Electric vehicle spontaneous combustion sounds industry safety alarm industrial chain clutter

When decision-makers decided to let 500,000 new energy vehicles drive in Chinese cities by 2012, and then multiply this number by 10 (40% of globally expected sales) within 10 years, nothing seems to stop this ambition. Achieving Responsibility—An unexpected incident on the streets of Hangzhou may be an exception.

On the afternoon of April 11, an electric taxi in Hangzhou suddenly spontaneously ignited. Within minutes, the electric vehicle produced by Zhejiang Zhongtai was burned into an empty rack. This is by far China's first public event of spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles. Industry insiders estimate that such a serious fire accident is the first case in the world. This may mean that when local governments are keen to formulate various plans, the basic technical problems posed by the spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles have reached the moment of “unreliable”.

In fact, at the recent gathering of the electric car industry, the topic of “have you been (fire) lately?” is often mentioned – spontaneous combustion and explosion accidents are already open secrets in the industry, except that the “Hangzhou incident” has made it The first exposure to the public. “A lot of electric vehicles caught fire during the test, but they generally pulled back quietly.” Lu Jian Lu, CEO of Weihai Electric Vehicle Company, told Global Entrepreneur. Road has been immersed in the electric vehicle industry for more than 10 years. The number of self-ignition or explosion accidents that its engineers have witnessed in the industry has reached seven or eight times.

As the “seven strategic emerging industries” encouraged by the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” in China, the electric vehicle industry is becoming one of the hottest industries in China today. In June 2010, five cities, including Hangzhou, were selected as pilot cities for new energy vehicles. Under the vigorous promotion of local governments, thousands of electric buses, electric rentals, and electric special vehicles were the first Scale to market.

In April of this year, the “Private Purchase of New Energy Vehicle Subsidy Pilot Program” approved by Beijing Municipality, the purchase of pure electric vehicles will enjoy special preferential treatment of “not to shake numbers, unlimited lines, and no taxes”. All this shows that China’s goal of achieving 500,000 electric vehicle ownership by 2012 in the “Automobile Industry Planning” is imminent. Xie Zicon, an electric vehicle expert, expects that “Global Entrepreneur” is expected to be a large-scale year for China’s electric vehicle policy in 2011.

As a pilot city, Hangzhou launched its first batch of 30 electric taxis in January this year. The self-ignition taxi has just operated for 2 months. According to the plan, the total number of electric taxis to be put into Hangzhou this year will reach 200. The sudden accident caused Hangzhou to urgently stop the operation of all electric taxis.

In the past two years, the full support of the government, the enthusiastic pursuit of capital, and the overwhelming coverage of the media have caused China's electric car practitioners to have such an illusion. “It seems like there is money to do it.” Wang Binggang, head of the expert group on national energy conservation and new energy vehicle major projects of the National 863 Program, told Global Entrepreneurs: “This event can calm everyone down. Now it’s too anxious. Too aggressive.”

In any case, the “Hangzhou Incident” has pulled people who are already eager to practice the next step of the electric car, or even the next business model, back to the most basic proposition: Has the safety of the electric car been resolved?

The "Hangzhou Incident" of industrial chain chaos made Zhejiang Zhongtai temporarily pushed to the cusp of public opinion. However, Zotye is more willing to see itself as a victim of industrial problems. "Zhongtai will not stop the development of electric vehicles, but this matter has a warning significance for the entire industry, the industry should have some control over the quality of the battery." Zhongtai Group spokesman Spokesman told "Global Entrepreneur", "I believe third-party accidents The investigation agency will give a fair and impartial survey result.” And Dong Weijiang, general manager of Zotye New Energy Automobile, hinted at “Global Entrepreneur” that “The problem is not on the body.”

Zotye's argument is not simply to shirk responsibility. In fact, the vast majority of electric vehicle manufacturers in China have chosen to purchase batteries externally. “Overseas automakers usually control the entire industrial chain to ensure the price and quality of battery and battery raw materials, but China's vehicle manufacturers do not really understand batteries.” Duan Zhenzhong, general manager of Tianjin Stella Energy Technology Co., Ltd Global Entrepreneurs said. Strange and the United States Valence and A123 company is the world's leading manufacturer of lithium iron phosphate cathode materials.

This procurement relationship determines that once an incident occurs, the vehicle company can easily push the responsibility to the battery company. Zhongtai Group is a supplier of lithium batteries for Zhongtai Electric Vehicles. In the face of the refusal of the vehicle manufacturer, a person in charge of the battery workshop of Wanxiang Electric Vehicles counterattacked in an interview. "It is an assembly problem. We have absolutely no problems with our performance."

Compared to the thousands of chaotic companies in China's lithium battery industry, Wanxiang Group is considered to have “accumulated” in lithium battery manufacturing. In January this year, Wan Xiangang announced the formation of a joint venture company with the famous American battery supplier Ener1, announced that by 2014 it will produce 40,000 sets of electric vehicle battery packs.

"In this industry, most companies buy materials for simple series and parallel connections, and even larger batteries are dared to do." Duan Zhenzhong, for example, said that lithium batteries have a total of 26 tests, and some companies do not have more than 10 tests; To reduce costs, some companies even use methods to reduce the purity of electrolytes; in order to detect battery short-circuit problems abroad, they will do the test that the car bumps 100,000 welding points without falling off, and there is almost no domestic practice.

This is related to China's idea of ​​developing electric vehicles - "rebuild vehicles, light batteries." From the government level, the subsidy for the whole vehicle is much larger than the battery. The United States, which has the same ambitions for the development of electric vehicles in China, invested at least US$1.6 billion in batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries have given lead-acid batteries that compete on the technological route as opportunities. This type of battery, which is widely used in electric bicycles, is low in price but low in energy density. Traditionally, it is not considered suitable for electric vehicles. However, Fu Shengdong, deputy general manager of the Super Energy Battery New Energy Division, believes that lead-acid batteries do not have safety issues, and their volume and energy density have been greatly improved with new technology. "Chaowei also produces some lithium batteries, but we are not optimistic about the promotion of lithium batteries," he said.

However, the self-ignition incident of electric vehicles may have damaged the reputation of the entire electric vehicle industry chain. For the ultimate car buyer, there is no ability to distinguish a technical line in the battery system from a problem, and it is easy to understand that electric car means unsafe.

In terms of batteries, it is not only a matter of security - hundreds of batteries work together. How do you make them consistent? In the event of a crash, how can one reduce the damage to the human body from the high voltage system? How can harmful chemicals in the battery system not leak and cause harm to humans? The battery is still only one of the core of electric vehicles. Others, such as motors and electronic control systems, are also complex links of high-tech content. Only by increasing R&D investment and patiently promoting, there is no shortcut.

Based on this, the Hangzhou Spontaneous Ignition Incident is in fact a reminder to everyone: The progress of the battery industry is a difficult industry with ten years as the unit of time. When the electric car was leapfrogged in the past two years, people found that electric car technology did not progress much, and disappointment and enthusiasm retreat became almost inevitable.