Text/Hu Yao
Photo/From official
Plug-in, this market segment that was originally far from the mainstream, miraculously ushered in an explosive moment. In the first quarter of this year, the number of PHEV models increased by as much as 211%.
If Toyota opened the era of HEV models with "only two kinds of hybrids in the world, one is Toyota, the other is other", then, when the PHEV plug-in hybrid has a larger battery power, longer pure electric mileage and green card advantages, not only is it the BYD DM-i as the leader, including the changan blue whale iDD, the Great Wall lemon hybrid DHT, the Chery Kunpeng power DHT, Geely Ray Divine Intelligence Hi.X, different types of hybrid technology and products have cut into the market segment, jointly promoting Chinese brands to find a new path of development.
The Changan Blue Whale iDD was the first to be installed on the UNI-K and was officially launched on March 10. Compared with BYD, Chery and Great Wall, Changan Blue Whale iDD is one step behind, but when this 6-year hybrid system was brought to market, it received strong attention in just two months.
It is understood that the current UNI-KiDD orders have accounted for 70% of the unik full range, such data is much higher than the proportion of "Two Fields" and BYD PHEV in the entire series of models, and the cumulative orders have also made the delivery pressure of dealers suddenly increase. According to the current delivery schedule, booking customers need to wait more than 2 months before they can pick up the car. With the hot sales of UNI-KiDD, Changan Automobile will continue to be equipped with this plug-in and mixing system on more models listed under its market this year.
Recently, in Changan Automobile's first "Changan Automobile Blue Whale iDD Hardcore Challenge" live broadcast, the official also put forward such a view: the engine will not die so quickly, plug-in hybrid after achieving a number of technological breakthroughs, will be the best balance between power, economy and cost, the development prospects of this market are still very large. So, what are the technical highlights of Changan Blue Whale iDD in the actual test? And what kind of experience will these highlights bring?
6-speed triple-clutch electric drive transmission
Let the engine intervene earlier
In this live broadcast, the first link is the experience of the vehicle's power performance. The driver should speed up quickly over a short distance and paddle the balloon filled with water above the vehicle, and the water in the balloon should not leave water stains on the vehicle when it leaks out.
Different from the zero-hundred-hundred acceleration test commonly used in the industry, this test requires the vehicle to meet the early intervention of the engine, that is, in a short distance, the vehicle needs to speed up to more than 120km/h to "leaf-free".
First of all, blue whale iDD uses pure electricity to start, relying on 85kW of motor peak power and 330N·m peak torque, as well as milliseconds of motor peak torque response, the initial acceleration is very fast, 100 km acceleration time of 8.1s, the maximum speed easily exceeded 200km/h.
Secondly, the UNI-KiDD tested is a 6-speed three-clutch electric drive transmission, that is, in a set of 6-speed wet dual-clutch transmission, a set of clutch devices are integrated on the input shaft of the transmission, which is used for the separation and coupling of electrical and fuel power, so there are a total of three clutch devices, realizing the output of power and fuel power through 6 gears. The significance of the increase in gearing is that it allows the engine to have more opportunities to participate in the drive under various working conditions earlier, reducing the burden on the motor system, thereby ensuring better power performance and system stability. In other words, the significance of the gear increase is not only to reduce high-speed fuel consumption, but also to achieve better and more stable performance.
Cancel the "Front Gear Train"
Let the engine focus on power output
The other two links in the live broadcast are actually a test that focuses on power performance. Vehicles need to pass through rough roads such as cobblestone roads, broken roads, bumpy roads, etc., and maintain relative body stability, as well as limit ramps of 30% and 40% of the half-slope start, and the corresponding ramp angles of the ramps reach 16.5° and 21.8° respectively. The two tests test the smoothness of the continuous power output of the Blue Whale iDD and the low torque output performance of the Blue Whale iDD.
First of all, this more than two tons of car (2075 kg), due to the addition of batteries, so heavier than the fuel version, and such a weight increase makes the body center of gravity lower, the shock absorber is pressed more tightly, so when the vehicle passes through the bumpy road, the spring and the shock are in the left and right twisting, the high-strength body does not appear to be distorted, plus the combination of The previous McPherson independent suspension and the rear multi-link independent suspension, the shock filtering ability is extremely strong, ensuring good tire follow-up.
The Blue Whale 1.5T hybrid engine on the UNI-KiDD, in addition to the Atkinson cycle, agile and efficient combustion system, also eliminates the "front-end wheel train", which reduces the load of the engine and improves efficiency. The front end of the general engine is connected to the engine, air conditioning compressor, fan, etc. through the belt. Changan's set of 1.5T hybrid engine, the generator is still retained on the belt, but the air conditioning compressor, fan, etc. was cancelled, the official said that the "mechanical accessories" were changed to "electronic accessories", the mechanical accessories that can be cancelled were removed, and they were changed to motor drives. There is only one thing to do to make the engine clean, and that is to output power. This design allows the Blue Whale iDD to achieve a maximum transmission efficiency of 97%, and the system's comprehensive torque can reach up to 590N·m. In the process of vehicle climbing, the two power sources of the motor and the engine and the multi-gear transmission work together to achieve hybrid operation in full gear and ensure strong and sustained low torque output.
This live broadcast challenge is the first stop of the "Changan Automobile Blue Whale iDD Hardcore Challenge", which mainly evaluates and measures the full-speed domain (from low speed to high speed), and the next stop will be to go to Xinjiang Flame Mountain to test the performance of the vehicle's battery performance in the full temperature domain.
Driving value view
"It is expected that by 2035, the proportion of vehicle sales with engines can still reach 50%, which shows that for hybrid vehicles, there is still a huge room for development, it is not a short-term transitional product, but a market that can support long-term technology research and development and product production." Professor Xu Xiangyang of the School of Transportation Science and Engineering of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics expressed the same views during the live broadcast.
It can be seen that the hybrid technology, which was once considered a transition, will become an important driving force to promote the development of the automotive market in the next 10-15 years. In this period, we can see that the technological research and development progress of joint venture car companies in this field lags behind that of independent brand car companies. When there is policy promotion, consumer demand, with the continuous maturity of technology, the solution is becoming more and more perfect, after solving the problems of feeder fuel consumption, starting power, high-speed driving, and full-speed domain, full temperature domain, and full-time domain battery use characteristics, hybrid models will become the mainstream of consumers' new choices with low fuel consumption, no mileage anxiety, better retention rate, and more durable quality. With pragmatic prices, stable performance advantages, ultra-long pure electric endurance and green card welfare policies, Changan Blue Whale iDD will also become one of the mainstream technical routes in the domestic plug-and-mix camp.
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