"Auto God Patent" is a technology popularization and value mining column launched by the Dianchetong team. It aims to interpret the significance of the latest patents applied by car companies and the future feasibility of the patents. Readers are welcome to express their opinions and discuss the pros and cons of the latest black technology in automobiles, as well as the development direction of automobile technology.
When netizens debate who is better, pure electric vehicles or fuel vehicles, those who support fuel vehicles will always introduce the topic of "range", making it "difficult to refute" for those who support pure electric vehicles.
In fact, the battery life data of pure electric vehicles is no worse than that of fuel vehicles. There are a lot of fuel vehicles that can only run 400km on a tank of fuel, while there are already many CLTC pure electric vehicles with a pure electric range of more than 500km.
However, the actual range of pure electric vehicles will be reduced by environmental influences. After entering winter, the actual cruising range of pure electric vehicles is generally 30% lower than the official propaganda level, and some are even 50% lower.
Faced with the problem of declining battery life, Xiaomi took action. Recently, Xiaomi Motors applied for a new patent for the integrated structure of the battery and body. The abstract shows that this patent can improve the degree of integration of the vehicle and improve the vehicle's cruising range by reducing the weight of the body structure.
Perhaps you have heard of the CTB released by BYD in 2021 and the CTC released by Leapao in 2022. So what is the difference between this new patent of Xiaomi and the technology of BYD and Leapao?
Xiaomi Auto does not do battery swaps
The summary shows that Xiaomi Auto applied for a new battery and body integrated structure. The body includes two sill beams, each of which is equipped with a battery pack installation part.
In other words, the top of the battery pack shell is on the beam. In this way, the crossbeam can strengthen the stiffness and side impact force transmission performance of the battery pack case, improving the safety of the battery. Moreover, the top of the battery pack case still exists as a floor panel, and the weight of the body structure is also reduced, thereby improving the overall vehicle quality. of pure electric cruising range.
follows the initial thinking of new energy car companies, improving battery energy, discharge efficiency, battery structure and other methods to improve vehicle endurance. However, the chassis space of a car is limited, and there are currently no higher-end raw materials to use as battery energy. When these methods have been squeezed out by "squeezing toothpaste", car companies can only break the idea of stacking batteries, so technologies such as CTB, CTC, and CIB were born.
BYD's CTB integrates the single battery directly into the vehicle body frame, allowing the battery to participate in the force transmission and force bearing of the entire vehicle; Leapmoon's CTC integrates the battery cells directly into the body chassis, so that Reduce the number of parts so that more batteries can be packed in; Xpeng’s CIB assembles the batteries directly above the body chassis.
From this point of view, Xiaomi’s battery and body integrated structure patent is similar to Leapmoon CTC. Both are connected to the chassis structural parts to reduce the number of parts to reduce the weight of the vehicle, which ultimately improves the battery life of the vehicle.
When the battery is embedded in the chassis, it will make it difficult to disassemble the battery. This also means that Xiaomi Auto no longer chooses the route of battery replacement, at least at this stage.
Indeed, the advantage of battery swapping is that it is fast, and car owners are not worried about battery degradation. However, if you want to promote the battery swapping model, large-scale construction of battery swapping stations is essential, which requires a very large cost. You see, Weilai, who is obsessed with the battery swap model next door, also needs the assistance of other car companies and third-party battery swap companies. Tesla, which once wanted to develop a battery swap model, finally chose the overcharging camp.
Even Xiaomi Motors, which has a strong family background, does not dare to engage in battery swapping mode.
Xiaomi SU7, is the real battery life strong enough?
Half a month ago, the application information of Xiaomi's first car, Xiaomi SU7, was announced. We also learned that Xiaomi SU7 is positioned as a medium to large sedan, which is similar in size to Lan Tu Zhuiguang. The maximum power of the single-motor version is 220kW. , the dual-motor version adds a 275kW front-drive motor to the single motor, which is stronger than the Lantu Light Chaser.
However, regarding the battery life that consumers are more concerned about, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has not announced it yet, but Xiaotong can spell out a "truth" based on the information previously exposed.
According to news from the Internet, Xiaomi SU7 will provide 400V and 800V high-voltage platform versions. The 400V platform version has a lower battery life. The main purpose is to lower the threshold for car purchase, while the 800V high-voltage platform version can ensure the ultra-high performance of the entire vehicle. charging capability, and Xiaomi Motors has also developed a function that allows a robotic arm to charge the car on its own.
In addition, the battery pack capacity of Xiaomi SU7 is 101kW·h. Looking at the domestic pure electric vehicle market, there are not many models with battery pack capacities exceeding 100kW·h. This also gives Xiaomi SU7 its inherent advantage of long cruising range. Combined with the fact that Xiaomi SU7 was revealed to be able to achieve an energy consumption of 8.8kW·h when almost fully loaded.
After conversion, the maximum cruising range of Xiaomi’s first car can reach 800-1000km. If driving in urban areas, there is no problem with the comprehensive cruising range exceeding 700km. To be able to achieve such a high battery life, Xiaomi's application for new patents must have played a role in it.
There is no doubt that self-charging, overcharging and long battery life will become the main selling points of Xiaomi SU7. As a member of the new power camp, Xiaomi Motors does not "find another way" and provide highlights that its competitors do not have to attract consumers. Instead, it focuses on the pain points of car use that consumers are concerned about and competes with its established competitors.
But having said that, Xiaomi is still a technology company after all. Xiaotong continued to search the patents applied for by Xiaomi Auto and found that some of Xiaomi Auto’s patents were quite advanced.
According to information from the State Intellectual Property Office, Xiaomi Motors has applied for a new patent for "Charging Cars and Charging Methods", which involves battery cars, wireless charging devices, autonomous driving systems, etc.
The details of this patent are that Xiaomi Motors has designed a charging car equipped with a large battery compartment. This car is equipped with an autonomous driving system, wireless charging device, communication device, and surround-view camera. When the Xiaomi car is out of power, it will send a charging request to the charging car, and the charging car will eventually automatically drive to the side of the vehicle to wirelessly charge the vehicle based on the location of the Xiaomi car. Does
feel familiar?
Xiaomi Auto’s new patent reminded Xiaotong of NIO’s “Diesel Power Bank”, but compared to NIO’s “Diesel Power Bank” which still requires manpower, the charging car in Xiaomi Auto’s patent is more intelligent, but it uses Autonomous driving technology and wireless charging technology are not yet mature in the current automobile market.
Judging from the development trend of the domestic auto market, Xiaomi’s new patent should not be realized so soon. After all, the autonomous driving technology that has been developed for several years has not yet been fully implemented, and considering the time required for the development of wireless charging technology, this It may take longer than you think for a patent to be implemented.
The market share is so large, and consumers also pay more attention to brands when buying cars. Although Xiaomi Motors has the influence of Lei Jun, it is still difficult to seize the market from established competitors. Furthermore, Xiaomi Auto's first product is positioned as a mid-to-high-end product, and the Zhijie S7 with the same positioning has already been launched, so it can capture even less market share.
However, according to Xiaomi's consistent "science and engineering man" character, Xiaomi Auto will definitely continue to struggle. In the future, it is not impossible that Xiaomi may take a people-friendly approach, or join NIO’s battery swap camp.
