Abstract: Technology warfare and value warfare are better than price wars
Text: Chen Peng
With the rapid development of new energy technology, Chinese car companies are engaged in a contest on the highest thermal efficiency of the engine; With a test report posted a few days ago, SAIC Motor seems to have a tendency to "kill" BYD and Geely while pushing its engine thermal efficiency to a new height.
According to the picture released by SAIC Roewe, a test report issued by Shanghai Motor Vehicle Testing and Certification Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. shows that the highest indicated thermal efficiency of an engine sent for testing by SAIC Motor in April last year reached 48.1%, and the effective thermal efficiency was also as high as 46.3%.
1. What is the battle for engine thermal efficiency?
Engine thermal efficiency, that is, the ratio of the mechanical work output by the engine to the energy produced by fuel combustion, is an important indicator to measure the technical level and economy of the engine. The difficulty of improving thermal efficiency lies in the fact that it requires the optimization of the combustion process, the efficiency of energy conversion, and the reduction of mechanical losses in a limited space, which involves complex engineering techniques. Simply put, the higher this number, the less fuel is wasted and the more energy is actually used to drive the car.
SAIC Motor has been able to achieve a technological breakthrough because of its newly developed hybrid engine.
According to the Financial Associated Press, SAIC said that this model of 15HAJ vehicle gasoline engine combines the first "energy domain" global thermal management, "five-in-one" PICU powertrain brain and engine + P1 motor coaxial structure, with software algorithms as the core, matching more black technologies such as high-efficiency EGR rate, and walking out of the differentiated road of SAIC plug-in hybrid. "The dedicated hybrid engine is one of the core advantages of SAIC's 'DMH super hybrid system'.
In fact, before SAIC, a "battle" for who is the world's first thermal efficiency engine has begun. On the evening of May 28, BYD released the fifth-generation DM-i technology, and Chairman Wang Chuanfu said that the company's engine thermal efficiency has reached 46.06%, which is currently the first in the world. In the face of BYD's "world's first" thermal efficiency, Xu Dongwei, deputy general manager of Geely Automobile Sales Company, posted on his Weibo the thermal efficiency certification of Geely engine by China Automotive Research Institute, saying that Geely's engine has a thermal efficiency of 46.1% that is the world's first. Immediately, BYD responded that its own technology is mass-produced, and if it is compared with "futures", then its own engine with a thermal efficiency of 46.5% is about to be mass-produced.
It is worth noting that many hybrid engines on the market today have a thermal efficiency of more than 40%; The thermal efficiency of the engine is more than 46%, but there are many car companies that have not yet mass-produced. In April, the GAC Group announced that it has developed a single-cylinder engine with an indicated thermal efficiency of more than 52.5% and a multi-cylinder engine that can be installed on the whole vehicle with an effective thermal efficiency of more than 46%. In mid-May, Deng Wei, general manager of Changan Automobile New Power Research Institute, mentioned in a speech that "we have achieved a thermal efficiency of 44.28% for mass production and 47.03% for reserves". Previously, Yang Yanding, president of the R&D Institute of Dongfeng Motor Group, had publicly stated that the thermal efficiency of the engine currently under development by Dongfeng has exceeded 47% and is about to be mass-produced, and it is expected to exceed 48% in 2026. "In addition, the pre-research of new technologies with thermal efficiency exceeding 50% has also begun."
"When car companies 'compare' thermal efficiency, they are comparing technology." Some people in the industry believe that compared with the first half of the transformation of the automobile industry, the second half seems to have a sudden change in the "painting style", and the entire industry is shrouded in an atmosphere of anxiety and "volume". "At present, China's automobile industry has entered a cycle of rapid development of new energy, fierce competition between car companies, volume price, volume technology, volume speed, etc. to form a healthy competition, which will be beneficial to car companies, consumers and even the entire industry."
2. What should be rolled?
In fact, regarding the "volume", the executives of car companies also have different attitudes.
At the 2024 China Automobile Chongqing Forum, Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Co., Ltd., was optimistic about the "volume". He believes that volume is a kind of competition and the essence of the market economy.
"Previously, there were many domestic home appliances, mobile phones, construction machinery, solar energy and other market brands, through more than ten years of survival of the fittest, there were only a few companies left in these fields, and they have become world-class brands." In Wang Chuanfu's view, only with overcapacity can there be competition, only with competition can there be volume, only with volume can there be technological breakthroughs, industrial upgrading, and excellent products can be born. Volume is a natural law, don't be anxious, embrace positively to get out of the competition.
Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, also believes that "volume" is a good thing. He pointed out that the "volume" is the process of expelling the bad currency from the good currency, and the volume itself means the pursuit of excellence, which will roll out the new height of the Chinese brand, and will roll out the maximization of the user's interests, and truly create value for the user. "I believe that in the next ten years, more Chinese brands will become world-class brands."
Zeng Qinghong, chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group, expressed concern about involution. He said that the auto industry is not the way to go. The purpose of the enterprise is to make profits, to contribute to the country, to contribute to society, to pay taxes, and to work. If the auto companies don't make money, what will happen to the society and the country if this continues? "The automotive industry should have an overall situation, a pattern, and a long-term strategy, rather than going to 'roll'." Zeng Qinghong said.
Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, believes that there are two sides to the "volume". "China's auto industry has the world's largest degree of involution, and the price war is higher than the wave, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. If the level of marketization is high, the law is sound, the law is strict, and the competition is transparent and fair, this is a good thing; Otherwise, it's a bad thing. ”
Wang Jun, president and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd., also said that "volume" is a verb after all, and if you keep putting the perspective and angle on this action, you may really be very anxious. Whether to step on the left foot or the right foot first, whether to hit the traffic first or to use the traffic first may be all topics. When excessive competition brings common ground while reserving differences, it will also bring bad money to drive out good money.
"Personally, I don't think we should be anxious about the volume, but to roll up for the new technology, and roll out the new car in order to run to the new future, not only new energy vehicles, but also the next step is to look forward to the new quality of productivity to give birth to digital intelligent vehicles." Wang Jun said.
3. What areas of innovation should car companies pay attention to?
In 2023, intelligent new energy vehicle products have gradually become an important consideration for consumers when buying cars.
Under such circumstances, technology companies represented by China, which are already in the mature stage and have more prominent software capabilities, have undoubtedly become one of the best learning objects in the eyes of many car companies that urgently need to improve their software capabilities.
Moreover, with the intellectualization and electrification of automobiles, the demand for automotive chips has increased rapidly, especially some core on-board computing chips and control chips. In these fields, some emerging local chip companies have launched high-performance on-board computing chips and control chips, which have gradually become the focus of the market.
In 2022, the overall market share of independent chips will be between 5% and 8%. It is estimated that by 2025, some chip products may achieve an autonomy rate of more than 50%, and the overall market share of independent chips will be between 20% and 30%.
Wu Jiafu, chairman of Mumeng Group, believes that as China's auto industry has entered a new era of deep integration of electrification and intelligence, domestic automotive-grade chips are ushering in greater market opportunities, which are undoubtedly worthy of the attention of car companies.
In addition to intelligence and chips, Huang Zheng, managing partner of Cocoa Capital, believes that the disruptive innovation of core material core technologies in the upstream and downstream industry chain is also worth paying attention to. Taking sodium-ion batteries as an example, due to the low degree of resource constraints, the price is cheaper after large-scale mass production, and with the delivery of the world's first sodium-ion battery production vehicle, sodium battery is ushering in a development window period, which is an innovative field that is worth increasing investment. "In addition, all-solid-state batteries as the ultimate answer to solve the various anxieties of electric vehicle owners, the technology is still immature, and no company is now really able to achieve large-scale mass production of all-solid-state batteries in a complete sense.
IV. Conclusion
In the view of Wang Xia, chairman of the Automotive Industry Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the second half of the "volume" began with a price war, but in the end it was decided by "technology war" and "value war". There is still a long way to go in the exploration of technical routes, such as the potential mining of hybrid technology, the commercialization of solid-state batteries and hydrogen fuel cells, and the introduction of AI into cars, etc., which are all technological depressions with great potential. "We must bring consumers a differentiated value experience through breakthroughs in core technologies, and we can't let the price war drag us back to the old road of homogeneous competition and lose the ability to develop sustainably."