"It is impossible for new energy to replace diesel engines", when Tan Xuguang, chairman of Weichai Power, said this topic on March 26 in the "Old Tan Lounge", no one would have thought that in less than one month, Weichai Power once again broke through the thermal efficiency value of the diesel engine body.
Four breakthroughs in four years, Weichai continues to lead the industry
From the release of the world's first diesel engine with a body thermal efficiency of 50.23% in 2020, to the increase in body thermal efficiency to 51.09% in early 2022, and to 52.28% in November 2022, Weichai has achieved a rise in thermal efficiency by virtue of its forward-looking deployment of the industry, the advance reserve of scientific and technological talents, and the in-depth accumulation of research and production technology.
On April 20, 2024, at the 2024 World Internal Combustion Engine Conference held in Tianjin, China, the world's first diesel engine with a thermal efficiency of 53% was officially released, with an outstanding performance of 53.09% with the highest thermal efficiency, which means that after 517 days of dormancy, Weichai Power once again refreshed the world record and continued to consolidate its position as the king of the internal combustion engine industry in the world.
As a symbol of the comprehensive strength of internal combustion engine technology, the improvement of thermal efficiency is a technical problem recognized by the global industry and the common pursuit of internal combustion engine researchers in the world. Weichai Power's thermal efficiency has once again made a breakthrough, and it has also been certified by TÜV SÜD, an international authoritative testing organization, and the emission verification of China Automotive Research Institute, and the product test report and test certificate have been issued on site, which means that Weichai Power's thermal efficiency improvement has also been recognized by the international community and the industry.
Technology implementation and numerical transformation value
Improving thermal efficiency is an important direction for the development of internal combustion engine technology, and it is also an eternal topic for the development of China's internal combustion engine in recent years, and it is an important way to reduce carbon emissions in the future.
The value of thermal efficiency in Weichai Power is not only a record and a series of numbers, but more importantly, what kind of value can it bring to the society and customers, especially in today's commercial vehicle industry, the pursuit of parallel development of multi-energy structure, the pursuit of logistics enterprises and retail cardholders to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and other aspects of vehicle and machine needs, so that Weichai's products can be smoothly applied, and achieve good response at multiple levels.
According to the experts of Weichai Power's R&D team, calculated with a thermal efficiency of 45%-46%, if it is increased to 53.09%, there will be an increase of about 14% in economy, saving about 31 million tons of fuel per year, and reducing carbon emissions by 97 million tons, which can bring great advantages to the implementation of the national "double carbon" strategy and energy transition.
In terms of the economy of the user's car, relying on the excellent thermal efficiency of the high-end powertrain and engine built by Weichai Power, for example, practitioners engaged in trunk logistics and transportation conditions, in the case of 250,000 kilometers a year, if the diesel engine platform product with a thermal efficiency of 53.09% can save 12,000 liters of diesel for the owner a year, and according to the average diesel price of 7.8 yuan in the market today, then it can save about 98,000 yuan for cardholders in a year.
Compared with the current deployment of large technologies such as waste heat recovery in the United States, the breakthrough of bulk thermal efficiency is the most difficult topic, but it is also an easier route to engineer, the best route to adapt to China's national conditions, and a way to maximize value.
Full of expectations to promote the implementation of products
From the past 3-4 years, it is not difficult to find that every breakthrough in thermal efficiency of Weichai Power is bound to bring new product lines and better market performance to the industry. In the past, whether it is 50.23%, 51.09% or 52.28% thermal efficiency platform products, the product application has been implemented in the same year, and many heavy truck products with excellent performance and good reputation have been launched with OEMs.
Among them, there are many customized T series products and H series products, such as Howo MAX launched by China National Heavy Duty Truck for resource transportation conditions, SITRAK C9H launched for long-distance trunk transportation, Shaanxi Automobile X6000, etc., which fully cover the multi-condition application market of high-end heavy trucks in China. Comprehensively help users reduce costs and increase efficiency in daily transportation.
Therefore, we can believe that after the official release of the diesel engine with a thermal efficiency of 53.09% today, we will see more high-quality models come out in the subsequent period of this year, and help industry users to be more fuel-efficient, more cost-effective, and more worry-free.
Write at the end
Looking back on Tan Xuguang's 20th anniversary of Weichai Power's listing, "new energy cannot replace diesel engines" is not groundless at all, advanced development concepts, high-investment research and production technology, solid scientific research personnel reserves and "customer satisfaction is our purpose" program of action will promote Weichai Power towards the pursuit of "green, reliable, intelligent and efficient", we believe that Weichai Power's next breakthrough will soon come.