Tokyo Auto Show: Japanese Auto Companies Focus On Pure Electric Vehicles

From Detroit, Geneva to Frankfurt, and then to the sixteenth Tokyo International Motor Show, which opened in October 23rd, the world's auto giants are frequently absent. The five major international auto shows in the world are declining and declining.

The size and number of exhibitors are important indicators to weigh the influence of the auto show. The number of visitors to the Tokyo motor show hit a peak of 2 million 10 thousand in 1991, but then continued to decline. The number of people attending the exhibition in 2017 was only 770 thousand.

To attract more audiences, this year's Tokyo motor show is free to viewers under the age of 18. The organizers hope to organize a more interesting car show to transform the protagonist from vehicle to adult, and to create a car centric mobile theme park, so that audiences can feel the future of life related to mobile travel, urban life, sports events and local tourism.

The transformation of content and theme can not disguise the decline of the Tokyo auto show. In addition to the local car manufacturers in Japan, only Mercedes Benz and Renault two European car companies have set up booths. This is more like a regional exhibition of Japanese car companies' solo dance.

The sluggish Tokyo auto show is bustling with local businesses in Japan. But the performance of Japanese car companies at the Tokyo auto show is not to entertain themselves. As an important force in the world's auto stage, Japanese car companies are showing not only new models and new technologies, but also the attitude, strategy and layout of the global automotive industry in the crucial period of change.

TOYOTA still feels that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the future of the automotive industry, showing a new generation of Mirai based on TNGA architecture. Japanese cars are still fans of mixed technology. Nissan regards its e-POWER technology as an important weapon in the future to compete with TOYOTA TMS and Honda i-MMD systems. The attitude towards pure electric vehicles is still cautious, although many brands have exhibited pure electric vehicles, but most of them are urban commuter cars with low mileage.

Technical route parallel

"Do you think that developing all types of electric vehicles at the same time (HEV, PHEV, EV, FCV) will lead to low efficiency, and it is better to concentrate resources on developing pure electric vehicles?" TOYOTA raised this question to the media here at a media conference.

This is not only a question of TOYOTA, but also a problem for the participants of the entire automotive industry. In this regard, each car company has different understanding and judgment, but no one can convince others to give an exact answer.

The practice of most Chinese car companies and European car companies is to concentrate their efforts on pure electric vehicles at the present stage, while doing research and development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The important reason for this choice is that the Chinese market is promoting the rapid development of the pure electric vehicle scale, and the increasingly stringent double integration policy and carbon emission regulations in China and Europe.

Previously, the Japanese car companies represented by TOYOTA and Honda were slower in promoting pure electric vehicles, but this year's Tokyo auto show has become more active.

At this auto show, TOYOTA, Lexus and Mazda exhibited the first mass production of pure electric vehicles, TOYOTA -Ultra Compact BEV, Lexus -LF-30, Mazda -MX-30. Honda's Honda e, released a month ago at the Frankfurt auto show, is scheduled to start selling in Japan in 2020. Nissan's two pure electric concept cars, Ariya and IMk, have completed the world's first show.

Japanese car companies are speeding up the promotion of electric vehicles. Most Japanese car companies already have a clear strategy of electric drive, but they have not put the pure electric vehicle in the core or the only core position.

TOYOTA already has a clear goal of electrification. By 2025, all types of cars sold in the world will be equipped with motorized vehicle models, and zero emissions will be achieved by 2050, and the 100% vehicle will achieve the overall goal of electrification. This goal will be achieved through four technologies: electric vehicles, hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid cars, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

TOYOTA still believes that hydrogen energy will be the direction of the development of the automotive industry. TOYOTA's hydrogen fuel cell passenger car Mirai is considered to be one of the most technically advanced hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars, and TOYOTA technology is the leading technology in the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

TOYOTA exhibited a new generation of Mirai at the Tokyo motor show. Based on TOYOTA's TNGA architecture to build a new generation of Mirai, the mileage can be increased by about 30% compared with the previous Mirai, and is scheduled to be launched in 2020.

However, the view of the industry is that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are more suitable for commercial vehicles, but not for passenger cars. However, Tanaka, chief engineer of TOYOTA hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, believes that the future sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in commercial vehicles will increase, and there will be more possibilities in the field of passenger vehicles.

The market development of hydrogen fueled vehicles still takes a long time. From the present point of view, the main strategy for the electrification strategy of the three big car companies in Japan will be to continue to promote hybrid vehicles in the short term and to achieve better energy saving and emission reduction effects based on the development of new technologies.

The difference between Honda's i-MMD hybrid power system and the previous hybrid power development concept is that a set of multiple parallel shaft integrated drives is designed with the idea of dual motors, so as to give consideration to both power and fuel economy.

One of the technical routes of Nissan's electrification strategy will be e-Power smart charging technology to combat TOYOTA TMS and Honda i-MMD hybrid technology. Generally speaking, part of the function of the hybrid gasoline engine must be used for driving, and the e-POWER gasoline engine is only used for generating motor, so the engine can always maintain the best operating condition to achieve fuel economy and lower emissions.

"We hope that in the near future, all vehicles of Nissan can be powered by 100% pure electric drives or by e-POWER like gasoline power generation technology, which is powered by electric power," he said. On October 23rd, Hoshino Asako, executive vice president of Nissan Motor Company, said in an interview with an economic reporter in twenty-first Century.

Different ideas for developing pure electric vehicles

In the view of several Japanese car companies, the development of pure electric vehicle technology is based on mature mixed technology. Therefore, to a certain extent, although the Japanese car companies launched a pure electric vehicle product slower pace, but pure electric technology is not inferior.

For example, Nissan's e-Power intelligent electric technology and pure electric vehicles have a high degree of commonality in parts and components. They can use most of the components of pure electric vehicles, which is conducive to modular design, which will significantly improve the efficiency of vehicle development, simplify the engine and reduce costs.

Prior to this, the public has announced the launch of the MEB platform to create a new type of pure electric vehicle, and to achieve scale and cost advantages through opening up. TOYOTA hopes to learn from the experience in the field of fuel vehicles, and promote the development of pure electric vehicles through the E-TNGA framework that can share technology and parts.

According to TOYOTA's plan, TOYOTA will build small cars, medium-sized Transboundary, medium-sized cars, medium-sized MPV, medium SUV and large SUV electric vehicles based on E-TNGA architecture. Among them, TOYOTA small car will cooperate with SUZUKI, medium SUV will be jointly developed with Subaru. In terms of power batteries, TOYOTA is not only accelerating the development of the next generation solid state battery, but also working with battery manufacturers such as Panasonic, BYD and Ningde times.

However, Japanese car companies are still cautious about the pure electric vehicles. They are unwilling to make a business without profit prospects.

It is interesting that at this year's Tokyo motor show, many Japanese car companies have launched small electric vehicles with short mileage in order to develop pure electric vehicles in the Japanese market.

TOYOTA's ultra small two electric vehicle Ultra-compact BEV, with a mileage of only 100 kilometers, with a maximum speed of 60 km. Honda's Honda e, built exclusively for city commuters, has a mileage of only 220 kilometers.

However, similar to the domestic "elderly scooters" small electric vehicles, although considering the cost, economic factors and other factors, there is a certain market space, but it is difficult to help Japanese car manufacturers in other countries' pure electric vehicle market.

In 2010, Nissan introduced the first mass production of pure electric vehicles, which has sold more than 440 thousand vehicles worldwide. But after the success of the market, Nissan has yet to launch other types of pure electric vehicles. At the Tokyo motor show, Nissan released two pure electric concept cars, the cross boundary concept vehicle Ariya and the compact concept vehicle IMK.

"In the early stage of the development of pure electric technology, the technology is generally considered to be suitable for small cars, and is not applicable to Zhongda class vehicles. But with the rapid development of technology such as batteries and inverters, and leaps and bounds of technological development, pure electric technology is not only suitable for small cars. Hoshino Asako told reporters on twenty-first Century economic report.