However, on closer examination, we have to lament Toyota's mature style of "preparing for a rainy day" as an old multinational car-making enterprise.
▍ Layout
Let's briefly review the disclosure process of Toyota THS patent:
In 20 17, Toyota officially announced the opening of the first batch of patents and technology, and hoped to cooperate with other car companies in this regard. Never thought about it, but few people answered. If Toyota says that our THS hybrid technology is "the second in the world", no one in the world dares to say that it is "the first in the world". Is such a unique set of "martial arts cheats" not fragrant?
20 19, 19 10, Toyota made the patent disclosure more clear. Toyota claims that it will provide the right to use for free, including about 23,740 patents of electrification technology such as motor, electric control and system control. These technologies are advanced technologies that Toyota has been able to achieve high performance, miniaturization and low cost after more than 20 years of research and development of related models.
Toyota's "sincerity" finally paid off. At the beginning of 20 19, Toyota "sold" THS technology to Yuan Keli, Toyota's core component supplier in China, at the price of "1 USD". Geely Automobile is the major shareholder of Yuan Keli. In other words, Toyota "sold" THS technology to Geely in disguise. As for why Geely "took over" THS technology, we will leave it for later analysis.
2065438+September 2009, Toyota finally looked forward to the desired results. Toyota and Guangzhou Automobile Group signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on electrification and intelligent network connection. The hybrid products of Guangzhou Automobile Group adopting Toyota THS system will be listed on 202 1 at the latest.
In June 2020, the above framework agreement finally landed. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, BulE, a Japanese company that develops and supplies hybrid electric systems for Toyota? Nexus has reached a technology transfer agreement with Guangzhou Automobile Group. At the same time, it was learned that Toyota also transferred THS technology to Geely and FAW, and provided ready-made THS system hybrid products for these enterprises to assemble hybrid vehicles.
Take advantage of
It is 2020, and neither the industry nor the media will think that this is a "conscience discovery" of Toyota, and it has traveled across the ocean to China to engage in "technical poverty alleviation". Toyota fiddled with abacus beads, and the intention of opening patents was "obvious":
First, the technology patent is about to expire. Instead of letting it disappear in time, it is better to take it out as a personal feeling. 20 17, 1 month, THS patent is invalid in Europe and America. This is why Toyota's official announcement can be opened on 20 17. Even in China, the first batch of patents will expire in 2023.
Second, the policy has changed, and the spring of the hybrid technology route has come. 10 year 10 On October 27th, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China Automotive Engineering Society organized more than 1,000 experts in the whole industry 1000, and it took a year and a half to revise and compile the technical roadmap 2.0 for energy-saving and new energy vehicles. A new policy that has been rumored for a long time and can affect China's new energy vehicle market in the next 15 years has finally been settled.
Toyota smiled, and THS, which had not been seen by the policy before, finally came to an end in the world's largest new energy vehicle market.
Version 2.0 technology roadmap divides plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles into new energy vehicles; Fuel cell vehicles, hybrid vehicles and ordinary hybrid vehicles all belong to the category of energy-saving vehicles. Wang Binggang, the leader of the expert group, made it clear that the traditional cars in China should be fully transformed into hybrid cars. In 2025, the proportion of new hybrid electric vehicles in traditional energy vehicles will exceed 50%, and it will reach 100% in 2035.
Obviously, the biggest change of version 2.0 roadmap is the increase of the route weight of hybrid technology. Toyota products, which once belonged to ordinary hybrid vehicles with THS technology, have historically entered the circle of policy shadow.
self-interest
Then the problem is coming. Since HEV is valued in China market, Toyota should cherish its THS technology more, and how to win a larger market share quickly and economically within the effective patent barrier time? Why did it choose to give up early?
In fact, although Toyota THS hybrid technology has profound accumulation and popularity, it is not the best.
At least the current universal Voltec system, Honda's? I-MMD system, even BYD's DM dual-mode hybrid system, has the ability to compete with Toyota THS. Toyota wins in early development time, high market share and high product maturity, but it does not mean the complete victory of technical quality.
Therefore, driven by the policy, once the market enthusiasm is ignited, a large number of OEMs will deeply participate in the development of HEV, PHEV and other products. The choice of technical route will become an important issue. At this time, if Toyota still insists on THS patent barrier, there is no doubt that THS technology route will become a minority in the future China market.
As a minority without absolute technological advantage, it is not a good thing for Toyota. There is always the possibility of being marginalized by the market. Needless to say, Toyota's HEV products are still at a price disadvantage compared with similar fuel vehicles. Toyota must not lose the market share of HEV products in China on the premise that the development of pure trams is not ahead.
After several calculations, Toyota decided to open the patented technology in advance. But Toyota obviously has a back hand.
At the beginning, Toyota transferred THS technology to Yuan Keli at the price of "1 USD". At that time, it was only a 1.0 version of this technology. In fact, so far, Toyota's THS technology has developed to the 4.0 era.
At the same time, it should be noted that in June, 2020, 65438+ 10, Toyota and GAC signed a framework agreement on transfer, which not only mentioned the patented technology, but also emphasized the provision of ready-made THS hybrid products to the recipient of patented technology.
Toyota's "Fox Tail" was finally exposed.
Toyota intends to use the early THS technology to open the way and gain a "group" advantage in the technical route. First of all, it ensures that HEV equipped with THS technology is a "popular" product in China market. But in this process, Toyota itself has always maintained a leading edge in technology.
If someone wants to get THS technology with the same iterative level as Toyota, it is not impossible. Toyota's ready-made THS system hybrid products "sell well" and are bought and assembled into hybrid models.
▍ altruism
The above is obviously the "management experience" written by Toyota after careful consideration. But as the article said at the beginning, as long as it is a business, it must be mutually beneficial, otherwise it cannot be established.
Let's talk about the independent car companies associated with it.
The top three car companies related to THS technology patent transfer are GAC, FAW and Geely. In this context, if one of the above three nouns is found to be different from the other two, the answer must be Geely.
Guangzhou Automobile and FAW control the North and South Toyota respectively, and they are Toyota's "brothers" in the China market. From this relationship, their technical cooperation with Toyota, patent transfer and trading of core technology products are all "rotten meat in the pot".
Geely is a substitute. Through the media of Yuan Keli, Geely obtained a THS technology patent, which is not the latest version. How to look at it, it seems that Geely has to do it because of technical shortcomings.
In fact, on the contrary, Geely, like BYD and Great Wall, is in a leading position in the field of hybrid technology research and development of independent car companies. Here, Geely has a very deep accumulation.
In 2005, the second-generation Toyota Prius was just listed, and Geely built the first weak hybrid prototype. Based on one-way clutch and Ni-MH battery pack, the new car transfers the motor power to the drive system. This car has a name-Geely King Kong.
From 2009 to 20 12, Geely began to explore the scheme of "planetary gear technology", which is the core patent of Toyota THS hybrid technology. In the process of research and development, Geely encountered difficulties. But this problem comes not from technology, but from Toyota patent. In order to bypass Toyota's patent barrier, Geely can only adopt the mechanical structure of double-row planetary gear set with more complicated structure. At that time, this became a knot in Geely's heart;
In 20 12, Geely's new PHEV plug-in hybrid platform came out, officially named CHS (China? Half-breed? System), praising Geely's confident name;
In 20 16, emgrand PHEV, which has been on sale so far, went on the market, marking the maturity of Geely CHS research and development.
Geely can't be Toyota, but Toyota can't be Geely.
Geely, who never sticks to the rules, also allocated time and energy to another new hybrid scheme, namely P0 and P2.5 hybrid. When Geely Borui GE went public, it launched two versions of the hybrid system, one is the MHEV micro-hybrid system, and the other is the PHEV plug-in hybrid system. According to the position of the electric drive module, it is PO and P2.5 respectively.
In 20 17, Toyota first announced the opening of THS technology patents, and the market response was flat at that time. THS is not unattractive, in fact, because the final landing of patented technology requires a lot of resources, including long-term investment in manpower, material resources and financial resources. So the threshold is not low.
But Geely, as an "independent brother", can do it. In addition to the above basic conditions, the most important thing is that Geely has its own technology accumulation. The sooner Geely obtains the technical patent of Toyota THS, the sooner it can improve its CHS.
As for generations, it doesn't really matter. This is Geely's consistent "acting style" and "eating and digesting". The opening of THS technology patents has made Geely's independent and mature hybrid technology "icing on the cake".
It is true that Geely, FAW and GAC will all benefit from THS, and autonomous hybrid vehicles with the same mature technology and more affordable price than Toyota brand will soon come out.
Starting from 2002 1 and1,according to the Measures for Parallel Management of Average Fuel Consumption of Passenger Car Enterprises and New Energy Vehicle Points issued in June 2020, the regulatory fuel consumption assessment conditions for newly declared domestic automobile products were switched from NEDC to WLTP. From the set value of the cruising range of the pure tram, we can know that the cruising range under NEDC is more theoretical, while WLTP is closer to reality. The same is true for fuel vehicles and hybrid vehicles.
In the upcoming WLTP test cycle, products equipped with Toyota THS technology have more advantages in fuel saving and emission reduction than many small displacement supercharged engines of NEDC. In the integral policy, you can also take the lead.
Toyota THS technology products are "real environmental protection", and from this perspective, it is also of positive significance to the development of China automobile industry.
▍ Conclusion
Some people say that Apple can "kill" Nokia, but Tesla will never knock down Toyota. Because from now on to the future, Toyota has always been full of vitality.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.