As for how to deal with the unprecedented changes in the automotive industry in a century, most Chinese auto brands have chosen the same thing: multiple technical routes coexist. All indications are that Changan Automobile is doing the same.
Recently, Changan Automobile released the new energy vehicle brand - Deep Blue, which covers three kinds of power: pure electric, range extender hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell. Earlier, Changan Automobile also brought the "Blue Whale iDD Hybrid System" and launched the first plug-in hybrid (i.e., plug-in hybrid) model equipped with the system in March this year, UNI-K iDD (on March 1, UNI-K iDD was listed, priced at 176,900 to 192,900 yuan).
Image source: Changan Automobile
However, compared with the focus and investment in pure electric, hydrogen fuel and other technical fields, Changan Automobile's attitude towards plug-in and mixing technology is debatable. The Blue Whale iDD hybrid system equipped with the UNI-K iDD adopts the P2 single motor technology solution. At present, in the market, European car companies widely use this scheme, and few first-line manufacturers in China use it. Some insiders said that Changan Automobile's P2 design, the scene coverage is not as good as BYD, the Great Wall, and the adjustment is not as good as European car companies, and it may be difficult to create its own advantages.
Re-enter the hybrid market with UNI-K
According to public information, Changan Automobile released its first plug-in hybrid model Yidong in 2017. The following year, Changan CS75 PHEV was launched.
Unfortunately, these two products have not stirred up too much splash in the plug-and-mix market. According to data from the Gaz Automotive Research Institute, the combined sales of the two products in 2018 were only more than 2,000 vehicles. In 2019, Yidong PHEV was discontinued. A year later, the CS75 PHEV had the same ending. In the same period, bydir's DM (hybrid) series has reached 273,000 units in 2021, becoming a representative of China's new energy vehicles.
Changan's 2018 plug-in sales, picture source: Gaz Automobile Research Institute
After more than a year of silence, Changan Automobile released the second generation of hybrid technology - Blue Whale iDD hybrid system in June 2021. Changan Automobile said that the system has four major characteristics: full temperature domain, full speed domain, full field domain and full time domain. The full temperature range can still ensure stable function and performance under extremely cold (minus 35°) and extremely hot (55°) conditions; the full speed domain refers to the balance of power and economy after being equipped with the Blue Whale NE1.5T hybrid special engine; the full field domain meets the needs of vehicles such as commuting and long-distance travel in the city; and the full-time domain can realize OTA remote upgrades and other operations.
According to Changan Automobile, the Blue Whale NE1.5T hybrid special engine matches the Blue Whale electric drive transmission by adopting Agile agile combustion system, intelligent thermal management system, Miller cycle and other technologies, which can improve thermal efficiency and reduce fuel consumption while ensuring stable power output. According to the plan, the Blue Whale NE engine will also add variable valve lift, variable section electronic turbocharging and other technologies within five years, and the thermal efficiency is expected to increase to 45%.
Image source: Changan Automobile
Changan UNI-K iDD is equipped with this dedicated hybrid system, with a maximum power of 122 kW and a maximum peak torque of 255 N·m. By installing a battery with a capacity of 30.74 kWh, the UNI-K iDD has a pure electric endurance of 130 km and a comprehensive endurance of up to 1100 km.
Changan UNI-K iDD is the vanguard of Changan Automobile's re-entry into the plug-and-mix market. Judging from the parameters disclosed, it is no less than that of many competitors, but is this really the case?
There is no novel single-motor technology
After the listing of Changan UNI-K iDD, the most controversial is its P2 architecture single-motor hybrid system. The P2 architecture refers to the placement of the electric motor between the engine and the gearbox, and the overall drivetrain of the car does not need to be changed too much, and has the advantage of low cost. European brands such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, which have mature engine and transmission technology, basically adopt the P2 architecture.
Blue Whale iDD hybrid system, image source: Changan Automobile
Some researchers in the Automotive Technology Department said that some car companies layout the plug-in and mixed market, more in response to the double integration policy, in the hope of rapid mass production of products while compressing costs as much as possible, they will choose to directly transform fuel vehicles into plug-and-mix models, at this time P2 architecture technology has become a good choice, .
Even if it lacks relevant technology accumulation, it can cooperate with suppliers with mature P2 hybrid solutions such as Schaeffler and BorgWarner. According to public information, Changan Automobile cooperated with BorgWarner to adopt the P2 hybrid architecture solution provided by the latter. This means that Changan Automobile's Blue Whale iDD hybrid system has not yet built its own core technical advantages.
Blue Whale iDD hybrid system, image source: Changan Automobile
Moreover, the hard damage of the P2 architecture is obvious, because there is only one motor, which cannot be combined with power generation and drive at the same time, resulting in greatly reduced flexibility and performance, and cannot achieve full coverage of multiple scenarios. In the eyes of industry insiders, P2 hybrid technology is more like the result of the compromise of the internal combustion engine design on the hybrid.
Rival BYD has focused on dual-motor technology from the start. In June 2020, the third generation of DM was released, and the main economy DM-i and performance-focused DM-p were launched, and the self-developed Snap Cloud engine and blade battery were used. At this stage, BYD has also launched a three-motor model, which makes the plug-in model accelerate faster, have higher stability, and better performance to get rid of difficulties.
Great Wall also released lemon hybrid DHT technology in 2021, which supports two power architectures and provides three sets of powertrains, which can switch different power schemes in different driving environments and cover multi-scenario road sections such as urban, high-speed, and frequent start and stop. Geely released the Thor God Intelligence HiX hybrid technology in the same year. Industry insiders call this set of technology "P2.5 architecture", Geely on the basis of the P2 architecture, a new set of 3-speed shifting functions, improve the smoothness of driving, can cope with more complex road conditions.
In China's plug-and-mix market, BYD's performance was overwhelming, with sales of 50,600 units in March, accounting for 50% of its total sales. The Geely plug-in series sells thousands of vehicles a month, while Chang'an and the Great Wall are still hovering at a low point. However, in terms of technical routes, the Great Wall is superior to Chang'an. Changan Automobile is in the hybrid market, and it is difficult to create competitive products.
The rhythm of "running with you"?
In fact, this year is still the big year of Changan Automobile plug-in hybrid, in addition to UNI-K iDD, will also launch UNI-V PHEV, Auchan Z6 PHEV two plug-and-mix models, will also be equipped with Blue Whale iDD hybrid system. Whether from the general environment or its own development, Changan Automobile does not want to, and will not give up the plug-in market.
Changan CS75 PHEV, image source: Changan Automobile
On the one hand, national policies are pushing the hybrid market forward rapidly. In October 2020, the Society of Automotive Engineers of China issued the "Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0", which clearly mentioned that the current pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are two important types of products that have been industrialized and promoted, and they are also the key to the gradual entry of new energy vehicles into the mainstream of automotive products in the next 10 to 15 years. The overall goal is that by 2035, the annual sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid will account for 50% to 60% of total automobile sales.
On the other hand, as more and more car companies join the plug-in and mix market, enriching the product matrix and activating the market. According to the data of China Automobile Association, the sales volume of the plug-in hybrid market has doubled, which is higher than that of the pure electric vehicle market. From January to March this year, the cumulative sales volume of the plug-in and hybrid passenger car market was 247,000 units, an increase of 203.1% year-on-year, nearly double the growth rate of the pure battery passenger car market. However, from the perspective of absolute sales, the plug-in and mixed market and the pure electricity market are still not the same. From January to March this year, the cumulative sales volume of the domestic pure electric passenger car market was 960,000 units, which is 4 times that of the plug-in and mixed passenger car market.
Image source: Changan Automobile
As one of the three major automobile central enterprises, whether it is out of the obligation to respond to policies or to comply with the consideration of changes in market trends, Changan Automobile needs to make up for the shortcomings in the field of new energy as soon as possible. Of course, Changan Automobile has also obviously recognized the seriousness of the problem and is making every effort to lay out the new energy vehicle market. However, from the current situation, Changan Automobile's investment in the field of new energy at this stage is mainly pure electric, as for the field of hybrids, Changan is likely to "accompany the run".
Xu Xiangyang, executive deputy director of the National Passenger Car Autonomous Transmission Engineering Technology Research Center, once stressed the importance of the route of hybrid technology, "If we do not achieve a breakthrough in this regard, we will repeat the situation of traditional transmission passive beating in more than ten years." ”
In this regard, I don't know what Changan Automobile thinks?