range extension is not a backward technology. On the contrary, I think it is a particularly good development route.
What is extended range?
A simple and crude analysis is that it is a pure electric vehicle carrying a generator. It is composed of an engine, a battery, and a motor. Of course, the engine here does not directly drive the vehicle, so the strict name should be "range extender", or "dynamo".
Many people believe that oil-burning electric vehicles have an additional energy conversion step and waste more. Moreover, this technology, which even junior high school students know, is too low and too advanced. The combination of the two logics of
led to the conclusion that "the extended range technology is too backward".
On the contrary, good technology should have two very good characteristics, one is "popularization ability" and the other is "direct user perception". The
range extension is because of its simple structure, so the manufacturing and design costs are very low. It can be built at a lower cost. Because it is 100% motor driven, you can enjoy the characteristics of fast acceleration and strong smoothness brought by the motor era. The most important thing is , judging from the results, the fuel consumption of extended range is at least 30% lower than that of gasoline vehicles.
So, is range extension still a backward technology?
It doesn’t matter whether it lags behind or not. What’s important is that it brings a new way of traveling and popularizes this experience. If we have to say that range extension is lagging behind, there is actually another view.
range extension is a technology with low threshold but extremely high upper limit.
It is very difficult to build a good range extender. It needs a strong range extender with better thermal efficiency, stability, power generation capacity and nvh. If it can still be done with No. 92 oil, it will definitely be another breakthrough.
In addition, it is also important whether high-efficiency 10,000-turn motors can be mass-produced on a large scale and at low cost. The most important thing is that there is still room for improvement in high-density, flash charge and flash battery technology.
This is not only a problem that needs to be faced when extending range, but also an issue that all new energy vehicles need to consider. Electrification has lowered the threshold for building cars, but there is still a lot of pressure to build top-notch electric cars.
Another reason why many companies are willing to choose extended-range technology is that in the field of automation, extended-range technology is essentially a "tram". Because it is 100% all-wheel electric drive, there is no need to consider the issue of engine intervention, so autonomous driving The design ceiling is higher and better.
For example, Huawei's ads 2.0 intelligent driving system is equipped with this kind of solution. Whether it is EV or extended range, the engine is not allowed to directly participate in driving. Shifting logic, speed, etc. will directly affect the design difficulty of autonomous driving. .
In essence, extended range is a very excellent power system.
The reason why many people complain about the range extension is essentially to complain about the arrogant Ideal Auto . Li Xiang’s own disrespect for technology and the industry, as well as the capital attitude behind the high price of Ideal Auto, have made many people have doubts about the only way to increase the range. There was emotional resistance to the ideal car based on engineering technology.
Many people hate range extension because they actually hate the ideal. However, from a technical point of view, range extension is a promising technology, and more and more companies are beginning to choose the range extension route, which also shows that range extension technology has great potential. New opportunities in market development.
