Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

After entering 2022, 1000 km long-range electric vehicles are finally no longer PPT products, one after another on the market. Towards the end of the year, Polar Krypton released probably the last MPV car of the year with a range of 1000 kilometers. Although it is not a big deal, the development over the past year shows us that the era of electric vehicles with a range of 1000 kilometers has come, and there will be more long-range electric vehicles in the future.

It has been nearly 200 years since Thomas Davenport, an American, built the world's first electric car in 1834, even longer than a fuel car. 200 years later, the share of electric vehicles is still lower than that of fuel vehicles, because the battery life of electric vehicles is still a big problem.

Figure source: pixabay in terms of travel costs, electric vehicles are obviously more economical. At present, the price of No. 92 gasoline in China is generally about 7.5 yuan. More than 5L oil is generally needed for 100 kilometers, and the fuel cost is at least 37.5 yuan. If it is a B-class car, the fuel cost for 100 kilometers is estimated to be more than 70 yuan. Electric vehicles consume about 15 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 kilometers, which is only 22.5 yuan per kilowatt-hour, even if calculated according to 1.5 yuan per kilowatt-hour of commercial electricity.

Cheap and affordable electric vehicles have failed to grow big after 200 years of development. what is the problem that perplexes the development of electric vehicle mileage?

01, 1000 km long range, there are too many problems to overcome. The reason why there are so many 1000 km long range electric vehicles on the market in 2022 is that car companies are trying to overcome technical difficulties. They are only released but not listed before 2022. For example, the 1000 km version of Lulai ET7,2021 was released on January 9, and delivery did not begin until March 28, 2022. More than a year has passed since it was released.

From a technical point of view, if you want to achieve long battery life, you can either increase the battery energy density or increase the number of battery packs. For the consideration of cost, safety and energy density, there are mainly two kinds of batteries used in electric vehicles, namely, lithium iron phosphate battery and ternary lithium battery.

Lithium iron phosphate battery has a low energy density, even if BYD invented the blade battery, it is still difficult to compare with ternary lithium battery. Therefore, if you want to rely on lithium iron phosphate battery to achieve 1000 km range, you need too many battery packs, which will take up a lot of space.

In order to ensure a long range of 1000 kilometers, Weilai ET7 is equipped with a 150kWh battery. If it is replaced by a lithium iron phosphate battery (the energy density is about 180Wh/kg), according to the weight energy density = battery capacity / discharge platform weight, the total weight is about 833kg.

Figure source: calculated according to the volume density = battery capacity / discharge platform volume, the total volume is about 625L. With a weight of nearly 1 ton and a large volume, the car will be extremely difficult to design, so it is difficult to achieve a long range of 1000 km with lithium iron phosphate battery, which is one of the reasons why BYD has not launched a 1000 km EV model so far. After all, we have developed a blade battery, and then it is too expensive to purchase ternary lithium batteries.

The energy density of ternary lithium battery can exceed that of 200Wh/kg, which can greatly reduce the volume and weight of battery. But the higher the energy density, the more dangerous the battery is hit. In addition to solving the battery energy density problem, car companies also have to solve the safety problem of electric vehicles, which can of course be more perfect. But this requires consideration of the second problem-cost.

The reason why some car companies choose lithium iron phosphate batteries is that the cost of ternary lithium batteries is too high for them to afford. 1000 kilometers of extra-long range requires 150kWh batteries, not to mention the cost. Weilai ET7 chooses to rent batteries instead of buying them, which is more than 120000 yuan cheaper, which is enough to buy a low-end new energy car.

Currently, for cars that support a range of 1000 kilometers, the price of the 1000-kilometer version of the Weilai ET7 starts from 516000 yuan, and the price of the AION LX Plus 2022 Plus Qianli version starts from 469600 yuan. This price is obviously not conducive to the popularity of ultra-long-range electric vehicles. To achieve an ultra-long range of 1000 kilometers, it is necessary to reduce battery costs through technology research and development.

02. Super fast charging, a more perfect solution than a super-large battery? It seems that battery life anxiety is a common phenomenon in electronic products, such as mobile phones, smartwatches and electric cars. In fact, the battery life of electric vehicles generally does not lose fuel vehicles, but there are too many gas stations, a car refueling only a few minutes, replenishing energy is very convenient.

Electric cars, on the other hand, take too long to recharge. if you encounter a time with high passenger flow such as Spring Festival travel, there are too many vehicles waiting to be recharged at a charging station and you have to wait in line for hours. A similar situation occurred during the National Day this year, when car owners in the Leiyang service area recharged for one hour and queued for four hours, even fighting for charging stations in some areas, according to CCTV Financial reports.

Not to mention the problem of discount on the mileage of electric vehicles, cooling in summer and heating in winter, coupled with car navigation and playing music, will affect the range of electric vehicles. The actual range is not the same as the nominal range, coupled with slow charging, the long-distance experience of electric vehicles cannot be compared with fuel vehicles for the time being.

In order to achieve the healthy development of the electric vehicle industry, it is necessary to solve the actual travel problems of users. There are two main schemes for car companies, the first is ultra-long range, and the second is the continuous upgrading of charging power.

Photo Source: if pixabay can really achieve nominal range, then it can really solve the anxiety of driving endurance. After all, the longest highway in China, even Huo Expressway, is only 4244km Magi 1000 km with four recharges in the middle of the car. Xiao Lei only needs to recharge once when he drives back to his hometown. It's just that the nominal range of the electric vehicle is an ideal working condition, which is actually very difficult to achieve. If you turn on the air conditioner or use the car machine to do something else, the range will drop a lot.

Ultra-long battery life can solve the problem of battery life, but it can't be achieved today. Car companies can install larger batteries in their cars, but the cost can never be solved now, not even within a decade.

As for fast charging technology, now the car charging time is usually half an hour to one hour. Xiaopeng G9 is equipped with the fastest 800V fast charging technology, with a peak power of about 430KW, and can drive 200km in five minutes, which finally has the ability to compete with fuel vehicles.

Figure Source: pixabay considers from the cost level, the cost of ultra-long battery is paid by consumers, while the cost of super fast charging is mainly paid by car companies. After all, the same hardware configuration, but different charging power, if the car price gap is too large, it will be difficult for consumers to accept. Therefore, Xiao Lei believes that compared with super-large battery capacity, super fast charging technology is obviously more suitable for ordinary consumers.

Super fast charging also has problems. In addition to the charging speed, the number and coverage of charging piles in charging stations are all short, and it still takes time to develop. If you want to develop electric vehicles, the construction of charging stations is imperative, so you don't have to pay special attention to this. Whether you use super fast charging technology or not, car companies need to invest a lot of money to build charging stations. If the problem of fast charging can be solved through technical upgrading in the construction of charging stations, it will obviously have more economic benefits.

All the problems stem from the progress of the electric vehicle industry. According to the Federation of passengers, electric vehicles accounted for nearly 1/3 of China's passenger car market in September 2022, but the glory is riddled with holes. Leaving aside the problem of products, there are too many differences in the relevant ecology. Charging stations and changing power stations are mainly concentrated in big cities, coupled with the fact that it takes too long for cars to recharge, and their daily use in the city is OK. It is very likely to encounter the situation of CCTV's financial report.

Whether it is super-large batteries or super fast charging, car companies are constantly trying, and only by stepping through one pit after another can they move towards the final victory. Before super fast charging technology and charging stations are not widely available, oversized batteries may be the best solution, and the high cost of the problem may not be suitable for everyone.

Ultra-high-capacity batteries require a lot of metal elements, and the earth's exploitable resources are limited, and even with technological advances, it is difficult to reduce costs to a level acceptable to everyone. Therefore, Xiao Lei boldly predicted that the large battery scheme is difficult to become mainstream in the future, and the high probability will not go down to the low price. The subsequent upgrade of super fast charging technology may encounter bottlenecks, but it is the best way to promote the popularity of electric vehicles.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: Feng Xingxing (ID:fengchuxing2021), author: lost Soul.

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