The cold wave and blizzard have torn the fig leaf of new energy vehicles, and the four major tests are coming
Text/Wang Xinxi
It has snowed in many places in the north, and the minimum temperature in some areas of North China and northern Huanghuai will be close to or below the extreme value of the same period in history, and the temperature in many places in Jiangnan and other places will drop by about 20 °C.
A new round of cold wave and snowstorm is coming, and there is still half a month to go before New Year's Day. A new round of cold wave and blizzard superimposed on New Year's Day and Spring Festival, a new round of testing of new energy vehicles has also arrived.
Low temperature and cold wave weather test the battery life of new energy vehicles, a big killer of hidden door handles
For a long time, the issue of winter endurance of electric vehicles has been controversial, and some time ago, the winter performance test of Chedi also revealed the shortcomings of new energy in low temperature weather in the north.
minus 20 degrees Celsius In the winter of the north, many plug-in hybrid (extended range) models have a pure electric range achievement rate of only more than 30%. There are only five pure electric sedans with a range achievement rate of more than 50%.
In fact, with the advent of the cold wave and blizzard, many new energy vehicle owners have begun to complain about battery life, which is more obvious in the north, because low temperature will lead to an accelerated discharge rate of the battery, a significant decrease in the activity of the electrolyte, an increase in the viscosity of the electrolyte, a significant decrease in battery life, slow charging and other problems, and the power storage capacity of the battery will also be greatly reduced. The endurance of new energy vehicles in the cold winter is greatly reduced.
This is also an important reason why many rural consumers, especially in the north, are more inclined to fuel vehicles. A survey by the China Times also showed that in the northern counties, most of the people who return to their hometowns during the Spring Festival are still fuel vehicles.
Of course, in the case of low temperature in winter, the fuel consumption of fuel vehicles also increases, but the problem is that the energy consumption of fuel vehicles in this extremely cold situation increases, not as outrageous as new energy models, and the stability in the extremely cold environment far exceeds that of new energy, plus it is very convenient to refuel, so as to avoid the trouble of finding charging piles everywhere, especially in extremely cold weather, air conditioning, traffic jams, queuing for charging, and the anxiety of winter battery life is very large, therefore, fuel vehicles are still a relatively safe choice in the north.
Another noteworthy problem is that now new energy vehicles are basically all hidden door handles, but many new energy vehicle owners in cold areas have experienced low temperature ice and snow weather, hidden door handles are frozen, and even a lot of tutorials have appeared on the Internet to teach you how to open the door in this situation.
For example, thaw with warm water, cover with a hot towel, spray with lube, thaw with a lighter, thaw it with a lighter's flame before pulling the doorknob harder, and so on. Originally, the car door was a simple thing to pull casually, in the cold weather in winter, the new energy vehicle to open the door has become a technical thing, what is the value of this innovation, but also worthy of car companies to think about it.
Ice and snow days are a safety test for rear-wheel drive vehicles, and new energy vehicle companies focusing on rear-wheel drive need to pay attention to it
Even in southern cities like Zhejiang, the snow and roads are icy and dangerous, and the problem of slippery ice and snow is worth paying attention to, and this risk factor comes more from rear-wheel drive vehicles.
In the last month, car blogger Marco died in a car accident, which brought us to the attention of a major problem, that is, the problem of the rear drive car skidding on ice and snow, according to Jiupai News, Malone had run the track and drove more steadily. Or because the high-horsepower rear-wheel drive car will slip on the ice, and the vehicle is difficult to maneuver, resulting in tragedy. After seeing the news, many netizens said that they would never buy a rear-wheel drive car, either front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.
When dealing with snow and ice, the weight of the front-wheel drive vehicle is concentrated on the front drive wheels, and the load on the front of the vehicle is heavier, so it is less likely to slip. The four-wheel drive vehicle is also more stable when dealing with ice and snow roads.
But the front wheels of the rear-wheel drive car are heavier, and the side of the driving wheel is lighter, the friction of the front wheels is much more than that of the rear wheels, and the rear wheels have broken through the friction before the front wheels have not gotten enough thrust forward in snowy days, when the horsepower exceeds the friction of the tires, although the front wheels have been turned, but the inertia force of the vehicle can easily overcome the friction resistance of the front wheels, and push the body straight in the direction of the inertia force, and cannot turn normally, which brings a great increase in risk.
During the Spring Festival last year, some northern netizens sighed: In the snowy weather, I went all the way back to the city from Huairou and saw seven or eight accidents, some of which were small rear-end collisions and very serious collisions on the Jingcheng Expressway.
In the Chinese market, front-wheel drive SUVs accounted for 72% of sales in the first quarter of 2022, while rear-wheel drive accounted for only 5%.
Although buying a car, try to buy front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive has become the consensus of the car circle. However, at present, in order to strengthen the acceleration performance, push back feeling and improve the handling of vehicles, more and more new energy vehicle companies have begun to transform the rear-drive platform, such as Changan (dark blue), BYD (seal), Xiaopeng, SAIC (Feifan, Zhiji, Roewe, etc.), Leap, Skyline, VOY, and so on.
Some automakers claim that rear-wheel drive is safer and more reliable at high speeds and in corners, saying that the rear-wheel drive design can also better transfer power to the drive wheels and provide better acceleration performance.
Now that the ice and snow weather has arrived, behind the strengthening of the rear-drive platform of new energy vehicles, how to solve the skidding and safety problems of ice and snow weather caused by rear-drive vehicles is an important issue that new energy vehicle companies need to pay attention to, and it is also a driving safety issue that consumers should pay attention to.
Charging and supplementing energy for long-distance travel during holidays is still restricting the competitiveness of new energy vehicles
In another half a month, New Year's Day is approaching, from New Year's Day to the Spring Festival in the next month, new energy vehicle owners will face the dilemma of charging and replenishing energy.
Every Spring Festival, we will find that most of the cars driving back to the countryside are fuel vehicles, and many migrant workers do not have the conditions for off-peak travel, and traffic jams on holidays are the norm, and queuing for charging in high-speed service areas is also the norm.
Different from the May Day National Day, this year's superimposed cold wave and blizzard, low temperature power loss, battery life discount, if there is no accident, "the tram should not be on the highway" and other topics may become hot search topics again.
In fact, at present, Huawei, PetroChina and other players have been promoting the layout of supercharging, and are committed to breaking the shortcomings of slow charging speed, claiming that they can run 200 kilometers in 5 minutes. Huawei has announced that it will build 100,000 supercharging piles in 340 cities by 2024, and at this rate, the charging efficiency and experience along the highway may be improved to a certain extent in the next three years, but the specific speed of promotion remains to be seen.
From the current point of view, the charging problem is an important experience problem for tram holiday travel, and the superposition of extreme weather is further amplifying this shortcoming.
Rural road conditions, battery safety and after-sales problems are the shortcomings to be solved by new energy vehicle companies
Another reason is that the road conditions, charging pile construction and after-sales system in rural areas are basically prepared for fuel vehicles.
We know that the road conditions in the countryside are complex, there are various mountain roads, narrow roads, car chassis is inevitably bumped, a problem is that the new energy vehicle is now the battery is basically placed at the bottom of the car, if you accidentally bump and bump, the battery is damaged, the whole battery to be replaced, the cost is very expensive.
The battery price of new energy vehicles basically accounts for 30%-40% of the vehicle price, or even more than 50%, taking BYD Han EV as an example, the price of its battery replacement is 7-80,000 yuan, which is already cheap, and the price of battery replacement for some car companies also exists.
For rural consumers who pursue cost-effectiveness, they are more inclined to oil trucks with higher durability and suitable for complex rural road conditions, and the after-sales of oil trucks is more perfect, and maintenance is more convenient and cheaper. The entire after-sales system of new energy vehicles has not yet been established in the third and fourth lines and the entire after-sales system in rural areas.
Rural consumers pay more attention to whether the service outlets and after-sales service outlets of car companies are perfect, after all, the car is easy to deal with problems, and the lack of this aspect makes it difficult for new energy vehicles to open up the situation in rural areas.
The second is the construction of rural charging piles, which has been advancing in the past two years, but the overall demand cannot be well met. Therefore, the economy and practicality of new energy vehicles in rural areas are not as good as those of oil vehicles, which may be a problem that the industry needs to spend effort and effort to solve.
In general, the Spring Festival is approaching, the cold wave and heavy snow, and the complex weather will magnify the shortcomings of new energy vehicles, and how to solve these problems is an important aspect for car companies to further open up the market, make consumers feel more secure, and be more willing to recognize and accept electric vehicles.
Today, the competition of new energy vehicle companies revolves more around the sense of science and technology, intelligent driving, etc., but the cost of battery replacement, driving safety issues in extreme environments such as ice and snow days, as well as the pain points of complex road conditions encountered by various consumers, and the real needs of rural consumers for battery life charging and after-sales are actually important issues for consumers to choose oil vehicles or trams.
Author: Wang Xinxi, Senior Reviewer of TMT This article is not reproduced without permission