Zhu Jiangming, Chairman of Zero Run Technology: Communication and interconnection are the key to China's automobile catching up with the world

Reporter Yu Dian, Shi Yingjing, reported in Shanghai

A few days ago, at the zero-run intelligent power CTC battery chassis integration technology conference held by Zero Run Auto, Zero Run Auto officially released its intelligent power CTC battery chassis integration technology.

It is understood that zero-run intelligent power CTC technology, that is, cell-to-chassis, refers to the integrated design of batteries, chassis and car bodies, simplifying product design and production processes. By redesigning the battery carrier tray, the entire chassis structure of the car body is coupled with the battery tray structure.

With CTC technology, the number of zero-run auto parts is reduced by 20%, the cost of structural parts is reduced by 15%, and the stiffness of the vehicle is increased by 25%, achieving a high degree of integration and modularization. At present, vehicle companies and battery companies have a layout in the field of CTC. How to further realize the lightweighting of electric vehicles has become the direction of common exploration by all parties.

At the same time, Zhu Jiangming, chairman of Zero Run Technology, announced that its CTC technology is free and open to share. Zhu Jiangming said: "The development of new energy vehicles can not be built behind closed doors, the rise of the industry is not a one-person thing, exchanges, interconnection is the key to China's automobile catch up with the world." ”

The first domestic CTC battery chassis integration technology that can be mass-produced

As a key part of the chassis integration of electric vehicles, CTC battery chassis integration technology is currently in an important stage from concept to mass production.

At the press conference, zero-run cars said that power batteries have two evolutionary routes. The first is the material route, which improves the battery energy density by looking for breakthroughs in basic disciplines such as physics and chemistry; the second is the engineering route, which achieves better battery performance through engineering means such as battery pack structure adjustment and battery management technology. Among them, CTC technology is one of the representatives of the engineering route.

It is reported that the zero-run battery research and development team began to develop battery and chassis integration technology from 2016. After 6 years of overcoming difficulties, we finally developed the first mass-produced CTC battery chassis integration technology in China.

Song Yining, general manager of the battery product line of zero-running technology, introduced that through CTC technology, the number of zero-running auto parts is reduced by 20%, the cost of structural parts is reduced by 15%, and the stiffness of the vehicle is increased by 25%, achieving a high degree of integration and modularization. "By reducing the redundant structural design, the number of parts can be effectively reduced, and while improving the space utilization rate and system specific energy, the body and the battery structure complement each other, so that the battery impact resistance and the torsional stiffness of the body are greatly improved."

In addition to structural and strength optimizations, the application of CTC technology also has the effect of improving internal space and endurance. The zero-run car said that compared with the battery of the traditional scheme, the CTC layout space can be increased by 14.5%, which can eliminate the installation gap between the battery pack and the body, and the vertical space of the body is increased by 10mm, so that the user has a more comfortable height space, which also makes the vehicle space layout more flexible.

In terms of endurance, zero-run intelligent power CTC technology has better airtightness than traditional solutions, which can improve battery insulation performance, battery space, etc., and at the same time, based on the innovative software application AI BMS big data battery management system to bring energy economy management, comprehensively improve the vehicle mileage by 10%. With the continuous evolution of zero-run intelligent power CTC technology, "refueling" charging can be realized in the future - charging for 5 minutes and lasting more than 200km.

It is worth mentioning that zero-run intelligent power CTC technology will be the first mass production application on the zero-run C platform electric medium and large sedan zero-run C01, this new car is the flagship model of the zero-run car brand, it will further improve the zero-run car product matrix, and will soon open its debut and debut in the near future.

In 2030, the domestic market space may reach 850 billion yuan

In fact, how to achieve the adaptation of batteries and vehicles has been one of the important directions explored by many car companies in recent years. According to industry insiders, there are currently three main development directions in the industry, namely the power exchange mode, the CTC integration model and the traditional model. Among them, the CTC program is currently a more cutting-edge mass production program.

Tianfeng Securities Research Report pointed out that the CTC solution is an important development direction for the future of electric vehicle battery group technology. With the improvement of the requirements of electric vehicles for convenience and lightweight, CTC will gradually become an important direction for technology research and development and application.

Why CTC technology has been valued so much by car companies in recent years, the core lies in its improvement of electric vehicle endurance. Relevant data show that for every 10kg reduction in the weight of pure electric vehicles, the cruising range can be increased by 2.5km. As one of the three major components of the car, the chassis carries nearly 70% of the total weight of the car, which is of great significance for the endurance and drivability of the car.

It is worth noting that the integrated model of the battery chassis such as CTC does not mean that the safety requirements have been relaxed. In terms of safety, Zero Run conducted several rounds of rigorous tests on intelligent power CTC technology during the development process, such as bottom ball hitting, extrusion, thermal diffusion, etc., to ensure battery safety, of which 8 safety test results far exceeded national standards.

At the same time, based on the zero-run AI BMS big data intelligent battery management system, zero-run can provide users with real-time cloud security protection at the touch cell level, and has been comprehensively improved in terms of battery safety, battery life and battery performance.

At present, both vehicle companies and battery companies have a layout in the research and development and application of CTC technology. In 2020, Tesla released a new package of packaging technology CTC at Battery Day, that is, canceling the Pack design and installing the battery cell directly on the body. In addition, vehicle companies such as Volkswagen, Volvo, and Ford, as well as battery companies such as CATL and LG, are developing CTC-related technologies according to their own needs.

Guohai Securities Research Report said that with the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market scale year by year, the application of CTC in the future will directly bring greater development opportunities to four areas in the industrial chain, namely chassis integration, power battery, thermal management system, and wire control chassis system, and it is expected that the mainland CTC market space will reach 850 billion yuan in 2030.

It is understood that Zero-Run Automobile has submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 17, and its prospectus said that it plans to launch 8 new models by the end of 2025 at a rate of 1 to 3 models per year in the future, covering various sizes of cars, SUVs and MPVs. Zero-Run also plans to launch a smart pure electric medium and large sedan C01 in the second quarter of 2022, with deliveries starting in the third quarter of 2022.

(Editor: Quartzing Proofreader: Yan Yuxia)