In the automotive industry, hybrid vehicles were once the darling of the spotlight, combining the advantages of fuel and electricity, and were seen as a model for the future of mobility.
However, as time went on, this once dazzling star began to show signs of "gradually falling out of favor".
Especially in mid-to-high-end models, many car companies have begun to focus on range extension and pure electric vehicles.
Obviously, the technical content of the latter is not as complex as the former, why is this so?
I consulted some people in the industry, and they said that in fact, this point is very simple, first of all, to understand the current situation of hybrid vehicles.
01 Current status of hybrid vehicles
When it comes to hybrid vehicles, strictly speaking, this is a car with dual advantages, and "extended-range cars" are not counted at all.
To put it bluntly, the essence of "range extension" and "range extension" is still a pure electric car, but there is an additional "range extender" as a power bank, and the addition of pure electric models is just a problem of insufficient mileage.
But the hybrid model is completely different, it has the dual advantages of an electric car and a gasoline car:
After all, when traveling in urban areas, it can use electric drive to reduce fuel expenditure, and when traveling at high speeds, it can use oil drive or hybrid drive to improve travel efficiency - no matter how you look at it, it is the embodiment of "perfection".
As a result, the Toyota Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid car, became popular in the market as soon as it was launched, selling more than 600,000 units in the United States alone.
It is also because of this that BYD, Great Wall and other car companies have made efforts in hybrid vehicles, which have led to the fire of many of their models.
In particular, BYD Automobile, in the 100,000-level passenger car market, relies on excellent hybrid technology to kill oil car models "collapsed"!
Its hybrid models such as Qin Plus, Song Pro, and Song Plus have all become the existence of 20,000 monthly sales, directly breaking the myth of Sylphy, Lavida, and Corolla, and leaving them behind.
However, it is also strange to say that such excellent technology, why there are signs of "gradually falling out of favor"? In fact, it is also related to their "advantages".
02 Why are there signs of "gradually falling out of favor"?
This sounds strange, but many times it is like this: referring to the rise of smartphones and the decline of feature phones, you will find that advantages can also become disadvantages, and historical successes often become shackles.
To put it simply, no matter how good your fuel system is, no matter how perfect your hybrid is, then it's the age of the electric car – and everything that is so far away from electric drive will hinder its development.
This is not alarmist, just refer to the oil car: why the intelligence of the oil car is not good, the tram is doing very well, the essence is the difference in the drive system.
Because in fuel vehicles, the output of power mainly depends on the physical properties of the internal combustion engine, and it cannot do fine operations, so there is a gearbox.
In contrast, the motor control system does not have this drawback.
As a result, the current hybrid car still retains such a system, excellent is excellent, but in the degree of intelligence, it will naturally be more faltering and difficult to handle.
It is also because of this that we will find many cars with a high degree of intelligence, such as Li Auto, Wenjie Automobile, and NIO Automobile, which do not use hybrids, but use range extender or pure electric.
Because these two methods, to put it bluntly, are pure electric drives, and the structure is simpler, making it easier to achieve good intelligence and intelligent driving.
Under such circumstances, "hybrid cars" naturally began to gradually fall out of favor.
With hybrid technology so advanced, can we find a better solution in the future?
03 Will there be a great future in the future?
In the long run, with the development of technology, there will definitely be opportunities for hybrids.
After all, hybrid cars also have batteries, but they need to solve this problem with a reasonable electric drive, accurate layout and good electrical architecture.
Unfortunately, time may not be on the side of hybrids, or even range extensions.
To put it bluntly, whether it is a hybrid or a range extension, it is a transitional product born to solve the lack of pure electric mileage.
But at present, the dawn of pure electric vehicles has come.
On the one hand, semi-solid-state batteries are about to be fully implemented.
For example, at the end of last year, the 150-degree semi-solid-state battery equipped by NIO completed a real range of 1,000 kilometers.
In April this year, some bloggers took this battery and tested it at an altitude of 5100 degrees below zero 11 degrees, and the results showed that they ran 270 kilometers in 12 hours in traffic jams, and there were more than 60 percent of the power.
This directly illustrates a problem, under the test of altitude and low temperature, the tram can easily run 800 kilometers, why do you need to extend the range and hybrid?
The key is that such a battery is not a product of the laboratory, and at present, NIO and Zhiji Automobile have been officially announced.
Next year, the price of the model equipped with a semi-solid-state battery will be less than 300,000 yuan, and there is basically no problem.
On the other hand, battery-related supercharging piles are also becoming popular.
Huawei alone announced that it will work with partners to build 100,000 supercharging piles in 2024, which can basically achieve full coverage based on 8,000 servers.
Combined with the energy replenishment efficiency of 1 second and 1 km, how is it possible for hybrid vehicles, and is there still a chance for Jitai?
In general, it's not that the "hybrid car" is not powerful, it has also had its glory.
It's just that in each era, there will be a positioning in each era, just like the current range extension, although it seems to be very popular, it will also be replaced by pure electricity in the near future.
These are the tears of the times!