Author |Zhang Xiangwei
Edit |Dexin
An executive flagship with a pre-sale price of 800,000 yuan, this is the year-end masterpiece of NIO, a new force in car manufacturing.
The theme of this year's NIO Day is "Up", which is not only an expression of a positive spirit, but also an expectation for the NIO brand to reach a higher level. Among the models currently sold by NIO, the highest price is the ES8The price of the top version is more than 500,000 yuan
Although the ES8 is also prefixed with flagship and has a dedicated executive version model, it is still one gear lower than the 800,000 ET9.
Li Bin believes that in the field of smart electric vehicles, including Mercedes-Benz EQS and BMW i7, no brand's executive flagship has handed over a (qualified) answer sheet so far.
ET9 is NIO's attempt at the executive flagship market. After the NIO Day 2023 press conference, Li Bin and Qin Lihong appeared with NIO's technical executives to answer many questions about the ET9 car, and also let the outside world see what the ET9 has innovated for the traditional executive flagship.
What should an executive flagship look like?
In the era of fuel vehicles, Mercedes-Benz S, BMW 7 Series, and Audi A8L have answered this question. In the era of electric vehicles, the executive flagship sedan after BBA's electrification also draws on these three classic fuel executive flagship models.
Since NIO wants to challenge BBA, it makes sense for ET9 to borrow BBA's S78 car manufacturing concept.
First of allStyling
The S78 is a German executive flagship sedan with a length of up to 5.3 meters and a wheelbase of up to 3.2 meters, and the ET9 has a slightly longer length and wheelbase than these three cars. It's like getting into boxing, where the heavyweight has to get stuck first.
Air suspension and rear-wheel steering are also the configuration of million-level executive flagships like the S78. The next-generation facelifted Mercedes-Benz S will also be installedSteer-by-wire systemThese configurations are also carried on the ET9.
In order to make the car more luxurious, the ET9 uses a wheel diameter of 790mm, which achieves 200mm ground clearance and 220mm air suspension travel. This design makes the sitting posture and vision of the occupants in the car higher, and improves the sense of safety and self-confidence of the occupants in the car. Without the Skywalker intelligent chassis system, doing these things would be a huge risk. Li Bin said.
It is understood that based onTianxing intelligent chassisIt can be lowered by 50 mm in 1 second, which will solve the problem of affecting convenience and driving experience due to the high chassis.
Li Bin believes that in the era of intelligent electric vehicles, the chassis height and body height of the executive flagship will change. However, ET9 needs to find a balance between innovation and consensus values, and it will not work if it does not move forward, and it will not work if it goes too far.
For the interior space, ET9 follows the principle of "exclusive and open", using the Sky Line skyline, Sky Island, administrative bridge and other designs.
Looking at Sky Island from the cockpit, it is natural to divide the sky into two canopies, and the depth of these two canopies is very good, because people's eyes are mainly looking forward, but there is a natural division of left and right, but Sky Island will not give you a sense of oppression, and the seats play a role in longitudinal division, and there is no shelter between the canopies. Li Bin said.
He believes that the ET9 should be a decent and calm car for innovation leaders. From the interior, the space, it should be in the exclusive and open fusion of unity. At the same time, it must be the world's leading technology, and the leading technology in this era must not simply depend on what the wheelbase is, but should be reflected in the technology.
In terms of exterior, styling and interior, we have our own insight into the real needs of executive flagship users. Of course, it is more important that the executive flagship must be the technical flagship. If it is not a technical flagship, it will not be able to support the administrative flagship. 」
ET9 is going to be a technology flagship.
In terms of intelligence, especially autonomous driving, the new car-making forces are going faster than Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
On ET9, NIO went one step further and launched its own self-developed oneAutonomous driving chip Shenji NX9031This is what traditional car companies such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW have not yet laid out.
Traditional car companies are most proud of the engine and the automobile brand culture that has been inherited for hundreds of years. BMW pays attention to handling, and Mercedes-Benz is good at riding comfort, which is the selling point of these brands that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
The ET9 is equipped with NIO's self-developed autonomous driving chip, which is Shenji NX9031, which uses 5nm process technology.
Today's smart car is an intelligent body with its own brain, cerebellum, nervous system, blood circulation. Based on this, the way of defining ET9 has changed, first defining the brain (** computing unit), cerebellum (regional controller), neural network (high-speed redundant communication network), blood circulation (900V high-voltage independent dual redundant power supply), and then connecting sensors and actuators to the surroundings. Huang Junjun, head of digital architecture at NIO, said at the ** communication meeting after the NIO Day press conference.
In NIO's official information, one Shenji NX9031 is equivalent to four of the industry's top autonomous driving chips, that is, four NVIDIA Orin X. The hashrate of four Orin X is about 1000 tops. ET9 is equipped with two Shenji NX9031, which means that it will have equivalent effects from the perspective of effect2000 tops computing powerThe level is comparable to NVIDIA's next-generation chip thor.
However, NIO's self-developed chips are definitely not only computing power to the level of NVIDIA.
Bai Jian, vice president of NIO Intelligent Hardware, revealed that the Shenji NX9031 has a special power supply system in each sector, which can be switched on and off separately, and can be pulled up and dormant instantly. In terms of latency, as the frame rate of the camera gets higher and higher, higher requirements are put forward for the processing time of the whole system. Around these requirements, the self-developed chip has been specially designed. 」
Combined with lateral wide-angle lidar and 4D millimeter-wave radar, the ET9 is a model with multiple safety redundancy.
Li Bin said that smart electric vehicles use intelligent hardware and software, including the innate technical characteristics of electric drives and batteries, to push up the safety ceiling of executive flagships. In the past, the engine fuel era could not do this thing, and the innate technical characteristics determined that the safety can only be talked about passive safety, and after the emergence of intelligence, some active safety can be said. But how did you talk about redundancy and security before, it doesn't make sense for you to talk about it, because you can't do it. 」
In addition to intelligence, NIO also conducts in-depth self-research in the field of electric power.
The ET9 is equipped with a 120kHw battery pack, which integrates NIO's own developmentLarge cylindrical 46105 cells
In 2019, NIO began to study what kind of battery cell form should be used for the next-generation platform.
Zeng Shizhe, vice president of NIO battery system, recalled that because under the battery swap system, each battery pack is a large single product, rather than matching the battery pack according to the wheel base and wheelbase like other car manufacturers, so NIO needs to make a common-size battery.
NIO adopts the idea of large cylindrical batteries, not only for safety, but also to improve the stiffness of the battery cell and provide torsional stiffness and strength of the whole vehicle. In addition to increasing the energy density of the battery pack, it can also bring more different vehicle experience improvements.
One of the challenges of making a large cylindrical battery cell isImpedance
According to Zeng Shizhe, many people just use the best business things together, in fact, do not pay attention to the details, the team found that the large cylindrical battery, whether it is the choice of materials, the way of welding, or the connection of parts, in fact, is not that it can not be reduced, but at this stage, if you follow the traditional way of thinking to do the design, it can not be reduced. 」
On the market, the impedance of the cells of large cylindrical batteries is generally close to 3 milliohms. NIO has adopted a set of technical solutions, which ultimately brings the advantages of volumetric energy density and weight energy density. NIO's large cylindrical battery has an impedance of 16 milliohms, which is basically twice the impedance of batteries on the market.
Unlike the 800V high-voltage system that is commonly used in the industry, the ET9 is equipped with itHigh-voltage system with a range of 900V and a maximum voltage of 925V
925 volts refers to the voltage value at which the battery is fully charged. Typically, the upper limit of a high-voltage system is limited by silicon carbide modules, insulation, etc.
The higher the voltage, the inside of the motor will face insulation failure. At 900V, the insulating material system of the motor will easily break through the upper limit of insulation. In order to solve the problem of insulation failure, NIO and its partners have done a lot of insulation optimization and experiments. Finally finished 29 microns, 32 microns, 3After different experiments such as 4 microns, the most reasonable 32 microns. Bi Lu, head of NIO's electric drive and high-voltage system team, said.
Achieving 900V in the whole domain is a reflection of NIO's ability to explore high-voltage systems, which reflects NIO's emphasis on R&D and design.
Li Bin believes that there are several ways for a company to obtain gross profit:
First, gross profit is generated by technology and R&D. If you are ahead of the curve, you have the opportunity to earn a higher gross profit than the industry average.
Second, increase the scale, and after the scale comes up, the cost will be amortized to generate gross profit.
Third, do a good job in management and improve gross profit.
Li Bin believes that investing in fixed assets and engaging in manufacturing is not a high priority for NIO at the moment. NIO is very resolute in R&D, and will also reduce costs through management and increase scale to obtain gross profits. However, in terms of fixed asset investment, it will be cautious again and again.
This kind of idea of car companies leading the design and leading manufacturers carrying out OEM production is something that NIO has always adhered to.
At the beginning of NIO's establishment, Li Bin's team decided to enter the high-end brand instead of entering the scale market, because they believed that high-end brands had more opportunities, and the team hoped to make a product service community model and create user enterprises.
However, NIO has not clearly explained what the spiritual connotation of this user company is.
At the NIO Day 2023 press conference, the release of ET9, the executive flagship sedan, is actually a continuation of NIO's high-end brand.
Through ET9, NIO has clearly put forward the spiritual connotation of NIO, which represents an enterprising and responsible backbone of society, and a group of people who are very responsible for themselves, their lives, their work, their careers, and their society.
Smart electric vehicles led by Tesla are actually two parts of the innovation of traditional carsThree electric and intelligent.
In the Chinese market, the impact of this innovation was first reflected in Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y, as well as BYD Dynasty and Ocean series, and the impact was on the market of joint venture brands.
In addition, Tesla also has Model S and Model X, and other brands such as Lucid Air, Porsche Taycan, Lotus Eletre, and Mercedes-Benz EQS, BMW i7, etc., each has its own fans, but there is no real strong player in terms of sales.
Unlike Tesla, NIO focuses on the Model 3 and Model Y models, aiming to become the Ford of the electric vehicle era. NIO, on the other hand, wants to become a member of BBN. How to compete with Mercedes-Benz and BMW has always been the core theme of the NIO brand.
Radiate from the high-end to the low-midIt is NIO's strategy. This is similar to Tesla, which first gained the first users through the Model S and Model X, and then entered the mainstream mass market through the Model 3 and Model 3. NIO's entry into the mainstream mass market will be completed by the second brand.
In fact, the Tesla Model S is priced at $7357 - 104.850,000 yuan, which is one step higher than the average customer unit price of the NIO brand. The pre-sale price of ET9 is 800,000 yuan, which can not only enhance the brand height of NIO, but also increase the average customer unit price.
However, the ET9, as a car that is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2025, chose to release it at the end of 2023, basically a year ahead of schedule. In the eyes of some, the warm-up is too early, and the heat may be overdrawn early.
But it will be a foreshadowing for the elevation of NIO's high-end brand image and the second brand of NIO.
According to HIEV, NIO's second brand will be released soon, and the first model will be oneIt is comparable to Tesla's Model Y SUV, the price is less than 250,000 yuan. On the second brand, it will still continue to be direct, rechargeable, replaceable and upgradeable, and will provide single motors, domestic chips and other configurations.
ET9 represents the upper limit of NIO, and it is a grand parade of NIO's design, taste, and technology. It is telling the outside world that in 2023, when new energy vehicles will emerge together, the former first brother of China's new car-making force will still be able to take out things that no one else has from the best library.