"The world's gangsters look at China, and China's gangsters look at Roewe!"
When I heard this sentence on the second season of the Roewe Paradise not long ago, I was stunned for a moment.
It is already a general consensus among Chinese consumers to buy and mix Chinese brands. But as we all know, the highest cumulative sales in China's new energy market, the most well-known brand is BYD, Roewe jumped out at this time to say that it is the representative of China's plug-in, who gave it the courage?
However, through this Sixianghui's further understanding of Roewe's plug-in technology, I gradually understood why Roewe had such confidence to say this.
"Plugging in the old cannon" - Roewe
As mentioned earlier, the Chinese brand with the highest cumulative sales in China's new energy market is BYD, but the Chinese brand with the second cumulative sales you may not know that this brand is SAIC Roewe.
Roewe is actually one of the earliest manufacturers to launch plug-in hybrid models in China, as early as 2013, Roewe launched the first plug-in hybrid sedan E550.
Its plug-in mixing technology also won the second prize of the 2017 National Science and Technology Progress Award, and is the first plug-in mixing technology to win the National Science and Technology Progress Award. This award also proves that Roewe's plug-in mixing technology was very leading in China at that time, and it reached the standard of filling the technical gap and market gap.
Not only that, the second-generation plug-in hybrid technology released by Roewe in 2019 applied a 10-speed intelligent transmission for the first time in the world, with 6 engine gears and 4 motor gears, which can be said to be the world's leading.
Relying on its own technical advantages in plug-in hybrid, Roewe has continued to launch e550, e950, eRX5, ei6, RX5 eMAX, ei6 MAX and other products, plus starting from RX5, all listed new energy models have both pure electric and plug-in hybrid power, covering multiple market segments from A and B sedans to SUVs, so the cumulative sales of new energy have always been in the leading position of Chinese brands, so far there have been about 250,000 users in plug-in hybrid models alone.
It is often said that heroes don't mention the courage of the year.
In the competition of a new generation of plug-in hybrid products, Roewe is obviously lagging behind. In 2021, single-speed DHT (hybrid transmission) plug-in hybrid products represented by DM-i suddenly broke out in the market, with its energy-saving and practical characteristics, the price of "gasoline and electricity at the same price" quickly occupied the market, and became the spokesperson of a new generation of plug-in hybrid. After all, in 2019, Roewe has just launched the first model equipped with the second-generation plug-in hybrid system, the Roewe RX5 eMAX, with a pure electric range of 60 kilometers in NEDC mode (50 km in WLTC mode), and the price is 175,900-199,900 yuan, while the starting price of similar products in DM-i is only 154,800 yuan.
In fact, Roewe's plug-in hybrid technology is not lagging behind DM-i, on the contrary, the ten-speed intelligent transmission is still a more complex DHT, which can achieve better results, so why can't it become a popular product? In my opinion, there are mainly two factors: first, the technology is too advanced, then the cost must not be low, so in 2013, the A-class Roewe e550 will be sold for about 250,000 yuan, which is more expensive than the mainstream B-class sedans; Second, the pure electric range is too short, the NEDC pure electric range of the previous Roewe plug-in hybrid models is basically no more than 60km, and the actual driving is only about 50km, based on the average commuting radius of 32 kilometers in 36 major cities across the country released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, at least the actual pure electric range of more than 64 kilometers can truly meet the use needs of plug-in hybrid "urban electricity". Therefore, Roewe's plug-in mix is not lost in technology, but to find a way to better meet the needs of consumers.
A more comprehensive plug-in hybrid technology solution - DMH
I have to say that Roewe is indeed a car company with deep technical background. After a period of brewing, Roewe came up with its third-generation plug-in hybrid product as quickly as possible, which is the DMH super hybrid launched in Sixianghui this time.
The DMH is very similar to the DM-i, and also adopts the structure of P1+P3 dual motors and a 1.5L hybrid engine. The power battery uses a 21.4kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, and the CLTC has a pure electric range of 125km, and the longest range of a full fuel and full charge reaches 1400km.
In the past, Roewe has been competing with itself, always thinking about exchanging technology for cost and technology for performance, but this time Roewe has done subtraction in gears, so as to better control costs.
However, this DMH super hybrid still reflects Roewe's profound technical accumulation, which is mainly reflected in the following five technical characteristics.
First, it is a coaxial P1 motor
P1 motor integrated clutch to achieve coaxial, compared with the commonly used parallel shaft design, less than two pairs of transmission gears, one of the biggest benefits is a significant improvement in transmission efficiency, coaxial continuous power can reach 80% of the peak, while the parallel shaft can generally only reach about 60%, so that the charging efficiency is also improved.
Second, it is a hybrid gearbox with higher transmission efficiency
The P1 achieves coaxial coaxial transmission, making the hybrid gearbox smaller and more compact, with higher output power and a mechanical transmission efficiency of 98.5%.
Third, it is a direct injection oil-cooled flat wire P3 motor
The flat wire design makes the motor more responsive, resulting in more power and faster acceleration. The motor has a maximum power of 150 kW and a maximum torque of 330 Nm, and the motor has a response time of only 0.2 seconds, enhancing the inductive experience of consumers in pure electric driving or during driving.
Fourth, it is the industry's first five-in-one hybrid management system PICU
PICU combines five aspects of energy management: engine management, hybrid mode management, transmission management, thermal management, and air conditioning management, which is equivalent to the brain of the powertrain, which makes the internal network load of the vehicle smaller and the system computing speed faster, so that the power response is twice as fast as mainstream products.
Fifth, it is a special high-efficiency and long-lasting battery
Everyone knows that the most important thing in a battery is thermal control. Because this battery uses aviation-grade temperature control technology, the temperature difference inside the cell is less than 3.5 degrees. The temperature difference is a key indicator, and the internal temperature difference of the main competitors even goes to 12 degrees, we know that the battery is a barrel effect, so if it is more consistent, the battery life will be better and the efficiency will be higher.
The most reflective of Roewe's technical height is the coaxial P1 motor, which not only reduces a shaft and gear to make the mass lower, but also the inertia has changed, and the shorter the shaft, the higher the strength. Another point is that there is also a clutch embedded in the rotor of this motor, which requires very high precision, in other words, in this P1, the motor Roewe has achieved lightweight, high strength and precision, which requires very high design and manufacturing capabilities.
There is another technology in this system that Qiu Jie, deputy chief engineer of SAIC Innovation Research and Development Institute, is very proud, that is, the five-in-one hybrid management system PICU. The system combines five aspects of energy management: engine management, hybrid mode management, transmission management, thermal management, and air conditioning management, and one of the seemingly least important, but actually the most important functions, is the engine management system. You must know that today, China's annual output of tens of millions of cars with engines, its engine management system is still mostly purchased from Bosch, Continental and Aptiv (formerly Delphi). However, the team led by Qiu Jie successfully localized the system and integrated it with four other management systems to improve the efficiency of the DMH super hybrid system to a very high level.
The new generation plug-in hybrid model to be launched soon - Roewe D7 DMH
The theoretical and technical level of the DMH system is very high, so what is the level of actual landing loading?
In the recent CAERI 2023 Hybrid Vehicle Extreme Challenge, in comparison with 18 mainstream plug-in hybrid (including range extender) models on the market, the Roewe D7 DMH won the double champion of the best power consumption of plug-in hybrid models (4.6L/100km) and the best comprehensive performance of medium and large plug-in hybrid cars, which shows the advancement of this system.
Roewe D7 DMH has excellent performance, in addition to the leading technical level, its high calibration is also an important factor, such as engine power (1.5L/82kW), motor power/torque (155kW/330Nm), pure electric range (CLTC 125km) are slightly more advantageous than competing products on the market, but after adding two by two, the final effect is that the full fuel and full battery range has gone to more than 1400 kilometers, which has opened a sufficient gap with products of the same level.
Among them, Qiu Jie particularly emphasized the DMH P1 generator, its maximum power is 105kW, although the cost has increased, but it is in the overlap zone with the best efficiency of the engine, the power generation is higher when the power demand is strong, reducing the bottleneck effect of the generator (that is, the legendary stall), and the fuel consumption is also low, so as to give consumers the most practical value. He even called on the industry to give consumers more of this most efficient and effective configuration, not to save the cost that should not be saved, and to make plug-in hybrid vehicles "worth buying".
As a pioneer of hybrid products in China, SAIC Roewe has been deploying in the field of hybrid technology since 2010, and since the release of the first plug-in hybrid product in 2013, Roewe has more than ten years of technical accumulation and product iteration in the field of plug-in hybrid. With the emergence of the Roewe D7 DMH, a "super hybrid cloud car" equipped with a new third-generation DMH super hybrid system in 2023, Roewe may add another fierce fire to the already hot plug-in hybrid market, bringing consumers more comprehensive plug-in hybrid products. (Text: Luye)