Why did Geely's new energy vehicles only rank tenth in sales last year and most of them were sold domestically?

New energy vehicles are the general trend. Both the new Internet car-making forces (NIO, WM Motor, etc.) and the traditional automobile industry have been eyeing this big cake for a long time. However, compared with the radicalism and chaos of the new car-making forces, traditional car manufacturers are more conservative and cautious about new energy vehicles. Geely Auto is undoubtedly an exception. Traditional automobile competitors are all taking steady steps, but Geely has said: "New energy sales account for 90% in 2020" - can Geely do it?

Geely's new energy vehicles are not so outstanding. Although you can see a lot of its flagship models, the Emgrand EV series, online, its exposure is actually inversely proportional to its sales. The sales of the Emgrand EV series are extremely unstable, with the highest monthly sales of no more than 6,000 units, and months with sales below 1,000 units are not uncommon.

It is not surprising that Geely's new energy vehicles ranked last with sales of 24,866 units in 2017. Moreover, many of these sales were sold to Geely's own Cao Cao Private Car to serve the online car-hailing market, while not many were actually sold to private car consumers.

Just three days after taking delivery of the car, Geely Emgrand EV ran into danger!

In October 2016, a Shanghai owner had his Emgrand EV 300 for less than a week. After driving less than 4 kilometers, the vehicle broke down one after another, even losing power and being unable to shift gears. When it was able to drive on the road again, the mileage dropped strangely low. In the subsequent maintenance and inspection process, Geely's main maintenance content for the vehicle was to replace the CSC sensor (current detection, providing alarm signals and current change data).

In the following month, the car had multiple power loss problems. During normal driving, the car slowed down by braking, released the brake, and stepped on the accelerator, but there was no power output. It stopped by the side of the road due to inertia, and then tried to shift to neutral and then to forward gear, and it could drive normally. The 4S shop adjusted the brake pedal contact height, and this problem never happened again.

The incident like this one is not an isolated case. All Emgrand EV owners have experienced power loss, battery failure and other problems to varying degrees. It can be seen that some Emgrand EV models still have serious quality problems.

Power loss, battery failure, what are the causes?

According to the owner's description, power loss and battery failure of the Emgrand EV are common phenomena. The Emgrand EV and the fuel version of the Emgrand are actually made from the same mold, and the appearance, size, chassis and suspension are almost the same. In fact, the real reason can only be caused by three aspects...

The Emgrand EV uses ternary lithium batteries from CATL. As the world's largest electric vehicle battery supplier, its quality is beyond reproach. Even if there are quality problems in some batches, they are not as common as in the Emgrand EV. The case occurred in Shanghai in October, when the temperature was within the battery's operating range and the environmental impact was negligible. Therefore, the battery itself can be ruled out.

In this case, the problem is most likely to come from the "battery management system (BMS)" of Emgrand itself. The main function of the battery management system is to accurately estimate the remaining power, dynamically monitor the current and voltage, and balance the status between batteries. In other words, if one component in the BMS is damaged, the accuracy of the vehicle battery will be greatly reduced, and the BMS and ECU (electronic control unit, also known as "driving computer", "on-board computer", etc.) will make wrong judgments and make wrong choices, such as cutting off power - Geely's replacement of the CSC sensor also confirms its own shortcomings in component quality and defects in the management system.

According to the handling method of the 4S shop, there is no direct connection between the subsequent power loss of the case vehicle and the BMS. Adjusting the brake pedal contact height can be inferred that the brake pedal contact position is not well adjusted. After releasing the brake, the contact is still connected. The vehicle ECU judges that it is still in the braking state and the throttle is locked.

If the technology and quality are not up to standard, who will ensure consumer safety?

Although the truth has been revealed, the power loss and battery failure of the Emgrand EV are still horrifying - fortunately, the car was not driving on a highway, otherwise it would have caused a rear-end collision or even a more serious traffic accident, and the lives of the driver and passengers would not be guaranteed.

The poor sales of Emgrand EV are not groundless. The root cause is that the quality defects and technical shortcomings are playing with the safety of consumers. For such incidents, we should adopt the attitude of "I would rather let the world's cars let me down than let the world's cars let me down", and put safety above the product.

In the next three years, Geely plans to launch more than 30 new energy and energy-saving vehicles to realize the full new energy of the Emgrand series. It is right to use the strategy of the sea of ​​cars, and it is also right for Geely to catch up in the new energy field, but if the quality control and quality remain unchanged, the new energy vehicles including the Emgrand EV will only be a sensation.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.