750 kilometers in 3 minutes! What other black technologies does Toyota's new generation Mirai have?

Since the outbreak of the oil crisis, the energy mode of automobile fossil fuels has aroused people's thinking. What clean alternative energy sources are there? Toyota has given the answer-fuel cell vehicle, which is what we often call hydrogen energy.

The mass production of fuel cell vehicles can be said to have gone through a long time. You know, Toyota began to study fuel cells as early as 1992, and this research project started almost at the same time as the Toyota Prius hybrid car project. Until 20 14, Toyota mass-produced fuel cell vehicles? Mirai has just been officially listed.

Unconsciously, six years later, Toyota Mirai also ushered in a new generation. The second generation Toyota Mirai has been officially listed recently. Whether this car has a chance to enter China or not, it is worth knowing what technical improvements Toyota has made as a second-generation model.

Changing is like changing a knife, and the front drive is changed to the rear drive.

A new generation of Mirai first made adjustments in the platform architecture, adopting Toyota TNGA? Ga-? L platform, which is a rear-drive platform, is dedicated to serving Toyota's high-end brand Lexus. Lexus LC and LS models sold in China are products of this platform, which shows its advanced nature.

Another major feature of GL-A platform is that it pays attention to important indicators such as weight distribution, body rigidity and inertia parameters. Under the GA-L platform, the front wheel of the vehicle will be more forward, and try to "throw" the wheels at the four corners of the body to make the front and rear weight of the vehicle closer to 50:50. This layout can make the front and rear weight of the vehicle more balanced.

In terms of body structure, a large number of supports and reinforcements are used under the new platform, body glue is also widely used, and laser screw welding technology is adopted, so the rigidity of the body is improved.

Under the new platform structure, the chassis structure of Mirai has also been greatly improved, and new multi-link front suspension and rear suspension are adopted to replace the suspension arrangement of the former McPherson rear torsion beam.

Obviously, the stability, handling and ride comfort of the new suspension will be greatly improved. In terms of chassis details, a thicker anti-roll bar is also used to improve the rigidity of the overall suspension.

Although the previous generation of Mirai also positioned the mid-level car, the layout of the whole car greatly reduced its space practicality. Its fuel cell is located under the front seat. The electric energy generated by the fuel cell directly drives the motor and power control unit located in the front compartment (engine compartment). The electric energy recovered by the motor will be stored in the power battery located at the rear of the vehicle through the power control unit.

↑ (the first generation of Mirai)

Two hydrogen storage tanks, one large and one small, are arranged under the back seat and in the trunk respectively, which greatly affects both the interior seating space and the trunk space.

↑ (the first generation of Mirai)

The new generation of Mirai has completely laid out these power systems. The hydrogen fuel cell stack moved from the cockpit floor to the front cabin (equivalent to the engine compartment), while the more compact high-voltage battery and motor were located on the rear axle.

The number of hydrogen storage tanks has increased to three, two of which are T-shaped and the other is arranged under the trunk floor. After the optimization of powertrain layout, the new generation Mirai can realize the 50:50 distribution of front and rear weights.

Of course, in addition to the re-adjusted power system layout, the body size of the new generation Mirai has also increased. In terms of body size, the length, width and height of the new car are 4975/ 1885/ 1470mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2920 mm.

Compared with the previous generation, its overall height is reduced by 65mm, the wheelbase is increased by 140mm, the rear suspension is lengthened by 85mm, the width is increased by 75 mm, and the hub size is also larger. New Mirai has 19-inch and 20-inch wheels with lower center of gravity, more dynamic posture and stronger visual sense.

Under the new power system layout and enlarged body size, the interior space of Mirai has been greatly improved, providing more spacious five-seat space for rear passengers, and the leg space and trunk space have also been improved.

The endurance is increased by 30%, and it has long-distance capability.

Compared with the first generation models, the improvement of the new car's endurance is its primary task, and it will be more competitive only if it exceeds the distance that traditional pure electric vehicles can reach.

The new generation Mirai has improved in power, hydrogen fuel capacity, efficiency and aerodynamics, and its endurance has increased by 30%.

Official website shows that it offers two different cruising versions, with energy consumption of 135km/kg and 152km/kg respectively, and cruising range of 750km and 850km under WLTC test standard respectively.

According to EPA data, it can still travel 575 kilometers under extreme conditions, which makes the new Toyota Mirai have real long-distance driving ability.

Adjust the layout and increase hydrogen storage tanks.

After adopting GA-L platform, the fuel cell stack and transmission system components in Mirai have higher space utilization ratio, which can provide more locations for high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks.

The new car is equipped with three high-pressure hydrogen tanks arranged in a "T" shape. The longest hydrogen storage tank is vertically arranged, and the shorter two hydrogen storage tanks are horizontally arranged under the back seat and trunk respectively. Their positions help to lower the center of gravity of the vehicle and reduce the impact on the interior space.

Together, they can hold 5.6 kilograms of hydrogen, compared with 4.6 kilograms of two hydrogen storage tanks in Mirai in the previous generation, which increases the hydrogen capacity and mileage of automobiles by 30%.

The structure of the new high-pressure hydrogen storage tank has also been optimized, and the multi-layer structure is more solid, with a total weight of 87.73kg. In other words, the total weight of the whole high-pressure hydrogen storage tank plus 5.6kg of hydrogen does not exceed 93kg, so the weight optimization is obvious.

New fuel cell stack, power increase 12%.

In a hydrogen-powered automobile, hydrogen reacts with oxygen under the action of a catalyst to generate electric energy, which drives a motor. The hydrogen after "combustion" will become water, and the process of generating electricity is in the "fuel cell".

Many readers may be a little confused. What needs to be clear is that this "fuel cell" is not a battery, but can actually be understood as a reactor, and there is a separate power battery that really stores electric energy.

A new generation of fuel cell stack and fuel cell power converter (FCPC) in Mirai is specially developed for GA-L platform. The whole fuel cell stack is more integrated. Water pump, intercooler, air conditioner, air compressor and hydrogen circulating pump are all integrated, and each component is smaller and lighter, which improves performance and space utilization.

The fuel cell stack uses solid polymers, just like the old Mirai, but it has been made smaller. At the same time, its specific power density has been improved, reaching a new record of 5.4kW/L (excluding the end plate), and the previous generation Mirai was 3.1kW/L/L.

Its maximum generating power is increased from 1 14kW to 128kW, and its performance in cold weather is also improved. Now it can be started at temperatures as low as -30℃.

Toyota also optimized the devices in each reactor, reducing the overall weight by 50%, but increasing the power by 12%. Including repositioning the manifold, reducing the size and weight of the battery, optimizing the shape of the gas separator and using innovative materials in the electrode.

Including fuel cell DC-DC converter (FDC) and modular high-voltage components, the optimization has reduced the size by 265,438+0% and the weight by 2.9 kg to 25.5 kg. Next generation silicon carbide semiconductor materials are used in intelligent power model (IPM) transistors. This increases output and reduces power consumption, while using fewer transistors, thus making the FCPC smaller.

The air inlet reduces the pressure loss and contains sound-absorbing materials, so the noise emitted by the air inlet will not be detected in the cockpit. The exhaust pipe adopts resin pipe, and its design allows a large amount of air and water to be discharged; A muffler with larger capacity helps to make the cabin quieter. The whole air system is 30% smaller and one third (34.4%) lighter than that of Mirai now.

The pow of that driving motor is increase.

The maximum generated electric power of fuel cell stack is 128kW( 174PS), and its motor output power is also increased to 134kW( 182PS), with the maximum torque of 300Nm and the maximum speed of 175km/h ... The acceleration time of the new car has not been announced yet, but I believe the improvement will be obvious.

Lithium ion electricity?

A new generation of Mirai is equipped with lithium-ion high-voltage batteries, replacing the previous generation of Ni-MH batteries. While its volume is decreasing, its energy density is greatly increased. It contains 84 batteries with rated voltage of 3 10.8, and the capacity is increased by 4.0 compared with the old one. Ah, up to 6.5? Ah, the total weight has been reduced from 46.9kg to 44.6kg.

In terms of battery temperature control, air cooling continues, but the air cooling path has also been optimized, and there are independent air inlets on both sides of the rear seats.

Purify the air while driving.

Toyota Mirai, which uses hydrogen energy, has not only zero emissions, but also "negative emissions".

According to Toyota's data, when air is sucked into a car to power a fuel cell, the charge on the filter element of a non-woven fabric filter will capture microscopic particles of pollutants, including sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxide (nitrogen oxides) and PM2.5 particles.

When air enters the fuel cell system, the system can effectively remove 90% to 100% of particles with a diameter between 0 and 2.5 microns. In other words, it will purify the air when driving in Mirai and become a large air purifier. Driving in China seems a bit expensive.

Design appreciation: less futuristic, closer to traditional cars

The new generation of Mirai basically continues the styling style of the concept car, and the big mouth front grille and split daytime running lights are all retained.

Compared with the previous generation, the appearance is less sci-fi and closer to the style of ordinary family cars. It adopts a large-mouth air intake grille similar to the Asian dragon, and is equipped with a split daytime running light design. At the same time, the headlights are narrower and look sharp enough.

The side of the car body adopts slip-back modeling and is equipped with a low center of gravity rear end, which creates a quite sporty visual effect. In addition, the new generation models are longer, wider and lower than the previous generation models.

From the rear of the car, the taillights adopt the currently popular penetrating design, and the 45 lines on both sides of the license plate frame extend to the rear circumference, echoing the front of the car.

In terms of interior, the new car adopts Toyota's latest design language, and the entire central control area is tilted to the driver's side. The asymmetric design is eye-catching and creates a certain three-dimensional sense.

In terms of configuration, the new car is equipped with 8-inch digital instrument cluster+12.3-inch multimedia system, and is equipped with HUD head-up display, front seat heating/ventilation, streaming rearview mirror and JBL sound system with 14 speakers.

New Mirai is also equipped with "Toyota? Teammate "advanced driver assistance technology and" Toyota? Safe? Sense "security assistant package can also support software OTA upgrade.

Summary: Hydrogen energy is becoming more and more mature, so it will reduce the cost.

As usual, we still have to talk about its price. At present, its price in the Japanese market is equivalent to about 445,000 yuan, which is still not close to the people for ordinary people. However, the subsidy for purchasing hydrogen-powered vehicles in Japan is also very large, which is about 654.38+10,000 yuan, eventually reaching the early 300,000 yuan.

Judging from the second generation Mriai, its overall structure and performance have been greatly improved, and its overall maturity is more mature. Its 850km battery life is more stable. At present, it has been listed in Japan and the United States, and will soon be listed in Europe. I believe that sales will also be greatly improved.

It can also be seen from Toyota's sales target that Toyota has given enough confidence to the new car. Toyota's goal is to expand sales 10 times.

With the maturity of technology, the supporting infrastructure needs to be improved. At present, the efforts to build hydrogen refueling stations abroad are constantly improving, and the ownership and practicability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will also be steadily improved.

For China, Toyota has opened up the related technologies of fuel cells, and needs to continue to innovate while absorbing technologies, especially the construction of hydrogen refueling stations needs to be accelerated.

Of course, the most important thing is that the popularization of hydrogen energy still has a long way to go. Otherwise, everyone thinks that hydrogen energy is dangerous and can't be avoided, so China can't develop hydrogen energy.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.