Stimulated by favorable policies, the domestic new energy market has entered the world's leading ranks after several years of development, and various plug-in hybrid, extended range technology has shown great vitality, and there is a ridiculous fact that all plug-in hybrid technology is not hesitating to compete in the thermal efficiency of the engine, and even car companies are happy to compete on the Internet because of the problem of who has the highest thermal efficiency.
What does it mean that a new energy vehicle should first advertise how high the thermal efficiency of its engine is? Isn't it because "electricity" is inseparable from "oil"? Those who are singing about the decline of the fuel engine, you come out and take two steps to explain, if there is no improvement in engine technology, how can its thermal efficiency be improved? How can a green car survive?
No matter how high the thermal efficiency of the engine is, no matter how awesome the technical scheme is, a gap that cannot be crossed is that the clutch must be used to realize the drive switching of oil and electricity, but the control logic is still that oil and electricity are separated, either oil is used as the driving path, or electricity is not used as the driving path, and it is difficult to drive the wheels through a path after coupling oil and electricity. Therefore, we continue to increase the battery, increase the motor, and increase the fuel tank to market with high battery life as a gimmick.
On the contrary, Toyota's diesel-electric hybrid technology, which was born in 1997, has cleverly used a planetary gear mechanism to deeply integrate the respective advantages of the engine and the motor, and finally formed an efficient hybrid system. So far, Toyota's THS hybrid system, after 27 years of development, has reached the fifth generation, and as of the end of last year, Toyota's global petrol-electric hybrid sales exceeded 26 million, worthy of the name of the leader. On June 28, GAC Toyota held a science and technology open day with the theme of "creating an era of hybrid equilibrium", focusing on the fifth-generation intelligent electric hybrid technology, and interpreting that electric hybrid is stronger than plug-in hybrid with three balanced strengths.
The first balance is the extreme balance of oil and electricity. The biggest difference from other hybrids, GAC Toyota's intelligent electric hybrid dual engine adopts the world's original planetary gear structure, which can achieve accurate power distribution and intelligent power distribution without going through the clutch, so the ride and reliability are also better than those of plug-in hybrid vehicles using clutches. There is a Prius taxi in Canada that has run 1.5 million kilometers, and there are no problems with the hybrid system, which shows the super reliability of Toyota's Shuangqing hybrid technology.
The second balance is both strong power and low fuel consumption. First of all, the ultra-low fuel consumption in the full speed range, taking the previous media measurement as an example, whether it is driving in the city or driving at medium and high speeds, the average fuel consumption of the whole 150km is more than 4 liters, and the fuel consumption performance is always stable. The second is compared with plug-in hybrid, the higher the speed, the more obvious the fuel consumption advantage, taking the Leiling hybrid as an example, in the high-speed working conditions of more than 120km per hour, the average fuel consumption of the Leiling hybrid is more than 4 liters, and the fuel consumption of the same level plug-in hybrid is more than 5 points, the advantage is 20% higher. In addition, the standard fuel consumption under any working condition is low, the actual fuel consumption of Toyota intelligent electric hybrid dual engine is lower than the nominal fuel consumption, in the NEDC and WLTC two working conditions, the fuel consumption difference is within 10%, and some plug-in hybrid two working conditions The standard difference is close to 30%, because oil and electricity are difficult to cooperate effectively, and the engine is mainly driven at high speed, and there is a short board of high speed and high fuel consumption.
The perfect balance between high power and low fuel consumption also benefits from the high thermal efficiency of the engine. Compared with the 1.5L small displacement commonly used in plug-in hybrids, the 9th-generation Camry intelligent electric hybrid dual engine uses a 2.5L large-displacement engine, with a high thermal efficiency of 41% covering the most commonly used speed range of 1400-3200 rpm and torque of 120-180 Nm, covering more than 40% of working conditions, which is currently the widest range of thermal efficiency working range in the industry, achieving high speed and low speed fuel saving. Many people think that the thermal efficiency has exceeded 46% now, what is there to say about the thermal efficiency of 41%? First of all, 46% of the thermal efficiency is a small displacement machine, the larger the engine displacement, the more difficult it is to improve the thermal efficiency, and secondly, how big is the 46% thermal efficiency range? If it's just a dot or a small range, how much more significant is that number?
The third balance is the ultimate balance between performance and security. The fifth-generation intelligent electric hybrid dual engine adopts a small battery with a capacity of only 1.12 kWh, and the battery management strategy of shallow charging and discharging greatly improves the battery safety. Usually, the battery power is basically between 30%-70%, and the battery charge is about the same as that of the smallest 48V12Ah battery of an electric bicycle, coupled with the BMS battery thermal management system, there is no need to worry about battery safety. At the same time, thanks to the small battery and overall lightweight design, all GAC Toyota hybrid models have achieved excellent braking performance, with the best braking distance performance of only 33 meters, which virtually adds a guarantee to safety.
In terms of electrification, Toyota also brought four new generation batteries at the Technology Day, namely performance lithium-ion batteries, popular lithium iron phosphate batteries, high-performance lithium-ion batteries, and all-solid-state batteries, which are planned to be launched in 2026. Among them, the fastest landing is the performance lithium-ion battery, which will have a range of more than 1,000km and only 20 minutes to charge from 10% to 80%. At the same time, Toyota's next-generation electric vehicle will also debut in 2026. The most anticipated black technology is the all-solid-state battery, which is expected to shorten the fast charging time to 10 minutes because of its high voltage resistance and low temperature impact.
In addition, Toyota continues to promote its all-round electrification strategy, and the multi-path development of HEVs, PHEVs, EVs, and FCEVs is parallel across the board. The plug-in hybrid model with fast charging will be launched in China in October this year. At the same time, Toyota is also actively working on next-generation engines that are more suitable for electrified models, and will apply them to PHEVs and HEVs.
In terms of intelligence, GAC Toyota, with the blessing of the "circle of friends" of science and technology, integrates the high-end intelligent driving technology supported by Momenta and Pony.ai, as well as the new intelligent cockpit empowered by technology giants Huawei and Tencent. At present, GAC Toyota has achieved remarkable results in the transformation of intelligence, which is mainly reflected in the three flagship models of the 9th generation Camry, the 2024 Seina and the Highlander launched this year. The C-segment electric sedan, which is scheduled to be launched in 2025, will carry out more comprehensive cooperation with Huawei in terms of intelligent cockpit, so let's wait and see.
It is worth noting that GAC Toyota, together with Momenta, a leading autonomous driving technology company, has created TOYOTA PILOT end-to-end high-end intelligent driving, which will cover parking, high-speed, and urban NOA full-scene high-end intelligent driving experience, realizing "you can drive when there is a road, avoid obstacles, and stop when you have a place", and will be first equipped on the Bozhi 3X model.
In addition, GAC Toyota and Pony.ai have cooperated to carry out the commercial operation of L4 driverless taxis to promote the large-scale mass production of high-level autonomous driving technology. At present, the Saina unmanned Robotaxi equipped with Pony.ai's autonomous driving system has been running continuously for 1 year with zero accidents, accumulating rich experience in intelligent driving. Therefore, the joint venture company jointly funded by Toyota China, GAC Toyota and Pony.ai has been officially established, and the first phase plans to launch 1,000 units of the Bozhi series L4 Robotaxi in first-tier cities to carry out large-scale operation.
Under the tide of the era of intelligent electricity, GAC Toyota has released a new blueprint for the era of intelligent electricity to the outside world through Science and Technology Day, actively embraced change, and took the lead in the iterative transformation to the joint venture 2.0 of "integration and co-creation".