedes-Benz released EQXX concept car related test data, in Europe to complete the 1000km endurance. In this matter, what can we see through the appearance of what is the direction of development behind it?
Mercedes-Benz EQXX achieves an endurance of more than 1,000 kilometers, consumes 8.7 kilowatts of electricity per 100 kilometers, has an average speed of 87.4km/h, and travels at a cruising speed of 140km/h on high speeds, including highways, mountain tunnels and other road conditions. After an 11-hour and 32-minute trek, 1008 km of road travel, there are still about 140 km of cruising range.
The low energy consumption performance of Mercedes-Benz EQXX relies on the efficient three-electric system + low wind resistance body, which is a technical means that other car companies cannot try in the short term, and usually achieve high endurance through the means of stacking batteries.
Although the Mercedes-Benz EQXX is only a concept car, these technologies of mercedes-Benz EQXX are developed with the goal of mass production, that is to say, these technologies (this article does not extend the technical part) will be applied to the Mercedes-EQ brand mass production cars in the future, and it is expected that there will be:
A compact/medium-sized car chassis with a high degree of completion, with a single motor at the rear; a UI/UX interaction system, which is the next-generation early version of the MBUX intelligent human-computer interaction system; a 100kW/h battery pack, which is 50% smaller in size and 30% lighter than the new EQS battery pack; and a 900V high-voltage battery system, but it is not expected to be put on a production car soon.
Through the Mercedes-Benz EQXX concept car, Mercedes-Benz wants to achieve a completely different development direction from most of the current new energy products, but it will accumulate too much intelligent equipment, and what Mercedes-Benz wants to pass on is to "achieve technological leadership again in the new energy track". "Achieving technological leadership" has been done by Tesla before the BBA has collectively "turned around", and it has set off a global wave of new energy.
Although the flagship pure electric models of the three major brands have been unveiled, throwing off the early transition stage of "oil to electricity", the focus of design is still lingering on how to create a luxurious atmosphere, which is rarely done in the current era of electrification. Some people think that the BBA in the era of fuel vehicles achieves high premium capabilities with luxurious materials, solid workmanship, and reliable powertrains; when electrification, the user's reference standard becomes the level of endurance and intelligence, and is willing to accept new brands.
Not to mention when Tesla FSD can be officially landed in China, the automatic driving level of Weilai ET7, Xiaopeng P5 and other cars has approached the L4 level, through the addition of lidar to make the perception device become more high-end, through the algorithm to make the auxiliary driver become more intelligent. In the most core area of the electrification era, the current BBA has not yet reached the level of the new forces.
In my personal opinion, the traditional luxury brand first establishes the technology (hardware strength) + luxury attributes in the field of electrification, and then develops the so-called core intelligent driving field downwards; Mercedes-Benz is the first company to obtain the international L3 level automatic driving certification, representing the Mercedes-Benz car with L3 level automatic driving technology can be on the road; BMW has set up a D3 department to be responsible for automatic driving functions; Volkswagen and Huawei continue to have rumors about automatic driving, audi should become a high-end L4 level automatic driving early adopter.
Luxury brands seem to be insisting on one thing, that is, to maintain the "high-end posture" of the fuel vehicle era into the new energy track, but also an attempt to try whether the market will accept the traditional luxury new energy path.
summary
Traditional luxury brands so tram charm is not logical? Entering the field of electric vehicles with the advantages of the era of fuel vehicles, it has not been able to show its skills in the core intelligent driving field from the beginning.
My personal deduction is that intelligent driving must go through a long stage of development, can achieve the most advanced automatic driving function, not just to do a good job of car solutions but to open up the V2X road, and now no car company has announced that it can complete the "full-scenario automatic driving", so there is no need to rush, but there must be this function. The traditional luxury brands led by Mercedes-Benz, although they entered the game late, have the capital to strike late. EQXX is a deck of cards that Mercedes-Benz shows to the industry and consumers, and this deck of cards can play with you for a long time.