2020 is destined to be unusual. After the severe test of the epidemic, the automobile industry and market were wrapped up by electrification, intelligence and consumption upgrade at the end of the year. Both automobile practitioners and consumers have a brand-new experience. Electric vehicles ushered in the climax of new products, AI big data and other intelligent popularization, and the way of buying cars with goods was more diversified. The whole automobile industry chain is undergoing an unprecedented change.
Looking back on this year's automobile industry, there was an anxious market trough in the first half of the year, and there was accumulation in the second half. New energy attacked the city slightly, traditional technology made breakthroughs, and the explosion of online celebrity cars came one after another, and the old models were slow and steady. Although 2020 is really "too difficult" for the automobile industry, it still shows that it is a pillar industry with self-driving and evolutionary power. This year, in addition to the well-known joint venture brands with traditional advantages, independent brands have also achieved leap-forward growth.
Near the end of the year, Zhizhen Automobile made an inventory of the automobile industry in 2020 from several aspects through several keywords.
The first article starts with the keyword # Breakthrough #.
In 2020, the technological breakthroughs and achievements of independent brands are the most prominent.
In the early days of China's automobile development, the core technologies of automobiles-engine and gearbox-have always been the biggest pain point for independent brands. Due to the limited R&D capability, many patents and technologies are controlled by foreign manufacturers, and many independent brands have been learning from the design and development of engines and adopted the idea of reverse R&D more. To be honest, reverse research and development is also a good choice without a strong technical background, but how can we be a gentleman and suppress it for a long time? Moreover, independent brands must take the road of independent research and development in order to develop to a higher level.
As a result, independent brands headed by Great Wall, Changan, Geely and Chery began to embark on the "no return" of engine autonomy, which must be taken, but full of thorns.
Used to be controlled by people.
Compared with reversing R&D, striker R&D needs more technology as support, and it is not enough to seize the day. We must know that many core technologies are now in the hands of overseas car companies. Crossing them without stepping on the red line is not as simple as talking on paper.
In addition, an engine needs to go through thousands of links from concept presentation to parts polishing, assembly, testing and mass production, which requires not only a lot of financial support, but also enough time and patience from the market level. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to call the independent research and development of the engine "no point of return". As long as one step is wrong, the whole game will be lost, resulting in an irreparable situation.
For example, Mitsubishi 4G63S4M referred to in the early Great Wall? 2.0L engine, although its cost is relatively low and its stability is excellent, its power is very weak and its fuel consumption is ridiculously high. You think the Great Wall doesn't know this? In fact, the engineers of the Great Wall know better than anyone, but what can they do? Not only that, Mitsubishi is not stupid. In those years when the automobile was booming, all the products that Great Wall could buy were eliminated by Mitsubishi, which undoubtedly increased the maintenance cost in the later period. Over time, the "lavatory" is all on the head of its own brand.
Therefore, instead of relying on others, we should concentrate on developing our own products, which can not only effectively reduce procurement costs, but also further expand independent intellectual property rights. Although a great "sacrifice" will be made in the short term, this step must be taken from the perspective of development.
So now, what progress has domestic engines made after years of hard work? Under what circumstances? Where will their future go?
A good foundation ensures that one can succeed in everything he does.
Take the brand-new 1.5GDIT engine of Great Wall Group as an example, which was launched by Great Wall Motor in 20 17. Different from the past, this engine is independently developed and manufactured by Great Wall, and it is the first vehicle with continuously variable intake lift technology (CVVL for short) among many independent brands.
As for this technology, its main feature is that it can actively control the valve opening, thus providing more accurate air intake for the engine, ensuring effective combustion inside the cylinder block and improving the working efficiency of the engine.
For the Great Wall, this brand-new technology has many similarities with VavleTronic (similar in function but different in name) used by BMW. For example, the eccentric shaft is controlled by the motor to change the valve lift to meet the intake demand of the engine under different working conditions. In addition, this technology also helps to reduce the overall fuel consumption of fuel-efficient vehicles. According to the official introduction of Great Wall, this 1.5GDIT engine can improve fuel economy by 8.4% compared with the same type engine without CVVL technology.
At the same time, this engine also adopts a number of "black technologies", such as cylinder head integrated with water-cooled exhaust manifold, suspended central direct injection injector, two-stage variable displacement oil pump and other technologies. In a word, this brand-new 1.5GDIT engine has made a major breakthrough in core quality compared with the subspecies in the reverse development period, and also narrowed the gap with overseas brands, accumulating valuable experience for the process of engine autonomy.
For this reason, Great Wall Group officially launched two new platforms, "Lemon" and "Tank" in July this year. The lemon platform not only covers a number of vehicle ranges from A0 to D, but also covers three major models, namely SUV, MPV and car, and is suitable for four power forms: fuel, hybrid, pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell.
Nowadays, with the blessing of lemon platform, the new 2.0T engine developed by Honeycomb Yichuang (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Great Wall Motor, whose main business focuses on power technologies such as engine, electric drive and intelligent steering) will become the main vehicle of Great Wall in the next few years.
At the end of 2020, Great Wall made another big move and launched the lemon platform DHT hybrid system, which laid a solid technical foundation for the future product layout of Great Wall. It is imperative to develop hybrid system from national strategy level and enterprise development level.
Structurally, the lemon DHT hybrid system adopts a more advanced series-parallel hybrid system, taking into account the advantages of series hybrid technology and parallel hybrid technology. The lemon DHT hybrid system includes three sets of hybrid powertrains, namely "1.5L? +DHT 100 "and" 1.5T "? +DHT 130 "power system. Under the PHEV architecture, there are "1.5T"? +DHT 130+P4 "four-wheel drive powertrain has three architectures to cope with different levels of products.
In fact, having said so much, the most important thing is to save fuel and enhance the sense of power, especially fuel, which is even more powerful for the Great Wall. Like what? HEV architecture focuses on the ultra-low fuel consumption of urban road conditions and the instantaneous acceleration ability of medium and high-speed road conditions. The comprehensive efficiency of power system can reach more than 50%, and the comprehensive fuel consumption of A-class SUV powered by HEV is as low as 4.6L/ 100km. The PHEV architecture has a pure endurance of up to 200km, which can greatly eliminate the "endurance anxiety".
For the Great Wall, the results of two technical conferences in 2020 are enough to support the product output in the next 5- 10 years.
In addition to the Great Wall, Changan Blue Whale series engines also have strong market competitiveness, which is no less than Great Wall's 1.5GDIT engines in terms of technical mastery and performance.
The first thing to distinguish here is a concept, that is, "Blue Whale" does not refer to a certain engine or several engines, but a set of modular power platforms, such as Honda Earth Dream and Mazda Chuangchi Blue Sky.
2019165438+1October 13, Changan Automobile officially released the blue whale NE 1.5T high-pressure direct injection engine at the R&D Center in Birmingham, England. Compared with previous products, this brand-new engine is built on the platform of Blue Whale ne with medium and small displacement and high efficiency, with maximum power 180 HP and peak torque of 300 Nm. According to the official introduction, the thermal efficiency of this engine can reach 40%, and on this basis, it can meet the emission standard of China 6b.
So what is the concept of thermal efficiency reaching 40%? Look at your watch first.
When it comes to the concept of thermal efficiency, it is a commonplace topic. Simply put, when the engine is working, it will convert thermal energy into mechanical energy, but due to friction, insufficient combustion and other factors, it will lose energy in the process of transmission. For example, suppose an engine can produce 100 heat energy at one time, and only 40 heat energy is really effective in the end, then the thermal efficiency of this engine at this time is 40%.
From this point of view, after several mainstream engines PK used in Japanese cars, the performance of this blue whale NE 1.5T turbocharged engine in terms of thermal efficiency is still very convincing.
As for the internal structure and layout, this engine also refers to BMW to a certain extent, and even the turbocharger inside uses the Honeywell brand of the same model as BMW. Speaking of Honeywell, it is actually a diversified high-tech enterprise, involving aviation products, services, construction, industrial technology and other fields. For them, producing turbochargers in engines is like Michelin-starred chefs making a plate of aged peanuts.
In the automotive industry, in addition to BMW, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Fiat and other brands also cooperate with Honeywell. It can be said that independent brands are also actively introducing internationally renowned brand parts. In fact, the current independent brands are also fully integrated into internationalization.
In addition, this engine also uses 350bar fuel high-pressure direct injection technology, similar to the 2.0T engine equipped with the new BMW 3 Series. As for this technology, its advantages are that it can effectively improve the combustion environment, enhance power, reduce fuel consumption and optimize emissions.
It is gratifying that while the engine research and development plan has made progress, major brands have not forgotten to explore the gearbox field. Just in July this year, Great Wall Motor announced its brand-new 9-speed dual-clutch gearbox. It is understood that this brand-new gearbox will be mass-produced at the beginning of 20021,and will be operated by Gerhard Henning, a famous engineer in the industry. Prior to this, Mr. Henning has presided over the research and development projects of Mercedes-Benz 9AT and Great Wall 7DCT, and is a well-deserved master in the industry.
BYD, Geely and other brands also carry out special research and development plans on gearboxes. Although the process is relatively difficult, it is of great significance and plays a vital role in the future development of enterprises.
Write it at the end
As the saying goes, "it takes hard work to strike while the iron is hot." If independent brands really want to go abroad and go to the world, they still have to hold their core strength in their own hands. At present, for example, Haval brand-new H6, Haval Big Dog, Changan Gravitation Series and other models have been equipped with the above two 1.5T engines, and the driving performance has been significantly improved compared with the previous old models.
In all fairness, everyone buys a car, which is nothing more than driving comfortably. Ten years ago, consumers were more willing to trust joint venture brands, but now, many joint venture brands have begun to have problems of one kind or another. On the contrary, those independent brands that were not optimistic at first have gradually risen and caught up in terms of reliability and stability.
Perhaps it won't be long before independent brands will fill the gaps in the fields of engines and gearboxes and go further and further on this uneven road.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.