Design and cost optimization, automotive companies in the direction of electric vehicle platforms

Recently, everyone has seen some information about accidents, especially the Uber and Tesla Model X. In the development of things, we are too easy to find the weaknesses of EVs and autonomous driving, or we can say that these are far away. and. However, the development of things is bound to be the survival of the fittest, and solve problems one by one after problems occur.

Today, reading McKinsey's article "What a teardown of the latest electric vehicles reveals about the future of mass-market EVs" is still somewhat inspiring:

With the optimization of design and cost, automobile companies have made great progress in electric vehicles, and they have made partial breakthroughs in their own vehicle configuration. By improving design efficiency or reducing manufacturing costs, the overall vehicle cost is gradually reduced. It has begun to enable more customer groups to withstand. As shown in Figure 1, once our benchmark electric vehicle has an average mileage of more than 300 kilometers (or 185 miles), OEMs seem to be able to focus on the low-price pricing segment while maintaining sufficient cruising range for the vehicle. The long-awaited mass-market electric vehicle product - "Medium-sized electric car developed for the average consumer" may soon become a reality.

Electric vehicle platform

Although higher upfront investment (engineering development time, new molds, etc.) is required, the new electric vehicle platform has proven to be superior to the modified model in all aspects. Designing the vehicle architecture entirely around the electric vehicle concept eliminates the need for an engine and gearbox, meaning less compromise and average flexibility at the engineering level.

Thanks to the new electric vehicle platform, losses can be reduced, especially in terms of architecture and body, allowing the new platform to accommodate larger battery packs, allowing electric vehicles to have higher cruising range than non-fuel-powered electric vehicles. The battery pack volume of the new electric vehicle platform has increased by an average of 25%.

The body structure can be mounted around the battery pack and does not have to be integrated into the existing architecture.

The engineering freedom brought about by the new platform usually means that a larger battery can be installed.

There are often other potential advantages, such as higher discharge power and higher charging speeds.

With the rapid development of battery technology, the mileage bottleneck of electric vehicles continues to break through. We see that electric vehicles are moving towards the early stage of the development of fuel vehicles in the mass market. The flexibility of the new electric vehicle platform also plays an important role in this regard. For example, the battery pack can be configured to achieve different capacities and numbers of batteries, maintaining the same form factor, and variable transmission system technology allows automotive companies to produce rear, front and four-wheel drive electric vehicles on a single pure electric vehicle platform. .

Pure electric vehicle powertrain integration trend

From the point of view of disassembly, the electric vehicle powertrain has begun to evolve toward integration, and many components of power electronics are physically integrated and integrated into fewer modules. There is no consensus integration plan for the consideration of engineering design by different auto companies. From the perspective of the overall increase in the degree of integration of electric vehicles, the core components of electric vehicles and the connected cables are rapidly declining.

The focus of the next phase is the efficient integration of vehicle thermal management development and thermal management of various systems to achieve more efficient control of energy.

A2mac1 seems to have dismantled Model 3, and next time I have a chance to look at the disassembly information. From the following figure, the layout of electric vehicles and the simplification of components, from a space point of view, the new platform of pure electric vehicles does not occupy more space, which is also a big bargain.

In order to increase the selling point, electric vehicles generally integrate with more intelligent functions and cockpit electronics. At this level, electric vehicles need more selling points, in addition to mileage and charging speed, they also need to be related to automotive electronics. The new features combine to get rid of the old impressions.

To put it bluntly, the profitability of pure electric vehicles is directly determined by cost. For electric vehicles, achieving profitability remains a daunting task, especially due to the high total cost of power. Due to the current subsidies, the profitability of auto companies on some models may reach an acceptable range. The subsequent strict cost design will become more and more important for the further development of electric vehicles and successful entry into the mass market. How to achieve attractive pricing for electric vehicles without compromising the profitability of auto companies. The cost control and continuous cost reduction of traditional auto companies will be the core elements of competition.

Summary: It is recommended to read the road. The road of pure electric vehicles is very difficult, but this is a major road. It is the basis for us to do autonomous driving and car electronics. First, we must have a car to have functions.