Today, as one of the new quality productive forces to promote the green development, transformation and upgrading of the industry, new energy vehicles have become a new driving force for cultivating high-quality development in the mainland. China's new energy vehicles are not only leading the world in terms of scale, but also in terms of technical level.
The power source driving the rapid growth of the new energy market is quietly changing, from the initial pure electric vehicle to the plug-in hybrid model. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales growth rate of plug-in hybrid vehicles in mainland China will be as high as 82.28% in 2023, much higher than the 23.68% of pure electric vehicles.
There's no doubt that the spring of plug-in hybrids has arrived. At the SAIC Roewe DMH Technology Brand Conference held a few days ago, Yao Chunde, a domestic automotive power expert, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Mechanical Engineering of Tianjin University, delivered a speech on the topic of "Why plug-in hybrid is a necessary stage in the upward development of Chinese automobiles", which put forward two main views:
First of all, he proposed that the leading plug-in hybrid technology can only be done by Chinese car companies.
"The U.S. market is accustomed to large-displacement engines and does not have the motivation to develop plug-in hybrid technology; Japanese automakers have identified mild-hybrid HEVs and hydrogen energy, and have been slow to develop PHEVs and EVs. Europe, which is most similar to China's route, has a small country and a small population, and the pain points of users on battery life and energy replenishment are not prominent, and it is more suitable for pure electric vehicles. ”
Therefore, only in China, under the dual promotion of policy and user demand, car companies have continuously invested in the research and development of plug-in hybrid technology for a long time, forming a complete technology and a complete industrial chain of engine, gearbox and three electric vehicles.
Today, Chinese auto companies represented by SAIC Roewe have proved that plug-in hybrid technology is not a transitional technology, but a key technology to drive the electrification transformation of traditional vehicles and comprehensively improve the user's travel experience.
At this conference, SAIC Roewe recently released the "DMH Super Hybrid Technology" technology brand, which gives full play to SAIC's deep technical accumulation in the field of hybrid for more than ten years, and creates hybrid products for global users, which not only greatly reduces the cost of using the car, improves the comfort of driving and riding, but also eliminates the user's anxiety about the safety and energy replenishment of new energy vehicles, and truly provides users with the optimal travel solution of "having both fish and bear's paws".
At present, the Roewe D7 DMH, the "long-range super-hybrid cloud-sensing car" that is the first to be equipped with the DMH super hybrid system, and the "long-range new mainstream hybrid SUV" Roewe D5X DMH have shown their strength beyond their peers in terms of energy efficiency, NVH, and driving experience.
The Roewe D7 DMH, the "strongest superhybrid with 100,000 long endurance", has a maximum endurance of 1,962km, once again setting a new record for the ultimate endurance of its own brand B-class car, and leading the independent B-class car towards a new era of "2,000km endurance and 2L fuel consumption". The Roewe D7 DMH was launched in November last year, and the orders exceeded 10,000 units in one month, ranking among the top three sales of medium-sized plug-in hybrid sedans for a long time, which shows the recognition of SAIC Roewe DMH super hybrid technology by users.
The Roewe D5X DMH has also opened pre-sales at the Beijing Auto Show, known as the "strongest hybrid SUV in the 120,000 class", benchmarking benchmark competitors in the same class, and the whole system is equipped with the strongest hybrid technology, the strongest vehicle performance, the strongest safety protection, and the strongest intelligent cockpit. It is foreseeable that its launch will rewrite the market landscape of compact plug-in hybrid SUVs.
In May 2014, the general secretary stressed during his inspection of SAIC that "the development of new energy vehicles is the only way for the mainland to move from a big automobile country to an automobile power, and it is necessary to increase research and development efforts, carefully study the market, make good use of policies, and develop products that meet various needs, so as to make it a strong growth point."
Professor Yao Chunde believes that this is a landmark starting point, Chinese automakers fully understand the general secretary's instructions, realize that China's auto industry wants to achieve "corner overtaking", must use "two legs" to walk, on the one hand, continue to strengthen pure electric vehicles, on the other hand, but also vigorously develop plug-in hybrid products that can be oiled and electric.
"Because whether it is from the perspective of solving the pain points of users' actual car use, or standing at the height of the steady transformation and upgrading of the entire automotive industry chain, plug-in hybrid technology is an indispensable key starting point." He said. According to the latest market data, self-owned brand plug-in hybrid products have entered the core price band of joint venture fuel vehicles, helping Chinese brands to surpass international brands in market share for the first time.
As a technical expert who has been deeply researching internal combustion engines for decades, and is also the deputy director of the "China Heart" Top Ten Engine and Hybrid System Evaluation Committee, Professor Yao Chunde is well aware of the development status of global internal combustion engines and the advantages of Chinese car companies in plug-in hybrid technology.
According to him, plug-in hybrid technology has evolved over the years, with series and parallel connection as the highest-end and most complex mode, which is mainly divided into P1+P3 and P1+P2 configurations. Domestic car companies continue to innovate in the technical details of hybrid configurations, among which SAIC Roewe DMH super hybrid technology replaces the off-axial P1 motor with a coaxial P1 motor, which greatly improves the transmission efficiency and quietness, and is the most effective structural and technical improvement of the P1+P3 configuration plug-in hybrid system in recent years.
However, he also pointed out that plug-in hybrid technology has now entered the deep water area of competition, which puts forward higher requirements for the comprehensive technical strength of enterprises. For example, SAIC Roewe DMH super hybrid technology is a complex system engineering, which not only has an efficient hybrid professional engine and motor, but also includes core technologies such as a high-efficiency and long-range battery for super-hybrid, the industry's first "five-in-one" PICU, and a special gearbox for dual-motor hybrid.
"Only when all the planks are long enough can they form a 'bucket' super hybrid technology." Professor Yao Chunde said.
Among Chinese car companies that insist on positive research and development in plug-in hybrid technology, SAIC Roewe is the first brand to successfully mass-produce plug-in hybrid models. In 2013, SAIC Roewe launched the e550, which is equipped with the first-generation EDU hybrid system independently developed by SAIC, and won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2017. SAIC Roewe is also the first automobile company to win a national science and technology award.
As an independent brand "national team", SAIC Roewe is backed by the big tree of SAIC Group. In terms of technical reserves, SAIC has always adhered to the development route of in-depth self-research of core technologies and open cooperation in the ecological field. After ten years of technology precipitation, SAIC Innovation Research and Development Institute has pioneered the "Seven Technology Bases" including three major vehicle platforms and four key systems, reaching the international advanced level, and even realizing the reverse output of major core technologies including vehicle platforms.
Professor Yao Chunde said that the general secretary made important instructions on new energy vehicles in SAIC Motor that year, which was also because SAIC Motor had the earliest and most extensive layout on the new energy track, which played an exemplary role for the whole industry.
Plug-in hybrid technology not only benefits users, but more importantly, it is an important technical support for China to become an automotive power. "With a major breakthrough in plug-in hybrid technology, we have broken the weak hybrid monopoly of Japanese companies, and also achieved the transcendence of joint ventures and foreign brands. As far as I know, SAIC has started to export our plug-in hybrid technology in reverse, which would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. ”
As Professor Yao Chunde said, this is the pride of every Chinese, and now we have the confidence to say to the global market that the development of plug-in hybrid technology is the trend of the times, and the strongest hybrid must be in China!