Jimu News
In Jiangcheng in mid-December, the lowest temperature is as low as below zero. Located in Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, Shanghai GM Wuhan Autonen Gigafactory is a busy scene during the day.
This is the second super factory built by SAIC-GM around the battery and electric drive production of the Autoneng intelligent electric platform, and it is also one of the key projects of the company to invest 70 billion yuan in the field of electrification and intelligent networking new technologies, with the world's leading high-precision processing technology, high-standard quality control management and high-flexibility production capacity.
In the factory, which has a total area of about 37,000 square meters, less than 50 skilled workers work together with 33 intelligent robots, 126 intelligent AGC trolleys and other automation equipment to bring safer, smarter and better performance production capacity and quality assurance to SAIC-GM's latest generation of pure electric vehicles.
A production line that does not require human screwing
At the "module tightening" station in the workshop, a yellow automatic robotic arm "punches" 6 screws into the battery pack about every 12 seconds. This action can be repeated 8 times in about 1 and a half minutes, and the entire process can be completed.
This is the first assembly technology in the industry to use six-axis automatic one-time tightening, which improves the process efficiency by 50%, and the torque and angle of the key parameters of the tightening process are foolproof.
As a super factory, there is no longer a scene of people coming and going in the traditional workshop, but a large number of autonomous robots with the ability to learn Xi.
The module online station in the battery workshop integrates the technology of "robot, 3D point cloud vision, and force control perception", and the installation accuracy can reach 0.2mm, which avoids the potential safety risks caused by bumps in the module assembly process and ensures zero battery damage during the assembly process.
From gluing the battery pack to closing the lid and then tightening it, these processes are all automatically completed by robots based on digital twin technology in the Wuhan Autonen Gigafactory. Through the use of deep learning Xi algorithm vision technology for multiple quality assurance, combined with industrial big data, the whole production process of each part can be accurately traced.
In gigafactories, the number of workers has decreased, but the importance has increased.
In addition to the methodical physical factory, there is also a virtual online factory. There is a three-dimensional picture on the display screen of the production line, which displays the production information, equipment status, product quality and other production factors of the workshop in real time, and the staff can visually monitor and prevent accidents.
Inside the battery, there is an "exclusive secret recipe"
As the cornerstone of GM's comprehensive electrification, the Autoneng intelligent electric platform embodies GM's more than 27 years of electrification experience and forward-looking technology advantages. The battery, one of the core components of electric vehicles, is the housekeeping skill of Autoneng.
There is often feedback from end users, indicating that the apparent range of SAIC-GM Autonen family electric vehicles is reliable and real. One of the important reasons for this is the excellent technology of the battery system.
Autonen battery system has a proprietary cell formulation, which supports fast charging throughout the life cycle without causing abnormal degradation of battery life. The design, development and verification of the entire battery cell is jointly completed by General Motors, SAIC-GM, Pan Asia Automotive Technical Center and battery cell suppliers, so that the Autonen battery system can achieve high thermal stability, low attenuation and long life. The entire development and testing process strictly follows GM's global standards for new energy vehicles, which is much higher than the national standard for new energy vehicles in China.
Each module of the traditional battery pack needs to be connected by a wiring harness for battery management, but the battery management system of Autonon pioneered wireless communication can reduce the wiring harness by 90%, greatly reducing the risk caused by the aging of the traditional wiring harness.
The battery health intelligent monitoring system combined with the "vehicle-cloud" can monitor the status of the battery pack and battery cells 24 hours a day, and once the risk of loss of control is detected, it will actively wake up the battery management module and automatically take rapid cooling at the first time. After the collision, the active discharge can be completed within 5 seconds to ensure the safety of rescue after the accident.
The Ottenon family, which was born stronger, is expanding
In the face of the coming wave of new energy, the products derived from the Autoneng intelligent electric platform will be the main force of SAIC-GM in the future.
At present, two models of the Autoneng platform, the Buick Electra E5 and the Buick Electra E4 Coupe SUV, are produced at SAIC-GM's Wuhan base. With the industry-leading native pure electric platform and the "same price of oil and electricity" strategy, the two products are gradually being recognized by more consumers.
Whether it is for Wuhan Autoneng Gigafactory or SAIC-GM, this is just the beginning of the race for electrification transformation. More members of the Autonom family are on the way.
In addition to the outstanding performance architecture, the Autoneng platform has strong compatibility and scalability that are rare in the industry, and can cover various styling needs of different wheelbases and sizes such as cars, SUVs, MPVs, and pickup trucks. According to reports, the Hummer electric car in the overseas market is the masterpiece of the platform.
Taking Wuhan Autoneng Super Factory as an example, with the first modular and flexible press-fitting unit, it can gradually realize the co-line production of 2 series and up to 22 electric drive models in the future, and the battery workshop can flexibly produce 8 modules and 10 modules of different battery packs to meet the production needs of the three-electric system of a variety of pure electric models on the Autonen platform.
At present, SAIC-GM has a complete system capability of new energy from R&D, design, engineering, manufacturing to supply chain. Pan Asia New Energy Test Building and Guangde Battery Safety Laboratory can cover the main verification projects of the core three-electric system and components of new energy vehicles.
The construction of the third Autonen Gigafactory, SAIC-GM's Dongyue Autonen Gigafactory, started on July 5 this year and is scheduled to be officially put into mass production in the first half of 2025.
In 2025, SAIC-GM will invest a total of 70 billion yuan in new technologies for electrification and intelligent networking, and is expected to launch eight new energy models in the next two years.
Jimu News reporter Zhong Zhou