Auto-First | Sun Jinfeng
The electric car from the big factory is finally here!
On April 28, toyota bZ pure electric exclusive series first electric vehicle bZ4X under the Toyota e-TNGA structure, which has attracted much industry attention, officially opened pre-sale at a price of 220,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan after subsidies, and the car will be produced and sold simultaneously by Faw Toyota and GAC Toyota, Toyota's two joint ventures in China, which not only marks the landing of Toyota's electrification strategy in China, but also indicates that China's new energy vehicle market pattern may undergo great changes.
There is no doubt that China is already the world's largest automotive market and the largest new energy vehicle market. In 2021, despite the impact of the epidemic, China's new energy vehicle sales still exceeded 3.5 million units, achieving a year-on-year growth. According to the forecast of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of new energy vehicles this year are expected to exceed 5 million.
China's new energy vehicle brands have also sprung up, China's own brands, new forces of cross-border car manufacturing, and new brands brewed by large automobile groups have been born, mass-produced, delivered, and begun to take shape in the past two years. Chinese consumers who dare to try early can currently buy 50 or 60 mainstream models of more than 20 new energy vehicle brands in the market, and they are frugal.
However, with the influx of more and more brands, there are also many problems in the new energy vehicle market. Endurance shrinkage, spontaneous combustion, explosions, safety accidents caused by automatic driving are not uncommon, and involve almost all mainstream new energy vehicle brands, which has become an obstacle to the healthy development of the industry.
Complaints from the China Consumer Association show that in the past two years, complaints about new energy vehicles have risen with the increase in their sales. In 2021, complaints related to new energy vehicles have increased significantly, especially complaints against the core three-electric system have become the hardest hit areas. The problems are concentrated in driving power interruption, fire during charging, excessive gap between the actual mileage and the target, and serious contraction of endurance in winter.
In response to the above complaints, consumers often face the dilemma of difficulty in presenting evidence and protecting rights in the process of actually protecting their rights. The incident of Tesla female car owners, which has attracted much social attention, defended her rights at the Shanghai Auto Show is a typical example.
It is undeniable that even if there are more and more new energy vehicles to choose from on the market, when consumption returns to rationality, sees those fancy "automatic driving", and penetrates the so-called "thousand mile endurance", consumers need a truly safe, reliable and more reasonable high-quality electric vehicle.
Toyota's entry may bring a new atmosphere to the new energy vehicle market.
As a multinational car company, Toyota Motor sells well all over the world and is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers. In the field of electrification, Toyota has been working hard for 25 years.
Since the launch of the world's first mass-produced hybrid model "PRIUS Prius" in 1997, Toyota's unique hybrid technology has developed over four generations and has now formed a product matrix of 45 electrified models. By the end of February 2022, Toyota's cumulative global sales of electrified models (HEV, PHEV, FCEV, and BEV) exceeded 20 million units. More importantly, Toyota has achieved 25 years of three electric systems with zero accidents, and its safe, reliable and worry-free products have been widely recognized by users around the world.
In China, Toyota dual engine, dual engine E+ and other models are loved by consumers. Relevant data show that on China's roads, on average, 7 out of every 10 hybrids are Toyota hybrids. During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Toyota provided 1590 hybrid models, and achieved "zero failure" of hybrid batteries and hybrid systems during service.
The bZ4X is the first model of Toyota's bZ pure electric series launched in China, from Toyota's exclusive platform for bev pure electric with e-TNGA architecture. Empowered by this proprietary platform, bZ4X has a level of security that surpasses its peers.
From the perspective of bZ4X itself, the body frame uses hot stamping materials and high-strength steel plates, which are relatively fragile points such as the battery pack and its surrounding parts, BEV assembly, radiator mounting parts and around the front and rear suspensions, and targeted improvements are strengthened to bring greater safety.
In terms of battery safety, which consumers are most concerned about, Toyota has strengthened the "prevention" of battery failures and "timely detection when there are signs of failure", and introduced new technologies to adopt multiple monitoring systems that can ensure the safety of safety in the event of accidents, such as the battery pack adopts a structure of "cooling circuit isolated from the battery cell", and also uses high-resistance coolant to prevent fires caused by short circuits caused by leakage of coolant in the battery pack.
In addition, Toyota has integrated the battery pack into the body to maximize the safety of the battery pack in the event of a car collision. In fact, the 0 accidents of Toyota's 25-year three-electric system are enough to illustrate its mature three-electric technical strength, which is also its biggest invisible competitiveness in the field of new energy vehicles.
As a pure electric SUV, the bZ4X also has excellent driving pleasure. The bZ4X adopts the X-MODE four-wheel drive off-road assistance mode jointly developed by Toyota and SUBARU, which makes full use of the advantages of motor drive, reasonably distributes the front and rear axle power, and meets the various needs of daily life to off-road. According to the information learned by Auto-First, in the future, bZ4X will also provide the OMG driving control kit version of the racer steering wheel and steer-by-wire system, providing more personalized choices for young consumers who love sports.
The bZ4X has a maximum endurance of 615km and a minimum power consumption of 11.6 degrees per 100 kilometers, which is also outstanding in the same class. Toyota has been leading the industry in reducing battery attenuation, and is striving to build a safe and durable electric vehicle for consumers with the development goal of maintaining a battery capacity retention rate of 90% for 10 years at the world's first-class level.
It is worth mentioning that in order to maximize the endurance and achieve true environmental protection, Toyota has also done a lot of innovative designs on the bZ4X, such as the high-efficiency solar charging dome. It can take advantage of solar energy, can charge a smartphone 140 times a day, and can drive 1750 kilometers a year through solar power, which is equivalent to driving from Beijing to Chongqing.
This solar dome has more benefits, such as no charging pile, as long as there is sunlight can be charged at any time, you can also collect solar energy to charge the mobile phone in the event of a disaster and other emergencies, maintain contact with the outside world, or let the vehicle drive a distance to find rescue.
Overall, compared with the competitors, bZ4X has the quality of a large factory, safe and reliable, the strength is outstanding, and it is full of selling points, and it is expected to become a hot hit in the electric SUV market after its listing.
In fact, as consumers of new energy vehicles become more mature and rational, those gimmicks attached to new energy vehicles will eventually lose their attractiveness, and eventually people will pay more attention to the quality and safety of the car itself.
The launch of Toyota's bZ series of electric vehicles, with the accumulation of large factories, brings consumers higher quality large-factory style electric vehicles, coupled with the network advantages of Toyota's nearly 1400 dealers, will provide consumers with more intimate exclusive services and establish a new benchmark for the value of joint venture brand new energy vehicles. At that time, the pattern of China's new energy vehicle market will also change.
According to Toyota's planning, bZ4X is just the starting point, the company will launch 7 toyota bZ pure electric exclusive series of new models by 2025, presenting different pure electric products for the market. The value of Toyota's "beyond Zero" beyond zero emissions is not a simple slogan, but a determination of Toyota on the road of carbon neutrality. It is believed that with the landing of more pure electric products, Toyota's carbon neutrality goal will be achieved step by step.