New energy safety has attracted attention, and data shows that spontaneous combustion and recall rates are lower than those of fuel vehicles

With the increase in sales of new energy vehicles, accidental spontaneous fire incidents have begun to attract more and more consumer attention. Compared with fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles are undoubtedly a new thing. The public's understanding of it is not deep enough. Therefore, when dealing with fire problems, new energy vehicle manufacturers need to be more transparent, rigorous and responsible in explaining the causes of vehicle fires to consumers and completing follow-up aftermath work.

Looking at WM's social responsibility through its 23-day efficient and proactive recall

Recently, the new energy vehicle brand WM has received great public attention due to several consecutive fire incidents. On the afternoon of October 28, WM Motor announced on Weibo that it would voluntarily recall 1,282 products that had been sold. At the same time, according to information released by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the cause of the smoke and fire accident at the bottom of the Weimar vehicle has been identified. It was caused by "the battery cell supplier mixed impurities during the production process, causing abnormal lithium precipitation in the power battery." WM Motor immediately recalled the product if there was a problem. First of all, WM Motor showed its corporate sense of responsibility in its attitude.

From the first product spontaneous combustion on October 5 to the voluntary announcement of the recall on October 28, WM Motor's recall process only took 23 days. Automotive product recalls are a norm in the industry, but WM Motor's handling speed is rare.

According to recall statistics released by the State Administration for Market Regulation, in 2019 alone, 39 car brands and a total of 6,539,512 cars were recalled in the Chinese market, accounting for 31.6% of the total market sales. As of September 2020, a total of 2,119 car models have been recalled in the Chinese market, with the cumulative number of recalled cars reaching 8.0102 million, accounting for about 30% of total market sales. Most of these recalled cars are from major major brands, including Volkswagen, Tesla, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, etc. The products of these companies usually continue to ferment for several months after a problem breaks out. It is not until due to excessive public pressure and the intervention of the State Administration for Market Regulation that these companies initiate a recall. The process is very protracted and consumers have always been at a disadvantage. At the same time, many international car companies also have problems with differentiated treatment when it comes to recalls. For example, after the BMW B48 series engines were revealed to have product defects, they initially launched a recall only for overseas markets. In the end, the recall was launched in the Chinese market because of excessive public pressure. Therefore, regardless of the cause of the accident, Weimar's rapid recall at least fully reflects its respect for consumers and its responsible attitude.

There is also a lot of discussion on the Internet about the recall of Weimaran. It is very different from what car whisperers expected at the beginning. As a new force in car manufacturing, I thought that there would be a crusade against WM Motor on the Internet. But judging from the final result, whether it is mainstream social media or vertical media, the comments are relatively rational and restrained. "Weimare recalled to rectify the name of new forces", "Weimaran was cheated by suppliers", "Weima took the initiative to recall and set an example for new energy car companies" are the mainstream media's views on this incident. It seems that WM Motor has won trust through practical actions.

Why do new energy vehicles frequently catch fire?

Concerning electric vehicle fires, this is currently the most concerning topic for the development of the new energy vehicle industry, and it is also the topic that consumers most want to know about. It's easy to get emotional when discussing the causes of fires on the Internet. Therefore, when discussing the problem of electric vehicle fires, we need to analyze the reasons behind the fires more rationally to get the truth.

As an Internet celebrity brand in the electric vehicle industry, Tesla has heard news of spontaneous combustion incidents in various models from time to time; and BYD, which is known as the leader of new energy vehicles in China and produces its own lithium battery packs, has Reports of spontaneous combustion in energy vehicles are also common; others include: GAC New Energy Aion?S, which uses Toyota's electric vehicle technology, has experienced continuous spontaneous combustion incidents; Ideal ONE, which uses a plug-in extended-range hybrid system, has also had multiple incidents of spontaneous combustion. Report. From the reports of many spontaneous combustion incidents, it can be found that the spontaneous combustion problem of new energy vehicles does not only occur in pure electric vehicles, but also in plug-in hybrid models equipped with lithium battery packs. Therefore, we analyze and treat the problem of vehicle spontaneous combustion in detail, because the causes of fires are very diverse and are not necessarily a quality problem of the entire vehicle. Traditional fuel vehicles also have many spontaneous combustion problems, and the models covered even include expensive supercars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini.

So, why do cars or new energy vehicles spontaneously ignite? From the analysis of the statistical data, a large part of the reasons are caused by factors such as circuits.

Spontaneous combustion of traditional fuel vehicles often occurs in summer. The cause is mostly due to the aging of vehicle lines and high temperature. At the same time, problems with the oil circuit are also a major cause of spontaneous combustion in fuel vehicles. A large proportion of the spontaneous combustion that occurs in supercars such as Lamborghini and Ferrari during driving is simply caused by the high temperature when the gasoline that has not been fully burned is exposed through the exhaust pipe. But this cannot be said to be a quality problem with the vehicle itself, because cars of this era are already very safe in terms of safety. When gasoline vehicles collide, there will be no fire or explosion scenes that are common in movies and TV dramas. The reason why spontaneous car combustion may be regarded as a topic and news report is largely due to the emotional rendering in the communication process. Individual incidents are magnified.

Similarly, the same is true for pure electric vehicle fires. Compared with fuel vehicles, pure electric vehicles mainly provide energy through the discharge of power batteries, so the current and voltage are relatively large, and the aging speed of their lines is faster than that of fuel vehicles. Therefore, it may cause spontaneous combustion due to aging of the circuit.

Also, because there are more electrical components inside. When the vehicle encounters water intrusion or protection failure, such as charger or electric vehicle protection plate failure, causing charging protection failure, resulting in overcharging, overcurrent, and excessive charging temperature, the vehicle will also cause spontaneous combustion. In fact, the most common example of this is mobile phones. Many big brand mobile phones have caused spontaneous combustion due to circuit short circuits or battery overcharges.

In other cases, the battery or circuit is severely impacted or squeezed (when the vehicle is involved in a collision), resulting in battery leakage or circuit short circuit, and the temperature rises sharply, causing spontaneous combustion. At present, lithium battery packs carried in new energy vehicles undergo a series of safety tests such as acupuncture experiments before they are put on the market. The purpose of these tests is to ensure that they will not leak or cause a short-circuit fire due to extrusion in the event of a collision when loaded on the vehicle. Therefore, the collision and fire of an electric vehicle is also a low-probability event.

Battery management system technology is also crucial to the safety of pure electric vehicles. There are two technical points in the process of charging and discharging power batteries: controlling the current size of charging and discharging, and controlling the heat generated by the battery during charging and discharging. If the battery management system technology is defective, it may cause the vehicle to spontaneously ignite.

The use of intelligent systems provides a solution for Weimar’s rapid recall

According to battery industry experts: Weimar’s recall was caused by problems with the battery cells. Body quality has nothing to do with it. Because the battery cell supplier mixes impurities during the production process and produces abnormal lithium precipitation, in extreme cases it may cause the battery cell to short-circuit, which may cause thermal runaway of the power battery, posing safety risks.

It is worth mentioning that WM Motor uses an intelligent interactive system to accurately locate risky vehicles and push and inform users of relevant service information. At the same time, we also actively contact users through the cloud smart calling function, as well as phone calls, text messages, WeChat, registered letters, and the Serena APP to invite them to complete the recall. WM Motor said that power battery replacement and vehicle safety monitoring can all be completed in a relatively short period of time.

Currently, there are 4 battery cell suppliers for WM, namely: CATL, ZTE, Tafel, and Ruipu. In addition to battery cells, WM Motor has independently mastered all core battery pack technologies: including thermal management, safety protection, charge and discharge management, etc. Among them, the thermal management strategy focuses on intelligent and precise management of battery core temperature through independent liquid cooling design, PTC electric heating system, minus 30°C polar heating system (diesel heating), and a new air conditioner based on diesel heating. The heating circuit design can independently turn on the heating and cooling functions in different temperature ranges to achieve all-weather constant temperature thermal management of the battery pack, greatly improving users' anxiety about battery life in winter.

New energy vehicles are still safe travel tools

As a field that has just started to develop on a large scale, it is inevitable that new energy vehicles will encounter various problems in its development. The development of fuel vehicles It has gone through this stage for more than a hundred years. However, with the development of technology, the reliability of new energy vehicles has also improved. According to Sun Fengchun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at the Global Smart Travel Conference, the probability of a new energy vehicle catching fire in China in 2019 was 0.49 in 10,000, and in 2020 it was 0.26 in 10,000 (affected by the epidemic travel).

According to data released by the relevant departments of the Ministry of Public Security, the annual fire accident rate of traditional vehicles is about 1 to 2 per 10,000. In comparison, the probability of fire of new energy vehicles is significantly lower than that of traditional fuel vehicles.

New energy vehicles sold 1.03 million vehicles a year, accounting for 4.8% of the annual passenger car sales of 21.44 million. New energy vehicles recalled 33,700 vehicles a year, accounting for 0.49% of the 6.76 million passenger car recalls throughout the year. %. It can be seen from this that the recall rate of new energy vehicles is only one-tenth of the recall probability of fuel vehicles, and new energy vehicles are still safe and reliable.

So when faced with recalls, we should treat them with a more normal mentality. At the same time, recalls are also a reflection of the person in charge of the company. In fact, it is very common for traditional car companies to have recalls. Toyota has issued its third recall this year, involving as many as 5.84 million vehicles, including 400,000 vehicles in the Chinese market. Similarly, Lexus, which has always been known for its luxury and reliability, also launched a recall on October 28. In addition, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, the two major German luxury brands in the Chinese automobile market, are also major recallers. Since 2016, Mercedes-Benz has recalled 12 times, 22 times in 2017, 19 times in 2018, and 24 times in 2019; BMW also recently recalled 26,700 vehicles globally because impurities in the batteries of new energy models caused fire safety hazards. New energy vehicles. Therefore, why can't everyone be more tolerant of China's new car-making forces?

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.