Hello, everyone! I'm Mogo
When the car used electricity, it seemed that the Japanese car was gone. In the past two years, when China's electric vehicle market has begun to flourish, Japanese cars have no sense of existence. What level of Japanese electric vehicles are they lagging behind?
Who can represent the level of development of electric vehicles in Japan? From the current point of view, there are only three brands left: Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. Of course, this also includes those sub-brands that are closely related to them, such as Lexus and Infiniti.
This is the bZ4X finished version
Other brands either choose to oem someone else or have basically abandoned treatment. For example, Mitsubishi's electric vehicles rely on OEM GAC, and Subaru's electric vehicles rely on OEM Toyota. As for Mazda? People will continue to die on the internal combustion engine, and in 2030, efforts will be made to increase the proportion of electric vehicles in products to: 25%.
To the end, it is possible to kill yourself...
To see whether Japanese electric vehicles are still reliable, first look at whether these three brands are reliable. Let's take a look at the combination of products, and it just so happens that they have recently launched a new electric vehicle product, "two and a half" electric vehicles.
The first one
Toyota bZ4X
At the same time, GAC Toyota and FAW Toyota were put into production; the price and configuration were exactly the same; and even the names of the two cars were the same. In the North-South Toyota product lineup that pursues differentiation, such operations are rare. It is too late to carry out localization operations, and it can also be seen that Toyota is urgent to launch this product.
More mature products
If you see bZ4X for the first time, you may also have the suspicion of oil to electricity, which is indeed a product born on a pure electric platform. After all, the overall shape is too much like a fuel car. However, the bZ4X has a shorter front and rear, relatively closer to the front wheels of the body, and this long wheelbase, short body ratio is also a classic feature of pure electric platform models. From the perspective of the platform, at least it has reached a similar level of the Volkswagen MEB platform.
In terms of design, there is indeed a breakthrough compared to the previous Toyota, of course, there is also a lack of surprises. The appearance is basically the appearance of a fuel vehicle, and the details have a little breakthrough. The interior is what a fuel car looks like. The only interesting steering-by-wire and special-shaped steering wheel has not yet been mass-produced. In general, the idea is similar to the Volkswagen ID series: the oil car is replaced by an electric drive.
That's the highlight, and you'll have to wait
In the relevant parameters of pure electric vehicle models, it is still enough to see. You don't look at the beggar with 400km endurance, there is no configuration, it is clear that it is for the car rental company, and individual consumers may not be able to buy it. The mainstream configuration should be 615km endurance, although it is CLTC, converted to a more accustomed NEDC also has 550km, not long face but also not shameful. Volkswagen's trams are also about this level.
However, we can also see the maturity of Toyota's technology. Toyota's first relatively formal pure electric product, its energy consumption control level is good, indicating that the electronic control and battery management behind it are relatively mature. bZ4X also has a little black technology: it is equipped with a solar panel that can power the electrical equipment in the car, claiming to save the equivalent of 1,000 kilometers of electricity a year. Overall, it's a decent product.
Toyota is on the wrong path?
This saying has always been that Toyota is on the wrong road! According to Toyota's wishful thinking, the ideal state should be a transition from oil-electric hybrid to seemingly brighter hydrogen energy technology. Indeed, a few years ago, pure electric vehicles still faced many technical bottlenecks. However, people are not as good as the sky, Tesla has strongly opened the mass production barriers of electric vehicles, and the technical bottleneck of hydrogen energy vehicles is difficult to break through.
Mirai, a second-generation hydrogen fuel
However, Toyota has actually been walking on three legs: hybrid, pure electric, hydrogen energy three technical routes, it has not fallen. After all, Toyota is one of the world's most profitable car companies in recent years, with abundant funds for research and development. On all three tracks, toyotas are present.
Toyota's original strategy was to prioritize hydrogen fuel in the field of commercial vehicles
To develop the core technologies required for electric vehicles such as motors and electronic control, Toyota's development idea is to make the three routes of hybrid, electric, and hydrogen fuel cells use common technologies. What does the tube electricity come from, the motor electronic control, battery management system is a set.
Toyota's technical shortcomings are in the battery, but can be solved by suppliers. Relying on joint ventures with Panasonic overseas and relying on Ningde in China, we may cooperate with BYD in the future. In fact, it is not difficult to understand why Toyota can quickly come up with more mature products after deciding to inject pure electric.
Second
Nissan Aria
It is also a relatively mature product
Nissan's pure electric SUV, the Ariya, has begun to be blindly booked. The declaration information of the mass-produced version of Ariya has also been published on the 355th issue of the new car announcement. The electric car, which debuted at the Beijing Auto Show as early as 2021, is finally late.
Ariya was born on Nissan's CMF-e pure electric platform and is positioned as a compact SUV. Exterior, interior, etc., we can already see through the overseas version of the model. In terms of size, it is slightly larger than volkswagen's ID.4. Overall, nissan's self-breakthrough was also achieved, but it did not bring us fresh gimmicks.
Nissan Aria (Overseas Version)
From the current information, the domestic Ariya will have 242 horsepower single motor front drive, 435 horsepower dual motor four-wheel drive two versions. Combined with the declaration information and the overseas version of the model that has been listed, the front-drive version may have a battery life of 550km under the CLTC standard. Such data can only be said to have reached the passing line.
Nissan has accumulated
In fact, in the Japanese system, the first to catch up with the trend is Nissan. At the beginning of the century, under the tide of new energy, Honda Toyota chose hybrid technology, and only Nissan chose pure electric.
As early as ten years ago, it launched a compact car with pure electric power, the LEAF. Before Tesla, the Leaf has always been the hottest pure electric vehicle. Unfortunately, the Leaf update is slow, and selling 400,000 units in ten years has not promoted Nissan's further investment. Even before the replacement, THE LEAF did not have a thermal management system with batteries. It can be said that the advantage of starting early is wasted.
Nissan Leaf
However, with models such as the Leaf, Nissan has also accumulated some money. The ePower technology in the past two years also demonstrates Nissan's technical accumulation in electronically controlled motors, which is still trustworthy.
Half a unit
Honda e: N two brothers
"Oil to electricity"
The reason why Honda is half is because Honda has not yet come up with convincing works. The Honda e:N brothers – e:NS1 and e:NP1 – have entered the go-to-market phase, but they have not shown any competitiveness.
First of all, from the platform, these two were born from the e:N Architecture F platform, from the currently published related product diagrams, it is obvious that the battery pack is concave and convex, such a structure is a major feature of the oil to electricity platform. If you care about automotive news, it's not hard to see the relationship between these two cars and the new generation of HR-V.
In terms of parameters, these two SUVs are even more difficult to say. The already advanced Xiaopeng G3 and Honda e:NS1 have similar power and battery capacity. However, Honda's e:NS1 high-end model only has a 510km CLTC endurance, and the Xiaopeng G3 can reach 520km NEDC. Converted to e:NS1 battery life of 20 percent less. The price of the two is the same, the Xiaopeng G3 is a compact SUV, and the e:N brothers are just small SUVs. What other intelligent cockpit, the ability to drive automatically, we are even more incomparable.
G3 is Xiaopeng's lowest-end product
Although Honda's electric vehicles are listed faster than Toyota's, they are faster than Nissan's. But in fact, what can be provided at present is still similar to the C-HR EV and Xuanyi EV in the previous two years, so it is not reliable.
Still worth looking forward to
Although the two brothers of the e:N series are really a little bit worse. Honda, like Toyota, has accumulated a large number of core technologies for electric vehicles, and is also integrating them through a new platform. Although e:NS1 and e:NP1 are still like transitional products for oil to electricity, the real pure electric platform e:N Architecture W platform is already on the string.
What is more worth looking forward to is that Sony, which has officially announced the construction of the car, has chosen Honda as a partner for cooperation. As one of the only digital product companies in Japan that can occupy the right to speak in the world, it will undoubtedly bring Honda more high-quality intelligent resources, which is a major shortcoming of Japanese cars.
Fair enough for a war
The outlook is worrying
Fair enough for a war
It looks like all sides, although passed, are not too prominent. Will anyone buy these cars? Surely, because there are two main types of people who buy electric cars.
Some people like all kinds of novel designs and technology experiences in order to catch up with the new. Now it is not necessary to buy a tram, so many oil cars can buy me without pursuing scientific and technological innovation, why should I buy a tram? So the new forces' products are very suitable for them, and the new forces brand itself must do this, and he must have the function of catching the eyeballs in order to attract everyone to buy.
Gaohe is a more extreme case
In the era of electrification, there are also people who inevitably want to buy trams. Many people don't like bells and whistles, and buy fuel cars just to transport. The overly trendy features of the new forces do not attract them, but the experience of approaching the fuel car can give them more security. In addition to practicality, I hope to be reliable, whether it is these Japanese trams, volkswagen ID series, or BMW iX3 models, it is they who attract them. There are not many such people, and the Volkswagen ID series can be sold much more than Xiaopeng.
So at first glance, it seems that there is still a war? However, under our careful investigation, there are still many problems:
There are still traces of fuel vehicles on the platform
Although Toyota and Nissan both use pure electric platforms, these two platforms are not pure enough. The structure of their front-wheel drive, and some technical details, still expose the fact that they originated from the fuel vehicle platform. For example, the traces of the drive shaft are still found on the collision avoidance structure of the chassis part.
You can still see the remains of many fuel vehicles
Although the purity gap of such a platform has almost no impact on driving and safety, it will affect the application of more advanced technologies in the future. For example, future technologies such as wire control chassis, vehicle-vehicle collaboration, and vehicle-road collaboration are far less effectively applied on such platforms than the real electrification platform.
Intelligence is somewhat outdated
As the cliché goes, the machines of these cars are still outdated.
Nissan is doing a better job
Unfortunately, judging from the current three cars, Japanese cars have not improved in this area of direct contact with consumers. Fortunately, there is still CarPlay that can temporarily save these car companies. Perhaps the collaboration between Honda and Sony will also improve this problem?
Does Sony's cabin have a new flavor?
Maybe you don't care about the car machine, don't care about intelligence. However, the truth is that this is already a major factor influencing consumers to buy a car in the new energy era.
Why is the Japanese system lagging behind
There is no shortage of technology in Japan
It seems that Japanese brands of electric vehicles are lagging behind, but we must be soberly aware that Japan's electric vehicle technology still has considerable reserves, and Japan does not lack the technology required for electric vehicles. According to PatentSight patent data from Germany, more than 1.55 million decarbonization patents were counted by "different countries" in 50 fields. In 2020, Japan will occupy the first place in the three fields of "electric vehicles", "hybrid vehicles" and "all-solid-state batteries".
In addition to the fact that Japanese auto companies have mastered a large number of motor and electronic control patents, Japan is not weak in the field of batteries. Don't forget that the lithium battery on which electric vehicles live today was invented by Japanese Nobel Laureate Akira Yoshino. The source of technology for CATL is the Japanese company ATL. The solid-state batteries that are regarded as the trams of the future are also firmly in the hands of Japanese companies.
Akira Yoshino of the Kitino Award
Lack of support for the environment
In fact, in the era of electrification, it is not only Japan that has not been understood. Among the traditional automobile powers, Germany and France in Europe also do not understand. Why? I think one aspect is the lack of environmental support.
Japan's braincase is not good, nor is Europe's
First of all, the popularity of the Electric Vehicle Industry in China and the United States is inseparable from the environmental guidance of the national strategic level. The United States is too far away to say, but the country sees electrification as an important opportunity for overtaking in curves. It can be said that this kind of support, for China and the United States, is to break the long-standing technical barriers of Japan and Europe in the new energy era on fuel vehicles.
And Japan? In 2010, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released the Next Generation Automotive Strategy. The goal set in the strategy is that pure electric and plug-in hybrids will account for only 20%-30% of the market in 2030, and their status is much lower than that of oil-electric hybrids. The wrong technology tree is not so much a Japanese manufacturer as the Japanese government.
And China and the United States also have the conditions to provide such environmental support. The first is that the market is large enough, the United States can rely on the global market, and China can rely on strong domestic demand to provide space for the development of electric vehicles without being affected by the development of fuel vehicles.
The new forces in the United States are no less than those in China
There are also a handful of countries in China and the United States that have reached the national strength standard to support the infrastructure needed for electrification. Behind the electrification is the construction of a huge charging network, which includes both charging piles and the overall expansion of the power grid. Those who can do this can be said to be Left with China and the United States.
Why does Japan not support it
Why can't Japan provide the same environment for the development of electric vehicles as China and the United States? There is a view that Japan's automobile industry is too developed. As of March 2021, nearly 10% of Japan's employed population is engaged in automobile manufacturing, a whopping 5.42 million; 20% of Japan's equipment investment has gone to the automobile industry, which is the largest investment flow in Japan. All this has made the automobile industry almost the foundation of Japan's economy; the output value of the automobile industry reaches one-tenth of Japan's GDP and a quarter of its exports.
If electric vehicles are converted to production, the number of parts will be directly simplified from 30,000 to 10,000, bringing about a comprehensive simplification of the industrial chain. Although the car company is still there, it is only a different form of energy, but the parts companies behind it and related industries are not like this. The immediate consequence will be that nearly one-third of the workers in mature industries will be eliminated, and the 7 trillion yuan of equipment investment in the past five years will be adrift, which will directly have a major impact on Japan's GDP.
Moreover, Japan is inherently unsuitable for the development of electric vehicles. Japan, which is poor in resources, is not just short of oil. To electrify cars, 10 nuclear power plants or 20 thermal power plants will be needed to solve additional electricity demand, and such costs are unacceptable for Japan, which has an energy self-sufficiency rate of only 7%.
Write at the end
We can also find out a lot of reasons, but I think it may have something to do with the character of the Japanese. It is to pursue the extreme, or like to go to the extreme, and choose a direction that will continue to study. However, this personality is also easy to be left behind in the iterative update of technology.
And this kind of thing has been verified many times, when Panasonic and others mastered the core technology of plasma screens, and as a result, China and South Korea achieved curve overtaking on lcd screens. The Japanese Walkman of the Cassette Era walked alone around the world, but was completely killed by MP3. Japan's functional machines were very good, and as a result, they were completely overwhelmed by smart machines.
Maybe Japan will suddenly have an epiphany to open up the second pulse of hydrogen energy; perhaps in the tide of electric vehicles, Japanese cars will sink... The only time that can give the answer is time.