Up to now, most of the hot-selling micro-electric vehicles on the market have no safety collision experiment results, such as the Hongguang MINI EV that has sold 680,000 units cumulatively, the Euler Black Cat that has been sold for nearly 3 years due to chip shortages, etc. As long as you can count, their safety evaluations are blank.
In the past 3-4 years, because of the cheap price, practical convenience, unlimited brand, micro electric vehicles have been greatly developed, the market hot models emerge in an endless stream, this year with Chery Ice Cream, Changan LUMIN and other market entry and release, this market segment has a trend of continuous increase. Finally, the safety of micro-cars, from sporadic personal concerns, is time for the industry to pay attention to it.
A few days ago, China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Automobile Center") officially issued the "Special Evaluation Regulations for Micro Electric Vehicles", "The regulations apply to pure electric passenger cars with a body length of less than 4 meters, and the evaluation content is moderately condensed and simplified on the basis of the original C-NCAP and CCRT evaluation projects, mainly including collision safety, use safety and endurance charging." "The program will be implemented from July 2022.
Mini cars will have special evaluation procedures, as consumers we are of course happy to hear, but in the past our understanding of the China Automobile Center, but also worried about the next wave of "five-star wholesale" hard-hit areas, if even the main driver airbag is not equipped with the Hongguang MINI EV can take "five-star safety", it is really not good. Therefore, for the upcoming "Special Evaluation Regulations for Micro Electric Vehicles" of the China Automobile Center, the author is mixed.
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Micro-car safety has received attention
The safety of micro-cars, just like the "elephant in the room" in real life, obviously there are people who choose to turn a blind eye, compared with sporadic traffic accidents, the benefits of low price and convenience are much greater, so even if the heart will mutter that this car is not safe, the next second will immediately comfort themselves, slow down, avoid the big car, it's okay.
However, once an accident occurs, it will be an unbearable burden for individuals and even families, and in today's continuous growth of micro-car ownership, in order to avoid tragedies, the industry is in urgent need of a relevant safety standard. The emergence of the "Special Evaluation Procedures for Micro Electric Vehicles" of the China Automobile Center, on the one hand, said that from the perspective of the industry, micro-car safety has received the necessary attention, even if it is "test-oriented", car companies must also have more consideration and response to vehicle safety design, at least a safety bag is not matched The phenomenon is solved first.
You know, at present, the two most popular micro-electric vehicles on the market, Wuling Hongguang MINI EV and Chery Ice Cream, some low-end models are not equipped with airbags, and some high-end models are only equipped with main airbags. Not to mention that more configuration tables can not be seen, and the collision beam structure design that is not usually seen by the owner.
In view of the lower price of mini cars, China Automobile Center has simplified some evaluation processes, mainly including collision safety, use safety and endurance charging, and the rating method is still divided into four levels of ABCD according to the scoring rate.
Image source: Network
Among them, the collision safety evaluation includes three evaluations of frontal collision, side collision and whipping test, if not equipped with airbags will lead to the failure of the model evaluation score; the use of safety evaluation includes charging safety, braking performance, electromagnetic immunity, water and electricity safety and human body electromagnetic protection A total of five items, mainly consider whether the vehicle is safe in daily use; the endurance charging part will examine the performance of room temperature endurance, low temperature endurance, low temperature charging and charging compatibility.
On the other hand, as a well-known organization, the release of this evaluation procedure by the China Automobile Center is also another form of reminder to consumers that safety is no longer an "ideological" thing, and more importantly, it must be landed.
Therefore, the emergence of the "Special Evaluation Procedures for Micro Electric Vehicles" is still of positive significance.
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Evaluation criteria and implementation
However, its positive significance also has a certain possibility, which will be offset when it lands.
In daily life, various industries have the banner of "China XXX Center", looking like an official institution, but in fact it is an institution of commercial companies, they often "formulate" some specifications, and then come up with a set of seemingly neutral and objective evaluation systems, and then give some products through fees to achieve the effect of endorsing goods. Of course, because it is a charging business behavior, it is difficult to seek truth from facts and be objective and fair, so the report evaluation issued by such an institution often has a certain risk of misleading.
Specific to the detailed rules, the "Micro Electric Vehicle Evaluation Project and Its Score" released by the China Automobile Center shows that the formal evaluation project only retains 5 dimensions and is only for the front row. There is a serious suspicion of "water release", micro-electric vehicles are also cars, they will also be on the highway, on the high speed, the back row can sit people, is it because it is small and cheap, do not have to consider the braking performance and stability? Don't have to worry about the safety of the rear passengers? Or is it that by default, there are no people sitting in the back seat of such a car? This seems to be in conflict with some manufacturers' promotion of the baby artifact, and it should be known that children under the age of 12 cannot sit in the front row.
In addition, in the information released this time, the footnote of "the vehicle manufacturer voluntarily chooses to provide a test report for the audit project" appears in the document, which leaves the manufacturer with "differentiated treatment" operation space. Previously, there were rumors in the industry that there was a double standard between the vehicles sent by car companies to the China Automobile Center for testing and the vehicles supplied to the market. Referring to some more authoritative third-party testing agencies, it is generally necessary to take the practice of randomly purchasing vehicles on the market for testing, which is equivalent to random sampling.
As we all know, China Automobile Center is commonly known as "five-star wholesale department", in the era of fuel vehicles, there is no car that can not get five-star safety evaluation, if there is, please refer to the economic strength of its manufacturers. Therefore, the landing effect of the "Special Evaluation Procedures for Micro Electric Vehicles" is more worthy of our attention and observation.
Write at the end:
Automobile safety is related to life and property, must attract the attention and attention of the industry and consumers, from the buyer's psychological point of view, of course, can be cheaper is cheaper. But if the low price is premised on sacrificing safety performance, does it put all the responsibility on the consumer? Because you're poor, you don't deserve to be safe? Obviously not.
Then, the seller, as a professional party, should improve the price competitiveness of its own products under the condition of ensuring safety performance. However, in the business of business, where there is so much self-awareness, so the emergence of the "micro-electric vehicle special evaluation procedures" is rationally necessary, we believe that it will also have a positive role in promoting the safety of micro-electric vehicles, but it will inevitably push up the manufacturer's R & D design and manufacturing costs, and it is another pressure transmission test.
As ordinary consumers, it is difficult for us to intervene in the business behavior of the China Automobile Center or automobile manufacturers, what we can do is to establish a rational understanding of automobile safety, take a reference approach to some evaluation results, and do not blindly trust. One day in the future, if the Hongguang MINI EV also gets a five-star safety evaluation, we must also look at it objectively and rationally.