Tramway News: Today, Zero Run Car officially released the CTC battery chassis integration technology, and the new car Zero Run C01 that will be launched in August this year will apply this technology.
CTC technology is the abbreviation of "cell to chassis", from the English text can be intuitively seen, cell refers to the battery cell, chassis is the chassis, this technology is the battery cell directly integrated into the chassis of the vehicle.
However, judging from the patents previously declared by zero-run cars, it uses the way of integrating the battery module into the chassis, and strictly speaking, it cannot be called CTC.
Patent diagram of zero-run CTC technology
However, for car companies, it is understandable to warm up for their upcoming new cars by promoting CTC technology.
CTC's highly integrated design saves space and manufacturing costs, but for many years no car company has really applied the technology to production cars.
At the heart of the matter is that security is not guaranteed.
At present, car companies and battery companies in order to ensure battery safety, most of them use high-strength steel as a battery shell, and also add special coatings, some car companies will also install battery protection beams on the body longitudinal beam to ensure that the vehicle is minimally damaged in the event of an impact accident. With the battery directly integrated into the chassis, safety issues become the most intractable problem.
According to the zero-running car, it is to redistribute the bearing body structure, increase the height of the battery pack at the bottom of the vehicle, integrate the original external battery layout into the interior of the chassis, so that the battery skeleton structure and the chassis skeleton structure are combined into one, borrowing the basic structure of the chassis, and using the body longitudinal beam and beam to form a complete structure.
Officially, it is called a "double skeleton ring beam structure". This solves both structural and airtightness problems.
At present, the zero-run car has applied for a patent for this battery technology.
However, from the perspective of patents, the CTC technology of zero-running cars is not directly integrated into the chassis with the core, but uses a module to integrate the chassis.
Zero Run describes the patent as an integrated structure of an electric vehicle body and a battery pack, including a body, lower cover and cell module.
The description of the production steps in the patent is: the assembly of the battery module and the body is completed on the assembly line, and when implemented, the battery module is placed directly on the top of the bilge and fixed, so that the battery module is assembled into the power compartment.
That is to say, the zero-run CTC technology essentially removes the upper cover of the battery pack, but the other parts of the battery pack, including the assembly process of the whole vehicle, are largely unchanged.
Although from the patent point of view, the zero-run CTC is not a real CTC of the battery cell and the chassis, but in the end it still achieves the purpose of improving efficiency.
The description in the patent is: the present invention cancels the battery pack, the battery cell module is directly assembled in the body structure, with fewer components, materials to obtain the same structural properties, thereby improving structural efficiency.
Due to the cancellation of the battery pack, the battery module is directly assembled in the body structure, and the installation and testing are completed in the assembly of the whole vehicle, simplifying the power assembly and testing process, reducing the production link, shortening the process flow, improving production efficiency, optimizing the manufacturing process, and reducing the production and development costs.
Previously, CATL and Tesla have promoted CTC technology, "CTC battery technology will enable the cost of new energy vehicles to compete directly with fuel vehicles." When it comes to CTC battery technology, Zeng Yuqun, the head of the Ningde era, does not hesitate to praise. And CATL is also vigorously developing and promoting this technology, and it is reported that it may be mass-produced and applied in 2024.
Tesla CTC technology schematic
Tesla first unveiled CTC battery technology as early as 2020's "Battery Day", calling the technology "the ultimate manufacturing method for all electric vehicles in the future". With the start of operations at Tesla's Berlin plant in early April, the Model Y, which uses CTC technology, 4680 batteries and integrated die-casting, has been delivered to employees, although it is unclear when the official mass production will be delivered.