An Analysis of the Development Status Quo of Purely Electric Vehicles with Bright Future Development

The higher the “energy-saving and low-carbon” call, the development of new energy vehicles has gradually become the trend of the current automotive industry, and the development of various new energy technologies has mushroomed. The subsidy policy for individuals purchasing new energy vehicles that was recently introduced in China and the “Development Plan for Energy-saving and New Energy Automobile Industry” that will be reported to the State Council in July are directly sending a clearer signal – the technologies in energy-saving and new energy vehicles. In terms of routes, the Chinese government will choose a strategic trend based on pure electric vehicles to realize the leap-forward development of the auto industry. In this way, pure electric vehicles have once again been pushed into the cusp of new energy vehicle industrialization.

The advantages of energy saving and environmental protection

A pure electric vehicle is a vehicle that uses a single battery as its energy storage source, that is, a vehicle powered by a car-mounted power supply and driven by a motor-driven wheel, which meets the requirements of road traffic and safety regulations. It uses a battery as a power source for energy storage. It uses a battery to provide electrical energy to the motor and drives the motor to drive the car. At present, the battery types of electric vehicles mainly include lead-acid batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, and lithium-ion batteries.

As early as this year's Beijing Auto Show, some Chinese and foreign mainstream auto companies have shown their own electric vehicles. Compared with traditional fuel energy vehicles, electric vehicles have unique advantages in terms of economic performance and environmental performance.

First of all, electric vehicles produce no exhaust gas when they work in an internal-combustion engine. They do not produce exhaust pollution. They are very beneficial to environmental protection and air cleanliness. They are almost "zero pollution." Moreover, electric cars have no noise generated by internal combustion engines, and motor noise is also smaller than that of internal combustion engines.

Secondly, electric vehicles are simpler in structure than internal combustion engines, and have fewer components for operation and transmission, and require less maintenance. When an AC induction motor is used, the motor needs no maintenance and, more importantly, it is easy to operate.

Again, research on electric vehicles shows that its energy efficiency has surpassed that of gasoline-powered cars. Especially in the city, cars stop and go, driving speed is not high, electric cars are more suitable. When the electric vehicle stops, it does not consume electricity. During the braking process, the electric motor can be automatically converted into a generator to realize the energy reuse during braking and deceleration, thus contributing to saving energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Finally, the application of electric vehicles can effectively reduce the dependence on petroleum resources and can use limited oil for more important aspects. In addition, if you charge the battery at night, you can avoid peaks in electricity consumption, which will help balance the load on the grid and reduce costs.

Incomplete infrastructure technology still needs to be broken

However, at present, there are still bottlenecks in the industrialization of pure electric vehicles in terms of technology, operating economy, and infrastructure, and they need government-related policies to support them. The popularization of pure electric vehicles requires the government to encourage and support policies and measures to create a policy environment for the start-up phase of the pure electric vehicle market, thereby promoting the commercialization of pure electric vehicles. The commercialization of pure electric vehicles must solve two major problems. One is the purchase cost, and the other is energy supply.

Taking the current most advanced lithium-ion battery as an example, its energy ratio is only 1/50 of that of gasoline, and the core technology defect of electric vehicles is still the embarrassment of its development. A new energy expert pointed out that the current battery theory has brought the development of battery technology to a limit, and we should have found the thinking of “superconductors”, and it is possible to break through the idea of ​​battery technology to construct new theories. In terms of battery technology, it can be said that domestic and foreign car companies are all on the same starting line.

Another problem in the industrialization of pure electric vehicles is the inconvenience of energy supply. This mainly includes two aspects, one is the lack of a unified standard for the research and development of pure electric vehicles, and the second is the imperfection of infrastructure.

At present, some pure electric vehicles use the "plug-in type" (to find a socket after the exhaustion of electricity); but some pure electric vehicles use "battery type" (the battery is replaced directly after the power is exhausted, no socket is needed). "Plug-in" pure electric vehicles are also difficult to adjust, all manufacturers not only battery sizes, some even have different charging interfaces. If electric vehicles are mass-produced, the disposal of these used batteries will inevitably become a new environmental issue in a few years. Therefore, the solution to these problems depends on the introduction of national standards as soon as possible.

Due to the imperfect infrastructure, China's current charging environment has severely restricted the development of pure electric vehicles. In China, unless you live in a private villa, it is more of an open parking space and there is no condition for charging. In addition, the infrastructure construction of pure electric vehicles also requires the support of the State Grid and related energy sectors. However, when the State Grid Corporation proposed at the beginning of this year that it plans to build electric vehicle charging stations in 27 cities across the country, industry experts also expressed concern that due to the lack of national standards, the practical application effect of charging stations will be greatly reduced, which may result in Electric vehicles developed by many companies simply cannot enter the charging stations of the two major power grids for charging.

Development Status of Pure Electric Vehicles in Foreign Countries

The gradual replacement of traditional gasoline vehicles by new energy vehicles in the future has become the consensus of all countries for the development of the automotive industry. Power batteries, which are the core components, are even more favored by companies and investors. At present, many well-known car manufacturers are committed to the development of electric vehicles for electric vehicles.

Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that it will take the lead in participating in related infrastructure construction. It will build more than 200 charging stations in the capital next year, and it will increase to more than 1,000 three years later. It will solve the “belly problem” for electric vehicles and introduce new models. Make basic preparations. Moreover, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. said that it is expected that the battery cost of its electric vehicles such as the Leaf can be expected to drop sharply within four years. Nissan will launch Leaf electric vehicles in Japan, the United States and Europe at the end of this year.

While the Big Three Detroit in the United States has cut pickup trucks and large-scale SUVs, it has also invested large sums of research and development expenses in the development of new energy vehicles, and the new energy vehicle Chevrolet Volt, which GM plans to launch in 2010, has been placed higher hopes. According to the analysis of Detroit, new energy vehicles represented by the General Motors should become the symbol of the new American automobile spirit.

European car companies seem to have little interest in electric cars, but they have made many achievements in hydrogen kinetic energy or fuel cell vehicles. This also represents a direction for European car companies to grasp the future automobile market. However, although European car companies do not have as much enthusiasm for electric cars as Japan and the United States, some car companies have developed some electric cars. For example, Volkswagen recently introduced the "TwinDrive" golf vehicle powered by renewable energy. This golf "TwinDrive" is also the most popular "Plug-In" hybrid technology and can travel 50 kilometers in electric drive mode.

In the infrastructure construction of pure electric vehicles, foreign countries have made good attempts. There are currently 87 charging stations in Tokyo, Japan. Charging piles can be seen everywhere in buildings and roadsides. In Stanford University in California, there is a parking spot for charging cars. There is a charging post between every two parking spaces. And American families generally own garages, and charging problems are more easily resolved.

â–  Market Watch: Multiple Approaches to New Energy

Low-carbon and zero-emissions were once the hottest concepts in the car industry last year and the year before. In addition to the low-carbon concept that has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts, zero-emissions seems to be increasingly undecided. The most important cause of this situation is the limitation of the current level of automotive technology development. Those zero-emission technologies that once gave people a good imagination, such as fuel cells and pure electric vehicles, have only stayed in the prototype stage. Large-scale promotion exists. There are certain problems. However, it has been cherished by people with great expectations that the upcoming new energy cars such as electric cars, almost without exception, must use the traditional internal combustion engine as a supplement or backup power support, which in a further aspect proves beneficially at least until now. So far, those technology pioneers are immature. The conclusion is also very clear. It is now at a turning point, and both traditional and radical solutions will coexist for some time.

Here, it is worth noting that there is a domestic enthusiastic support for so-called low-speed electric vehicles: there is an expert definition of low-speed electric vehicles, the maximum speed is generally about 50 kilometers per hour, priced at 50,000 yuan, the vehicle structure is simple, Lead-acid battery electric vehicles are mainly used. This type of vehicle used to be used for short-distance and short-term transportation of goods on railroads and docks. It is now also used more frequently in tourism and sightseeing, residential community security patrols, and golf courses. The greatest strength of these vehicles is often the low cost and stable and reliable structure. But there are fatal weaknesses: the carrying capacity is relatively weak and it is unlikely to develop relatively large luxury or high-performance models, so these cars are mainly used in a relatively narrow range at this stage, and are difficult to be larger or even just in size. City driving. On the other hand, the environmental pollution caused by lead-acid batteries is very serious. Although lithium-ion batteries can now be mass-produced, the proportion of lead-acid batteries for domestic low-cost electric vehicles is still very large.

For China, a country with a vast territory and a serious imbalance in its development, even if these difficulties are not present, at least it will be necessary to complete the conversion of the old and new systems, and it will take considerable time from car production, maintenance, and support to the road system. . Therefore, the improvement of traditional cars has become a more feasible method. In fact, Europe, the United States and Japan have now made a series of improvements to traditional internal combustion engine engines, making their emissions cleaner. With the introduction of technologies that were originally considered to be transitional, such as hybrid power, low-carbon cars will obviously be It has been popular for a while. Here, people should also consider that many mainstream depots are trying their best to introduce cleaner fuels such as hydrogen, biodiesel and ethanol gasoline, so that the traditional internal combustion engine will show more vitality.

Recently, Mitsubishi Motors announced that it plans to reduce its electric vehicle price by 30% before 2012 fiscal year, and its price in Japan will fall to 2 million yen (about 140,000 yuan) to defeat similar prices. Hybrid car. This may be a huge encouragement for people in China who support new energy vehicles. However, these types of electric vehicles are still relatively small. With the expansion of their practical scope, electric cars in the future will develop towards large-scale and luxurious comfort. The car really faced the test of the market. In short, in the next 5-8 years, the traditional internal combustion engine will be the main engine, hybrid power assistance will be gradually developed, and electric vehicles will gradually mature. It will not be too much change for other technologies to prove and improve their overall structure.