4 month 19 Japan news , Japan's Toyota Motor Company launched the world's most successful hybrid car , But in pure electric vehicles , It also needs to catch up , Especially in the Chinese market .
Hongguang, a small electric vehicle produced by general motors of the United States and SAIC GM Wuling, a joint venture of China MINI EV, The price is less than 3
Ten thousand yuan , But it is popular in China, the world's largest auto market , Toyota has yet to launch its own small, low-cost electric car in China .
As the world's largest automobile manufacturer , Toyota will open in 4 month 19 The solution was released at the Shanghai auto show in September , It's called e-TNGA New electric vehicle universal platform , Can help produce small cars to large ones
SUV And so on .
Two people familiar with Toyota's plan said , The company will also show its products based on e-TNGA Medium electric platform SUV Concept model , The car will be sold worldwide in a few years .
Toyota executives have long called for small electric vehicles , But the company was the first to launch a medium-sized model SUV
The facts of the world show that , The company is competitive in production , Comfortable and safe small , Low cost electric vehicles still face challenges .
With the increasing pressure on automobile manufacturers to reduce emissions , Toyota is actively developing products that can compete with Manulife worldwide MINI
EV, Tesla high end car , VW and Renault mid-range models, as well as Weilai and Xiaopeng and other Chinese start-ups' fashionable electric vehicle competition models .
Although the Toyota Prius hybrid has become a global best seller , But the company developed small electric cars early eQ Our efforts ended in failure . stay 2012 About 100 Vehicles eQ
after , Toyota gave up because of concerns about the limitations of electric vehicles eQ project , For example, the price is high , Short range and long charging time .
eQ It's Toyota mini iQ The electric version of , price 360 Ten thousand yen ( close 3.3 Million US dollars ), Roughly equivalent to the medium Camry (Camry) The price of .
cost control
People familiar with Toyota's plan said , One of the key problems in the development of low-cost small electric vehicles is , An electric assembly system is required （ Including motor , Inverter and gear combination ）, This technology has not yet reached the level of gasoline powertrain cost .
in addition , It's also a challenge to plug bulky batteries into mini cars . Sources said , Many electric cars have high floors , Because you need to stack the batteries underneath , This gives car manufacturers the option to build their cars higher , In order to provide sufficient space for passengers . otherwise , The interior height of the vehicle is too low , Maybe it's not comfortable enough to sit up ..
Toyota doesn't want to focus on the quality of its small electric cars , Compromise on comfort or performance , But it realized that , It needs to develop expertise to cut engineering costs significantly , The delivery price is much lower than 2 A million dollar car .
That's what GM is making MINI EV Why , The price of this car may be as low as RMB 28800
element . GM's joint venture, SAIC GM Wuling, is China's largest manufacturer of low-cost commercial trucks , The starting price is about 3 Ten thousand yuan , And use this cost control know-how .
Consulting company Automotive Foresight Zhang Yu, the person in charge, said ：“ Wuling basically can only replace the gasoline engines on commercial trucks with simple electric assemblies .” He expects Hongguang
MINI EV And its high-end makaron version, sales this year will reach 50 Ten thousand .
Zhou Chuan, SAIC's vice president in charge of Wuling and Baojun brand sales and marketing, said , The company will be in 2022 At the beginning of the year, four brands of small electric vehicles were launched , Make the number of models reach 10
paragraph , In response to more competitors entering the market .
Toyota challenge
of course , Low cost also means relatively simple design . for example , Agatsuma Mini EV
There's only one airbag , There is no passenger airbag , Or there are no airbags on the side . in addition , This car has anti lock braking system , But there is no stable control technology , This results in a relatively high cost , Its short and thick shape makes it easy to roll over when turning at high speed .
In this regard , Zhou explained ：“ first , The product meets all vehicle safety requirements in China . secondly , Agatsuma MINI EV
It's basically just a commuter , Help people travel through urban traffic , It is highly unlikely to drive on high speed .”
Agatsuma Mini EV to 2020 year 7 Launched in June , Cost effective Chinese consumers and young and fashionable urban residents rush to buy about 10
This electric car , Make it one of the best selling electric vehicles in China .
Many drivers are proud of their great achievements Mini EV Carry out personalized transformation , For example, apply new paint and change into fashionable head and tail lights . Some people even use Wuling stickers and badges to customize other brands of cars , Such as Audi and BMW .
Carbon integral boost
Toyota electric SUV It will be its new zero emission vehicle design department ZEV Factory
The first car made in Japan . however , In order to obtain the required low-cost technology , Toyota turned to China's battery and car maker BYD for help through a joint R & D company set up last year . The plan is to use BYD's expertise to manufacture small electric vehicles and key components including batteries .
But according to a person familiar with Toyota's plans , Toyota still has a good chance to use the e-Axle The electric assembly technology based on DSP , By its subsidiaries BluE Nexus production .
Agatsuma Mini EV
It also played an important role in GM and SAIC , Because it produces the carbon integral . Chinese car manufacturers need to produce enough new energy vehicles (NEV) To earn carbon credits , To offset their production of internal combustion engines . Agatsuma
Mini EV What does success mean , GM and SAIC have room to sell carbon credits to competitors , Or produce more , Bigger , A more luxurious gasoline car , Without punishment .
Automotive Foresight Zhang Yu also said , Carbon credit system means Hongguang Mini EV
Our pricing is very competitive , So that it's almost unprofitable . Zhou Chuan of SAIC declined to disclose Hongguang Mini EV
Do you make money , It also declined to say how much it made from the sale . He said ：“ We see quite a number of companies coming to us , Buy carbon credits from us , But we don't want to reveal who they are .”
Two sources familiar with Toyota's plans said , The company does not intend to lose money on the retail price of small electric vehicles , We don't plan to use carbon credits to improve our competitiveness . A Toyota spokesman declined to comment on whether Toyota has enough carbon credits for China's new energy vehicles , He also declined to comment on whether he would consider selling the carbon credits as part of his strategy .（ Little ）
Technology