Three questions about the safety of new energy vehicles: how to erase "spontaneous combustion" from the dictionary of electric vehicles

On November 7, Chongqing Ideal Automobile Co.

In addition to the frequent product quality problems of Ideal Auto before this, the share price of Ideal Auto, which has just entered the capital market, has fallen sharply due to the impact of this news.

The safety issue of new energy vehicles is not limited to the product level, but also involves the entire life cycle.

The safety issue of new energy vehicles is not limited to the product level, but also involves the entire life cycle.

Promote industrial development with quality and safety

Today, the fast-developing new energy vehicles have come to a crossroads.

On the one hand, the sales of new energy vehicles have begun to pick up and are expected to return to a positive growth track; on the other hand, with the development of new energy vehicles, spontaneous combustion, explosions, product recalls and other incidents frequently occur, making new energy vehicles that are on the rise Under great pressure.

Since the day when new energy vehicles were applied to the market on a large scale, "spontaneous combustion" incidents that appeared from time to time have plagued many OEMs.

In May of this year, an Ideal ONE in Changsha, Hunan, spontaneously ignited; in June, a Lifan 820EV in a parked state in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, spontaneously ignited; in August, a Zotye E200 in Shanghai spontaneously ignited while driving.

　　Behind every spontaneous combustion accident, the fire destroys not only the vehicles, but also the reputation and reputation of new energy vehicles.

　　Ouyang Minggao, vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicles Association of 100 and a professor at Tsinghua University, said in an interview with a reporter from China Consumer News that due to the recent spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles, the industry has drawn attention to the safety of new energy vehicles.

　　"From a technical analysis, the main reason for many spontaneous combustion accidents of new energy vehicles lies in the management of battery thermal runaway, especially how to do a good thermal management system under specific conditions such as charging and high temperature.
It is particularly important.
" Ouyang Minggao said.

　　He believes that solving this problem requires the introduction of new technical systems and heat spread prevention measures to deal with it in advance.

　　Facing a spontaneous combustion incident, all car companies are aware of the importance of safety to vehicles.
As early as March of this year, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu publicly stated that he would work hard to erase "spontaneous combustion" from the dictionary of electric vehicles.

　　Facts have proved that auto companies must make more efforts to achieve this goal.

　　The reporter noticed that in the first 20 new energy vehicle spontaneous combustion incidents involving multiple brands this year, except for JAC Ruifeng EV and Dongfeng New Energy, the battery type was not confirmed on the official website of the car company, and the other 17 new energy vehicles were all equipped with A ternary lithium battery.

　　As we all know, the ternary lithium battery has a higher energy density.
Based on this favorable factor, the major car companies have opened their arms to it.

　　However, with the deepening of marketization, the disadvantages of poor safety of ternary lithium batteries have gradually been exposed.
To this end, car companies have carried out research and development on battery technology.
Taking BYD as an example, Han and Song PLUS are equipped with blade batteries made of lithium iron phosphate materials in mass production.
Of course, its application effects need to be further observed.

　　Build a psychological safety line of defense for consumers

　　When people buy new energy vehicles, the first thing they pay attention to is the cruising range.
Although the endurance of mainstream new energy vehicles has generally reached 400 kilometers with the improvement of the technological level, consumers' desire for endurance has not changed as a result.

　　Consumers have high endurance requirements, mainly because the previous low endurance version of the vehicle has a direct impact on the actual driving of consumers, and this impact still exists today.

　　"From the perspective of monthly sales of new energy vehicles, the mileage of vehicles is often directly proportional to market performance, which means that the overall consumer market is more willing to buy models with higher mileage.
This is in line with the basic cognitive laws of the consumer market.
" China Xu Haidong, director of the Industry Research Department of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, said in an interview with a reporter from China Consumer News that the increase in cruising range is an important factor in stimulating consumers to buy new energy vehicles.

　　However, different from the cruising range of traditional fuel vehicles, there is usually a certain gap between the cruising range of new energy vehicles and the actual performance.

　　The industry generally believes that taking into account factors such as actual driving roads, air-conditioning conditions and driving habits, a new energy vehicle with a claimed battery life of 400 kilometers has an actual battery life of about 280 kilometers.
Under special conditions such as extreme cold or continuous warm wind, the actual endurance of the vehicle may be further reduced.

　　This also makes people look forward to driving a vehicle with a higher cruising range to offset the endurance loss during use, so as to keep the vehicle cruising range running in a relatively high range.

　　Xu Haidong bluntly said that a mature new energy vehicle needs to make consumers feel safe in their hearts.
This kind of safety is not only the vehicle safety of the vehicle, but also the psychological safety of the mileage construction.
Compared to the former, the latter may require more attention.

　　In the new energy vehicle products, in addition to the cruising range, there is another important indicator-power consumption that affects the vehicle's endurance performance.

　　At present, domestic mainstream new energy passenger vehicles generally consume about 15 degrees per 100 kilometers, and there are even models with 17 degrees or more, which is far behind the international mainstream new energy vehicles.
For example, Nissan Leaf, its second-generation and third-generation models consume 11 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 kilometers.
Under the same conditions, vehicles with lower power consumption can travel longer distances.

　　In the future, how to effectively reduce the power consumption of the entire vehicle while increasing the cruising range is a difficult problem for major car companies.

　　Ouyang Minggao said that the energy consumption of pure electric vehicles in my country is still high, and reducing power consumption is a key issue to be solved by domestic new energy vehicles in the next step.
From a practical point of view, it is completely possible for A-class cars to achieve 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 kilometers.
Only by reducing power consumption can it be possible to increase the vehicle's cruising range under the premise of controlling costs.

　　If car companies control the power consumption of the entire vehicle in a lower range, then car companies may not have to choose higher energy density but poor safety ternary lithium batteries, and they will have more choices in raw materials.

　　The importance of ensuring safety is becoming increasingly prominent

　　"If the vehicle needs to be charged, where should I find a charging pile?" In actual use, charging has always been a problem faced by many new energy car owners.

　　In the early stage of the promotion of new energy vehicles, "charging as convenient as a mobile phone" and "charging with a cup of coffee" were the beautiful visions for people in the marketing of car companies.
Regrettably, this picture is still in imagination.

　　After years of market development, the domestic charging infrastructure has been greatly improved in terms of quantity and scale, and the proportion of vehicle piles is gradually shrinking.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the number of public charging piles increased by 14,000 in September, a year-on-year increase of 30%.

　　I thought that as the number of charging piles continues to increase, the problem of charging difficulties can be solved.
In fact, only increasing the number of charging piles and the lack of reasonable overall planning for the layout of charging piles still cannot solve the practical problem of charging difficulties.

　　Statistics from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance show that the regional distribution of public charging facilities is directly related to the promotion of new energy vehicles.
Nationwide, the number of charging piles in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Beijing, and Shanghai exceeds 50,000, accounting for nearly 47% of the total number of charging piles in the country.

　　It can be seen from the distribution of charging piles that the regional distribution of public charging piles in my country is relatively concentrated.
The concentration of charging piles is not only reflected in the provinces and cities, but also in the urban and suburban areas.

　　Nowadays, public charging piles are concentrated in urban areas.
In the urban area, open any charging service software, and the nearest charging pile will be in view; but as long as you drive away from the city, the charging pile will follow the distance from the city.
And gradually decrease.

　　In this regard, Zhang Fan, director of the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, told a reporter from China Consumer News that the industry’s previous focus was on the number of charging piles.
With the full promotion of new energy vehicles, the industry should focus on public charging.
The piles tend to be arranged in a scientific and reasonable manner, and the development of charging facilities is closely related to the promotion of new energy vehicles.
A more scientific layout of public charging piles will help to open up a new market situation for new energy vehicles and form a positive cycle.

　　In addition, the usage status of charging piles is also a general concern of consumers.

　　When investigating the utilization rate of public charging piles near Yongding Hedi Farm Road in Fengtai District outside Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road, the reporter found that only two of the only six State Grid charging piles in the area can be used normally, and the remaining four DC The charging pile cannot be used.

　　Among the charging infrastructures that have been put on the market, charging piles that are in abnormal working conditions account for a certain proportion.
Coupled with the charging pile construction system that has not yet formed a scientific and effective layout, consumers naturally have a great discount on the safety of new energy vehicles.
.

　　"The construction of charging piles, like new energy vehicles, will develop in the direction of more and more perfection in the future.
In the future, the industry will gradually explore a monitoring system to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the industry, and do a good job in the construction, filing, operation, service evaluation system, and online monitoring of the platform.
We will work hard to provide consumers with better charging infrastructure services.
" Zhang Fan said.

Transfer from: China Consumer News