Last year's volume price, this year's volume price and technology.
Previously, BYD announced that it could drive 2000km in one breath in a full state, and after that, Geely announced that the new Thor plug-in hybrid system was also in a full state of 2000km. After the plug-in hybrid range exceeds 1,000km, it will soon be popularized in various price segments. Then in the plug-in hybrid market, the next benchmark level of products needs to appear. The cruising range of 2000km has become a new goal in the industry.
With a range of 2000km, it is enough to drive from Beijing to Chengdu with full fuel and full power, and if you commute 40km daily, you can drive for 50 days with full fuel and full power. And this kind of technological breakthrough, compared with the current Thor plug-in hybrid system, to say the least, there must be a range increase of about 700km;Fuel consumption,According to the official introduction, it will also reach 2L less than 100km performance。
So, what kind of breakthrough does such a set of technologies need to be made in order to bring significant improvement?
The thermal efficiency is 46%, what hardware has been replaced?
The time node of the new Thor technology will be unveiled and released within this year, but there is a high probability that it will not be installed, and large-scale mass production will wait until next year. However, Geely has been planning this engine for several years, and at the beginning of the mass production of the Raytheon system, there was a plan for this engine. Last year, the thermal efficiency was slightly increased to 44.26%, and this year's release will continue to upgrade based on the BHE15 engine to achieve a thermal efficiency of about 46%.
Combined with the cost and engine scalability, after upgrading from the BHE15 to the BHE15 Plus, it is likely that a "BHE15 Pro" version of the engine will continue to be extended. The last technical improvements, such as the elevation-to-diameter ratio and 350 bar, have been used, and the engine structure has been fine-tuned, in exchange for a thermal efficiency of 44.26%.
So what other technology is available for Geely this time?
From 43.32% to 44.26%, the thermal efficiency has only increased slightly, and the structure and hardware that can improve the thermal efficiency have been basically used. This time, it has been raised from 44.26% to about 46%, which is a very obvious improvement for civilian vehicles. However, in recent years, Geely has not applied for many patents in terms of engine structure and materials, and it can be inferred from this level that this engine has not been particularly adjusted in terms of materials and structure.
Therefore, this time it is likely that a higher pressure direct injection technology was used. The application of 350bar technology has been basically popularized, and the BHE15 Plus has basically squeezed out the performance of 350bar ultra-high pressure in-cylinder direct injection, if you want to further greatly improve the thermal efficiency, only the higher pressure fuel direct injection technology, that is, the 500bar in-cylinder direct injection that will be popularized.
After that, it has to cooperate with the deep Miller cycle, and the principle will not be talked about, but the possible impact will be discussed.
The characteristics of the deep Miller cycle will affect the maximum horsepower and torque of the engine, that is, the performance of this engine will not be particularly fried, but more and more biased towards the direction of fuel economy and design, tuning. And more about the acceleration performance, you have to let the motor do it, if you want good power, it may be a dual-motor four-wheel drive configuration. Now that the thermal efficiency has been improved, the engine structure should also be adjusted to further expand the operating range of the maximum thermal efficiency.
After the thermal efficiency reaches 46%, in fact, the engine can do or want the engine to do more and more monolithic.
2000km, purely by the engine?
The role of the engine in this powertrain is becoming more and more single, because the thermal efficiency is high, it is better to focus more on kinetic energy conversion, rather than letting it run to the limit, and the engine direct drive is still an option for waste oil. And this system can run 2000km, and it is by no means supported by only a technical highlight of the engine.
There's also a DHT Pro gearbox, and a potentially larger fuel tank and a smaller battery.
Let's talk about the gearbox, DHT Pro is Geely's self-developed three-speed transmission, which is currently the most suitable hardware configuration for this engine in this system, with low, medium and high three forward gear design, which can better match different speed domains. That is, the more gears are divided, the more the engine can be less involved in the work, and more focused on working in its most efficient working range, so as to achieve the effect of fuel economy. However, the multi-speed DHT Pro transmission is costly, and the reliability level needs to be further verified, but it is true that this transmission is very suitable for plug-in hybrid for high-efficiency engines of about 46%.
Then analyze the last two points, the enlarged fuel tank and the reduced battery. First of all, one of the upgrade directions of the new Thor plug-in hybrid system is to make the thermal efficiency of the engine higher, that is, to make it work at the energy consumption level, which is "more cost-effective", so the focus of this plug-in hybrid system should still be at the internal combustion engine level. Here, by extension, BYD DM 5.0 system, the improvement direction may be placed on the level of reducing the internal resistance of the battery, and the efficiency of the battery is optimized by reducing the internal resistance of the battery, so as to achieve the effect of optimizing energy consumption.
So, under the premise that the internal combustion engine is more thermally efficient, is there a reason to increase the design of the fuel tank?
From a personal point of view, it is very possible to increase the fuel tank. Plug and mix to take the large battery route, in the high-speed domain is a loss, feed still to drag the weight of the battery to run, then, change a small battery, improve the engine thermal efficiency to charge the small battery frequently, this path is actually feasible, but the previous engine thermal efficiency is generally around 40-42%, and there is no particularly big improvement, so you can only start from the perspective of the battery.
After enlarging the fuel tank, the power generation capacity is better and longer, so it is possible to further reduce the amount of battery used to release some body weight, which can be regarded as an optimization of energy consumption. Combined with the fuel consumption performance of about 2L per 100 kilometers, which is generally fed fuel consumption, it is more likely to be achieved after reducing the battery pack.
Another speculation about the configuration of the motor in this car. From all points of view, the initial setting of this plug-in hybrid system is not very much like a performance-oriented product, and the acceleration performance is mainly borne by the motor, and it is likely that two-wheel drive products will account for a large proportion.
At last
One thing is for sure, Geely will mass-produce engines with thermal efficiency of 46% next year, and it will be used in the new plug-in hybrid system, and whether a car can run to 2000km at full state, and the fuel consumption of 100km is about 2L, we are also looking forward to it.
Looking at the entire industry, BYD's new DM may be used in a car this year, and Geely's new Thor plug-in hybrid will be unveiled this year at the earliest. And like this, with innovative and benchmarking technology, of course, the sooner it is launched, the better, and as soon as possible, it will be more advantageous to get pricing power. Unless, Geely really has the energy to achieve a fuel consumption of 2L per 100 kilometers.