Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1796
Hybrid vehicles are becoming an increasingly popular product in the new energy vehicle market.
In the first half of this year, a total of 3.747 million new energy vehicles were sold, of which 2.719 million pure electric vehicles were sold, accounting for 73%; 1.025 million plug-in hybrid models (including extended range) were sold, accounting for 27%. In terms of absolute sales, pure electric vehicles still dominate sales, but the market share of hybrid vehicles is growing rapidly. In the first half of the year, pure electric vehicles increased by 31.9% year-on-year, and hybrid vehicles increased by 91.1% year-on-year.
BYD was the champion of new energy sales in the first half of the year, with a total of 1.25 million vehicles sold, accounting for more than one-third of China’s new energy market, including 620,000 pure electric vehicles and 630,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles.
In the mid-to-high-end new energy vehicle market, hybrid vehicle products have also successfully gained market recognition. In the first half of the year, 139,000 units of Ideal’s three extended-range hybrid vehicles were sold, surpassing the combined sales of Weilai (54,000) and Xiaopeng (41,000), which only sell pure electric vehicles.
Under the influence of various factors such as imperfect charging infrastructure and high battery costs, hybrid vehicles have become the product that best meets the needs of users today. With the abolition of state subsidies for new energy, pure electric vehicles no longer enjoy policy dividends, and new energy has shifted from policy orientation in the past to market demand orientation.
At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, Ouyang Minggao, a professor at Tsinghua University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that it will take about 10 years for China’s auto market to fully electrify. At present, electric vehicles are still in the stage of high prices, high battery costs, and declining or stopping subsidies. Ouyang Minggao believes that within 5-10 years, the proportion of plug-in hybrids (including extended-range electric vehicles) in the entire new energy vehicles is expected to increase to 30%-40%.
Leading car companies have given higher forecasts for the sales of plug-in hybrid models. In an interview, Zhao Changjiang, general manager of Tengshi Sales Division, said that in 2030, the proportion of plug-in hybrids (including range extension) will be 45%, the proportion of pure electric vehicles will be 40%, and the proportion of fuel will only be 10% to 15%.
Advantages of Hybrid
Due to the imperfect charging infrastructure, charging is not as convenient as refueling, and the experience of using pure electric vehicles has been greatly affected. On holiday highways, pure electric car owners have to line up for charging. In the cold winter and hot summer, the battery life will be discounted. Hybrid power does not have the mileage anxiety of pure electric vehicles, and has lower fuel consumption than fuel vehicles, so it is recognized by many consumers.
The current mainstream hybrid technology is divided into plug-in hybrid and range extension. Representative plug-in hybrids include BYD DM-i (Dual Mode intelligent) and Great Wall Lemon Hybrid DHT (Dedicated Hybrid Technology). The range-extended model represents car companies such as Ideal and Wenjie.
Both plug-in hybrid and extended-range hybrid have internal combustion engines, and both can choose to charge or refuel. The battery is smaller than that of a pure electric car. The biggest difference between the two is that in plug-in hybrid, both the engine and the motor drive the vehicle together, which can realize various driving modes such as pure electric drive, hybrid drive, and engine direct drive. Extended range power, the engine is only used for charging and does not directly drive the vehicle.
BYD’s hybrid system DM-i breaks the original parallel structure of the hybrid engine and the battery, and focuses on electric power, with the engine assisting the structural model of power generation. The core technology of DM-i is a technological breakthrough of the engine, which can achieve a thermal efficiency of 43% under ideal conditions, and the engine participates in driving the vehicle at speeds above 80 km/h and under rapid acceleration conditions.
The “Lemon Hybrid DHT” technology launched by Great Wall Motors at the end of 2020 is similar to DM-i, but with an additional 2-speed gearbox, and the engine can drive vehicles above 35km/h. In March this year, Great Wall launched Hi4 (Hybrid intelligent 4WD, intelligent four-wheel drive electric hybrid technology), which has expanded more power modes and has 9 driving modes.
The battery capacity of the early hybrid solutions was relatively small. In recent years, the battery capacity of mainstream hybrid models has become larger and larger. The battery pack capacity of the ideal L9 is 44.5 kWh, and the CLTC pure electric cruising range is 215 km. BYD Song PLUS DM-i Champion Edition is equipped with 18.3kWh and 26.6kWh blade battery packs, and the cruising range under NEDC conditions is 110km and 150km respectively.
The hybrid solution with a large battery is more suitable for urban travel scenarios. Oil and electricity can be used, city electricity and long-distance oil, which meet the needs of car owners. When driving in the urban area, the pure electric mode is used to meet the daily commuting in the city; if you drive long distances, when the battery energy is insufficient, it is very convenient to refuel, and there is no burden for traveling far.
In addition to the advantages in travel scenarios, hybrid vehicles also have a great cost advantage over pure electric vehicles. Due to the small battery capacity, the cost of hybrid vehicles is lower than that of pure electric vehicles. Taking the 2023 Han Dm-i and Han EV as examples, the starting price of pure electric products is 20,000 yuan higher than that of hybrid products.
BYD launched the strategy of “same price for gasoline and electricity” this year, “experience buying new energy vehicles at the price of fuel vehicles”, breaking the threshold that new energy vehicles of the same level are more expensive than fuel vehicles, and accommodate more users. BYD started with the Qin PLUS DM-i Champion Edition. With its higher product strength, its pricing is approaching that of traditional fuel vehicles.
In the past, if consumers wanted to buy an A-class fuel vehicle, their first choice was often a joint venture car, such as Dongfeng Nissan Sylphy, Volkswagen Lavida, Volkswagen Sagitar, Dongfeng Peugeot, etc. In the past, the price of new energy vehicles was generally 30,000-40,000 yuan higher than that of fuel vehicles of the same level.
In February this year, BYD released the 99,800 RMB Qin PLUS DM-i Champion Edition, bringing the starting price of plug-in hybrid models to less than 100,000 RMB for the first time. The starting price of Qin PLUS DM-i is similar to that of the joint venture brand Nissan Sylphy, and it is also equipped with a 1.5L self-priming engine with plug-in hybrid power, which has lower fuel consumption and stronger power than fuel vehicles with the same price. Moreover, Qin is smarter than fuel vehicles of the same price, with a larger on-board screen and built-in BYD DiLink operating system, which can use more applications.
With extremely strong cost performance, hybrid vehicles have directly entered the hinterland of fuel. According to data from the Passenger Federation, the sales of A-class pure electric vehicles in June were 107,000, and the sales of A-class plug-in hybrids were 125,000. In the first half of 2023, the sales of A-class pure electric vehicles will be 520,000, and the sales of A-class plug-in hybrids will be 530,000.
In May of this year, BYD launched the Han DM-i Champion Edition, with a starting price of 189,800 yuan, covering the same price strategy of gasoline and electricity to the B-class sedan product series.
Hybrid vehicles with the same price as gasoline vehicles have higher fuel economy. Soochow Securities estimates that the fuel consumption of Han DM-i is 4.2L per 100 kilometers, which is far lower than that of fuel vehicles of the same level. The fuel consumption per 100 kilometers of Accord and Camry exceeds 5L, and that of Regal, Teana, and Passat exceeds 6L. Compared with Japanese hybrid technology, DM-i hybrid achieves the lowest level of fuel consumption per 100 kilometers of all models in the market at a lower cost.
More car companies join the fray
In 2022, the domestic hybrid market will explode. BYD DM technology has completed four rounds of iterations, and its product lineage is complete. The Qin, Han, Tang, Song, and warship series cover the market of 100,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan, robbing the fuel vehicle market. In 2022, BYD will sell a total of 1.87 million vehicles, becoming the world’s largest new energy vehicle sales. Among the top ten sales of new energy vehicles in China, 6 are from BYD.
In the first half of the year, BYD’s sales of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles were basically the same, and the sales and growth rate of plug-in hybrid vehicles were even higher. With the iteration of technology and scale effect, the price of hybrid vehicles has dropped, helping BYD to seize more market share of fuel vehicles.
When Ideal launched its first product in 2019, it chose the more niche “extended range” route. With the success of the first product Ideal ONE and the second-generation range-extending product, Ideal has become the fastest-growing car company among new forces. In June, the market value surpassed Great Wall Motors and became the second largest car company after BYD.
The penetration rate of new energy is gradually increasing, and every transformed traditional car company will not sit still. BYD’s advance deployment of hybrid and battery technology won the new energy sales champion last year. Great Wall Motor, Changan Automobile, Chery Automobile, and Leap Motor have also announced the latest hybrid models or plans, and even joint venture car companies have to independently develop hybrid models.
Various car companies are fighting towards the hybrid field. The competition is intensifying, and the old players of fuel vehicles in the past meet again in the hybrid market.
Each company has also reached a new height in terms of price. Great Wall Haval has launched a brand-new intelligent control four-wheel drive electric hybrid technology Hi4, which is installed on the Xiaolong MAX for the first time. The starting price is 160,000 yuan, and the starting price of Geely Galaxy L7 is 140,000 yuan. Changan Deep Blue S7 shouted the slogan of “500,000 configuration, 200,000 price”, with a starting price of 140,000.
In addition to price, later players tried to use technology iterations to snatch more users.
Both Honda i-MMD and BYD’s DM-i have only one gear when they are driven by motor or directly connected to the engine.
Great Wall, Geely and Chery chose a multi-speed series-parallel hybrid architecture. Great Wall Xiaolong has a 2-speed DHT transmission, Geely Galaxy L7 has a 3-speed DHT Pro transmission, and the Kunpeng DHT engine developed by Chery also has three gears.
Car companies not only invest more in hybrid products and technologies, BYD, Great Wall, and Ideal all regard hybridization as a long-term strategy for the future.
Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Auto, said at the 2021 Q3 financial report that the range-extender technology used by Ideal ONE will have advantages within 5-10 years, especially when applied to large SUVs, MPVs and other models. By 2025, Ideal will launch 5 models of extended-range vehicles and 6 models of pure electric vehicles.
“It is an indisputable fact that cars will be fully electrified in the future, and plug-in hybrids present a huge market potential,” said Qiao Xinyu, executive deputy general manager of the Haval brand.
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