New energy vehicles enter the "fast lane" Safety technology cannot be "derailed"

New energy vehicles enter the "fast lane" Safety technology cannot be "derailed"

In the history of China's automotive industry, no period has ever been as vigorous and proud as it is now, and has been favored by The Times. All of this is due to the fact that China's new energy vehicles have shaken up the entire global automotive market, and the traditional automotive industry pattern may be disrupted in the near future.

The passive state of domestic brands in the traditional automotive market cannot stop the expansion of domestic new energy vehicles. Both large and small policies have frequently released unprecedented favorable signals for the development of new energy vehicles. Whether it is the energy-saving and new energy vehicle Industry Development Plan (2012-2020), the medium and long-term development plan for the automotive industry in "Made in China 2025", or The implementation of the parallel management approach for average fuel consumption of passenger vehicle enterprises and new energy vehicle credits (referred to as the "dual credit policy") has broadened the path for China's leading position in the global new energy vehicle market.

The clarity of the policy environment has guided car companies to lean towards new energy vehicles in terms of technology and capital. In 2015, China's electric vehicles ushered in an outbreak, and in 2016, it took advantage of the momentum to rank first in the world in production and sales for two consecutive years. BMW announced that it will offer 25 electric models by 2025; Mercedes-Benz said that it will launch 10 new pure electric products in 2022, and all models will launch new energy drive versions......

Some industry insiders believe that by 2040, the global carbon dioxide emission target (set by the government) will push the production and sales of electric vehicles to 60 million.

Production and sales increased, and electric vehicle safety accidents were frequent.

The development speed of electric vehicles in China in recent years is obvious to all, following the explosive growth in 2015, sales in 2016 hit a record high, reaching 507,000 units. According to public data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2017, China's new energy vehicle production and sales reached 517,000 units and 490,000 units in the first ten months, so the industry is still confident in the sales target of 700,000 new energy vehicles this year.

With the increase in the number of electric vehicles, the frequent occurrence of electric vehicle safety accidents is also eye-catching. According to incomplete statistics from online public information, from January to September this year, there have been safety accidents of electric vehicles in China every month, and foreign electric vehicle accidents have also occurred one after another. Looking at various electric vehicle safety accidents in recent years, most of them end in fires and even explosions.

Wang Binggang, a special expert on the major science and technology of electric vehicles in the 863 plan, believes that fire accidents of new energy vehicles increase with production and sales, and rough statistics show that the average number of fire accidents per 1 million new energy vehicles is 50, and by 2020, when the number of new energy vehicles is expected to reach 5 million, the number of fire accidents will reach 250.

Li Dong, director of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, once said in public that safety is the prerequisite for the development of electric vehicles, and without safety, there will be no future of electric vehicles.

From the first year of 2007 to the first global production and sales championship in 2015, the development of new energy vehicles in China has entered the growth period from the introduction period, and in the face of an increasingly wide market and more and more consumers, new energy vehicle safety technology is particularly important.

The improvement of power battery safety technology is urgent.

Ouyang Minggao believes that "electric vehicle safety technology covers three parts: power battery, vehicle and charging infrastructure. "In electric vehicle safety technology, because the power battery itself is a high-energy carrier, it can produce huge destructive force due to abnormal energy release without external energy input, so power battery safety is the top priority of electric vehicle safety technology.

Power battery safety includes: structural safety, electrical safety, thermal safety, chemical safety, environmental safety, three-proof safety, and life cycle safety. The safety issue of power batteries comes from their energy release, which includes electrical energy release and chemical energy release. The safety problems formed by the release of electrical energy are manifested as electric shock (mainly referring to high-voltage systems above 6V), and the safety problems caused by the release of chemical energy are finally manifested as combustion or explosion caused by thermal runaway and thermal runaway expansion.

At about 3 a.m. on June 11, a Tesla in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, caught fire after hitting the guardrail, and the picture comes from the Internet.

On June 11, a Tesla in Rizhao, Shandong Province, caught fire after hitting the guardrail, the body and frame were completely burned out, and the battery cells were scattered all over the ground, proving that the battery pack shell had cracked. This accident was more serious than many Tesla fire accidents abroad, so it caused a sensation and also raised questions among consumers about the safety design of Tesla's battery pack and electronic control system. In the case of fire, it is generally caused by the ignition of the electrolyte and its decomposition products. Electric vehicle fire accidents are one of the most common and most destructive conditions in electric vehicle safety accidents, because once an electric vehicle catches fire, due to the irreversibility of energy release, it will directly damage the electric vehicle, or burn to ashes or even cause an explosion, which will threaten the life safety of passengers.

Battery risks are mainly divided into four aspects: battery fire or explosion, excessive voltage, corrosive chemicals and toxic fumes. If the battery is deformed, penetrated, short-circuited or the temperature is too high, the potential risk of the battery may be triggered, while the first two have a high risk coefficient and the latter two have a medium risk coefficient. If the battery is damaged and cannot be discharged, the battery catches fire, and even if the battery is extinguished, the battery will pose a threat to the user's life safety. "As long as the damaged battery is not discharged, the above risks may occur at any time! Internal tests have shown that the battery can burn even after a week of testing," said Thomas Kropsch, CTO of the I&D Center at Neusoft Drive Automotive Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., in his presentation on "How to deal with accidents in the field of electric vehicles".

Industry research believes that for the safety of electric vehicles, the safety of power batteries should be improved first, and the technical means to improve safety include improving single safety technologies, such as material safety, transforming processes, and increasing protective measures; secondly, improve the safety of power battery groups, such as integration, modular technology and packaging technology; In addition, the safety of the power battery system is improved, such as the BMS technology, thermal management system, configuration technology, protection system design and protection circuit. This view coincides with Thomas Kropsch's view, and Thomas Kropsch explained the process of dealing with electric vehicle accidents: "Responding to electric vehicle safety accidents can be divided into two main situations: product development and post-accident situations, the former can start from the battery packer and the OEM, and the latter can be dealt with from the first responders and the follow-up of the accident. Among them, the improvement of battery packers can start from relays, fuses, temperature sensors, software, design, quality management, standards and testing; OEMs start with collision detectors, orange cables, and testing; As the first responder after the accident, we start with the parabolic stability equation (PSE), thermal camera, training and operation manual."

"Post-treatment" of electric vehicle safety accidents.

In fact, in terms of the safety design of the battery management system, Neusoft Rich, founded in 2015, has taken the lead, in August 2016, Neusoft Richis has released a new generation of intelligent battery management system, this set of high-safety management system with SOC/SOE/SOH core algorithm, has been in a number of domestic vehicle companies on a number of commercial vehicles and passenger cars for a long time, and several models equipped with this product have achieved mass production and sales this year.

Mr. Cao Bin, Deputy General Manager of Neusoft Rich, said that with the rapid heating up of the new energy vehicle market, the battery management system market has ushered in the opportunity of rapid development, and safety issues have also become the focus of attention. As the core component of new energy vehicles, the battery system is a highly complex combination of electrochemical, mechanical, electrical, software and other technologies, and needs to ensure safety in long-term use.

New energy vehicles drive into the "fast lane" and safety technology cannot be "derailed".