At this stage, the national "double carbon" strategy is promoting the accelerated transformation of the automobile industry to new energy, as one of the representatives of Chinese brands, Changan Automobile is accelerating the implementation of the new energy "Shangri-La" plan on the basis of the "new automobile, new ecology" strategy.
At the 2022 Changan Automobile Global Partner Conference held not long ago, Changan Automobile officially announced a new digital pure electric brand - Changan Deep Blue, which aims to provide new energy users of generation Z with four major brand values, including innovative reconstruction, internet of everything, and experience free and low-carbon life. As the first model of Changan Deep Blue, C385, it has naturally attracted strong attention from the outside world.
On April 21, Changan Deep Blue C385 was officially released, and the new car will be built based on the EPA1 pure electric drive dedicated platform, which will provide three power versions of pure electricity, extended range and hydrogen fuel cell, with a price of 150,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan.
The EPA1 platform grinds a sword in five years
In fact, as early as 2017, when Changan's "Shangri-La" plan was launched, only 6.2% of the domestic users could accept new energy vehicles, and even 40% of users did not know what new energy vehicles were. Moreover, public opinion is full of voices such as "IQ tax", "fraudulent compensation", "industrial garbage" and so on. Therefore, Changan Automobile is determined to make a new pure electric drive dedicated platform with completely independent intellectual property rights and positive design, and it will extend a series of pure electric drive special products, hoping to completely improve consumers' inherent impression of new energy vehicles.
Since its launch in 2017, after 5 years of dedicated development, the EPA1 platform presented to us has become a dedicated platform for pure electric drive in all tracks that takes into account the future travel prospects and today's car experience, and has "four high attributes" such as high efficiency, high performance, high intelligence and high safety.
Specifically, first of all, at the level of high efficiency, in order to improve the system efficiency of the EPA1 platform, the R&D team of Changan Automobile has proposed a large number of original solutions from the dimensions of electric drive system, extended range system and hydrogen fuel system. Among them, the New Generation super collector electric drive system of Chang'an, which was unveiled last year, is the most typical representative.
Changan's new generation of super collector electric drive system has the characteristics of "deep integration" and "ultra-high efficiency", and has achieved two major technological breakthroughs of "industry ultra-high electric drive assembly efficiency" and "the world's first power generation drive high-frequency pulse heating technology". Compared with the three-in-one electric drive system mass-produced by Changan Automobile in 2018, the volume is reduced by 5%, the weight is reduced by 10%, the power density is increased by 37%, the noise is reduced by 15%, the efficiency is increased by 5%, and the cost is reduced by 17%. And realize the extremely fast heating of lithium batteries at ultra-low temperatures, which can be heated at -30 °C for 5 minutes and 20 °C, and quickly improve the battery charge and discharge efficiency and charge and discharge performance. At the same time, with the help of electric drive waste heat recovery technology, the low temperature cruising range in winter is effectively improved by 40-70km.
At the same time, Changan New Energy also took the lead in mass production of the first independent car range extension system in China. Through technological innovations such as collaborative design and control of power systems based on extreme efficiency, intelligent energy management control based on real-time road conditions, and high compression ratio depth Atkinson cycle, a fuel range extension system with ultra-high power generation efficiency was finally developed, and 1L oil can generate about 3.3 degrees of electricity. At the same time, using frequency conversion active control based on whistle, intelligent power balance control strategy, active vibration suppression of range extended range system and other technologies, the range extended range system on the EPA1 platform has completely realized global sensorless operation.
In addition, Changan New Energy China team and the British team also jointly built the first mass-produced independent car hydrogen fuel cell system in China. The water-gas heterogeneous stack design achieves a smaller volume and greater power, thus realizing the loading of the car, and the gradient coating of the new generation of highly active platinum alloy catalyst is adopted to achieve ultra-high power generation efficiency and ultra-long stack life. The power generation efficiency of the system can reach 1kg of hydrogen power generation of 20.5 degrees, and achieve 3 minutes of ultra-fast energy replenishment.
For the high-performance level, in the current new energy market, pure electric plus rear drive is still a scarce product attribute. The EPA1 platform is a platform that supports the expansion of dual motors and four-wheel drive with wheel drive as the gene. At the same time, the platform is also the world's first all-electric platform compatible with pure electricity, extended range, hydrogen fuel and other power configurations.
For example, the EPA1 platform is equipped with the world's most advanced brake double redundancy system, in terms of braking style, users can choose between comfort and movement, the system pressure is faster and stronger, the energy recovery effect is better, the braking distance is effectively shortened, the accuracy of the automatic emergency braking function is greatly improved, so that users can enjoy the fun of controlling and riding while having a safer braking guarantee.
With the help of the H-arm multi-link independent suspension system, the wheels on both sides can not affect each other when they are impacted, and can provide control in multiple directions, so that the wheels have a reliable trajectory, rear suspension follow-up, high-speed stability, riding comfort is greatly improved, and the driving experience is more delicate.
Moreover, based on the H-arm multi-link architecture, Changan New Energy designed a counterweight structure with balanced front and rear shafts, achieving a 50:50 front and rear golden shaft-to-load ratio. Based on the extreme performance of the wide body design, low center of gravity platform design, to achieve the leading brake pitch control and body roll control capabilities, sensitive steering response and excellent following performance, thus giving the EPA1 platform excellent handling performance. Power response and NVH performance have also been elevated to the top of the industry.
At a highly intelligent level, the EPA1 platform adopts the latest generation of domain control electronic and electrical architecture, with three domain control functions of vehicle control domain, cockpit domain and self-driving domain, supporting SOA service expansion. Based on the three domain-controlled electrical and electronic architectures, the EPA1 platform supports global ultra-fast OTA, which can realize the OTA upgrade of all node controllers in the whole vehicle and meet the commonly used and new functional requirements.
The first intelligent vehicle domain controller "Changan Smart Core" in China adopts a multi-core and multi-system layout mode, integrates more than 1500 core devices, and achieves 100% coverage of remote diagnosis, which is 70% higher than the performance of the split controller and 70% lower in volume. At the same time, its intelligent driving domain controller adopts multi-chip redundant control design to collect 27 sensing parts of the whole vehicle, and can realize the L4 level intelligent driving function up to the same time.
Finally, at the high security level, the EPA1 platform provides users with 360-degree security through the three-layer security architecture of the core car cloud. In terms of platform security, based on the new pure electric drive dedicated platform architecture, the five-horizontal and nine-vertical ring body design is adopted, and the proportion of high-strength steel is more than 45%, ensuring that the platform meets the C-NCAP five-star safety standard and providing a full range of peripheral security protection for the battery.
In terms of information security, based on the 5+1 network security and privacy protection policies, a security barrier for user information is constructed. At the same time, the EPA1 platform has also developed the iBC digital battery butler. Through the 2 types of digital pre-control management technology groups and 7 types of digital temperature control management technology groups, the battery thermal runaway can be effectively avoided. At present, in the iBC digital battery housekeeper technology, Changan New Energy has applied for up to 392 patents.
The C385 wins by experience
As the first Changan Deep Blue and the first strategic model based on the EPA1 platform, the Changan Deep Blue C385 has attracted much attention since its debut.
Its overall shape adopts the slipback design that is popular with young users at present, and incorporates a large number of technological and sporty design elements. The front face blends into the hood, emphasizing visual integrity, while the ferocious front shovel lowers the visual center of gravity and accentuates the combination of aesthetics and performance. The side lines are sharp, and the hidden door handles provide better unity. The rear of the body is equipped with through taillights, and the lines are stretched and smooth, which echoes the design of the front face. The visual effect is stunning when lit up.
It is understood that on the basis of core performance, Changan Deep Blue C385 has a series of eye-catching configurations such as 14.6-inch sunflower screen, electric hatchback door, the largest 19-inch wheel hub in the same class, frameless doors, hidden door handles and so on. In addition, it will also be equipped with the first or leading intelligent technology technology of the top 100 industries.
In terms of the most concerned endurance, Changan Navy C385 has a cruising range of more than 700km in the comprehensive working conditions of the pure electric version under CLTC conditions, the highest power exceeds 190kW, and the power consumption is as low as 12.3KWh/100km or less. The mileage of the extended range full oil and full power comprehensive working conditions can reach more than 1200km, the cruising mileage of simple electric comprehensive working conditions can reach more than 200km, and the feed fuel consumption is as low as 4.5L/100km or less. The comprehensive working condition of the hydrogen version can also reach more than 700km, and the hydrogen consumption of feed is as low as 0.65Kg/100km, which can achieve 3 minutes of ultra-fast energy replenishment.
It is worth mentioning that under the current new retail format, Changan Deep Blue C385 will be based on user experience, adopt dynamic pricing, and sell through direct operation model after listing. In the construction of channels, Changan Deep Blue decomposes the traditional 4S store model into five modules, such as order center, delivery center, maintenance center, warehousing center and housekeeper center, forming a layout with direct access to users and transparent prices. Among them, the butler center will intervene in the entire service system from the moment the user places an order, so that the user can get a positive response at any time. From the time the order is placed, the housekeeper intervenes, and the free service is fully covered by value-added services.
At the beginning of this year, since the national investment promotion work of Changan Deep Blue C385 Order Center was launched, more than 1,000 investors have signed up. Before the official listing of the new car in the second quarter, more than 600 exclusive stores have been established. Subsequently, the delivery center and maintenance center are also scheduled to be completed in mid-July.
According to the planning of the "new car, new ecology" strategy, by 2030, Changan Automobile will achieve annual sales of 4.5 million vehicles, of which new energy products will account for 60%. With the release of Changan Deep Blue EPA1 platform and C385, Changan New Energy has made sufficient technical reserves, and will enter a new round of rapid development in the face of more fierce market competition.