At the end of 2022, GAC Group released the 2030 "Trillion GAC 1578 Development Outline", announcing its ambition of "trillion GAC" to the outside world. In the past 2023, it will be a magnificent year for China's auto industry. ** Wars come and go, new technologies emerge in an endless stream, and the production, sales and export of automobiles usher in a milestone moment. How to stand out in the knockout competition of the automobile industry and accelerate the realization of the strategic goal of "trillion GAC", one of the secrets of GAC Group is scientific and technological innovation. Just a few days ago, the independent R&D team of GAC Powertrain of GAC Research Institute won the title of "National Excellent Engineer Team". This is the first time that advanced models in the field of engineering technology have been commended at the national level, and a total of 81 individuals have been awarded the title of "National Outstanding Engineer" and 50 teams have been awarded the title of "National Excellent Engineer Team".
Perhaps, from the independent R&D team of GAC Powertrain, we can get a glimpse of GAC's real scientific and technological strength.
1. The engine has entered the "no man's land" Some people have questioned how big is the gap between the powertrain of China's own brands and the world's leading level? GAC's results may be the answer.
In September 2021, GAC's first "zero-carbon emissions" hydrogen engine was successfully ignited, taking the lead in proposing GAC's technical solutions for the "dual carbon" goal in the industry. In August 2022, the maximum effective thermal efficiency of GAC's hybrid engine exceeded 4414%, pushing China's engine technology to a new height; In June 2023, GAC announced the world's first vehicle equipped with a hydrogen-electric hybrid system and the world's first ammonia engine for a passenger car. On January 25, Pacific Automobile and many other ** had an exchange with the independent R&D team of GAC Powertrain, which recently won the title of "National Excellent Engineer Team", at the GAC Research Institute. Wu Jian, President of GAC Research Institute and head of GAC Powertrain Independent R&D team, said that China's own brand vehicles represented by GAC have been comparable to the world's leading level in powertrain and other fields. "If the engine is not independently developed, it will be controlled by others in the future. In 2008, Wu Jian, who has been teaching at South China University of Technology for nearly 20 years, joined GAC Research Institute with the ideal of building the world's top "movement" as the technical leader of the R&D team. 
At that time, joint venture brands and foreign brands almost monopolized the Chinese auto market, and it was difficult to develop their own engines. GAC's first-generation engine originated from Alfa Romeo in the 80s of the last century, and many technical indicators and processes of the prototype have been backward, and have been out of production for many years, many parts are gone, and the supporting production of parts needs to be reorganized, and many core components also need to be optimized and upgraded. "From the initial drawings to the secondary development into production-ready drawings, it is equivalent to tearing down and reinventing the wheel, almost developing a completely new product. Recalling the scene of that year, team member Shao Fake still remembers it vividly. In the end, the R&D team spent more than 5 months to improve more than 500 engine technologies, established product development processes and standards, realized the leap of GAC engine "from 0 to 1", and mass-produced and equipped the first medium and high-end car of GAC Trumpchi, which was unveiled at the 16th Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010. Since then, "fast-paced" and "high-efficiency" have become the "R&D mode" of GAC Powertrain's independent R&D team. What makes Wu Jian and the R&D team proud is that in the past ten years, GAC Engine R&D has experienced the transformation from the first generation of introduction, digestion, absorption and re-innovation, the second generation of integrated development of "parallel running", and the third generation of independent development, to the transformation of in-depth exploration of no man's land and innovation breakthroughs. Let GAC become more calm in the development of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles, 2 transmissions break through the "stuck neck" If the engine is the "heart" of the car, then the transmission is the "throat" of the power transmission of the car. What's more fatal is that this field is also the weakness of Chinese brands, and related technologies have been monopolized and blocked by foreign companies for a long time, and it is very easy to be "stuck".
Since the integrated design of automatic transmission assembly involves the interdisciplinary intersection of electromechanical and hydraulic control, the development of electro-hydraulic control system, a key core component, is even more difficult and risky. At that time, most domestic car companies adopted the method of purchasing from foreign ** companies. Wu Jian believes that outsourcing is not beneficial to the long-term development of enterprises. Therefore, he resolutely led the R&D team to embark on the road of independent research and development of key core components such as electro-hydraulic control systems. 
Accelerate technological research, and resolutely can no longer let the core technology 'stuck'. "That being said, it wasn't easy to break the game. All parts of the electro-hydraulic control system have been monopolized by a few foreign leading companies for a long time, and there are heavy technical patent blockades. In the face of the dilemma, Wu Jian and the R&D team organized countless special research and research and analysis, conducted multi-scene and multi-working condition demonstrations and first-class tests on various hydraulic control mechanisms, and finally successfully broke the foreign technical barriers and developed the second-generation double-pump electro-hydraulic control system of GAC. This is the first mass-produced double-pump system scheme in China, and it is also the first electro-hydraulic control system that is completely independently developed and produced in China, which fills the technical gap in China's automotive industry.
The "two fields" hybrid is not the ceilingIt is precisely because of the self-reliance of GAC and other Chinese car companies that China's leading companies are rising step by step. In recent years, China's new energy vehicles have advanced by leaps and bounds, and hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles are equally divided. But a few years ago, people might not have been so optimistic about China's hybrid cars.
In the second decade of this century, Japanese models still accounted for more than 90% of China's gasoline-electric hybrid market, and established unbreakable patent technical barriers. Obviously, foreign auto giants do not want Chinese to master their own car-making technology. But there are people who don't believe in evil. In 2014, Huang Xiangdong, then the technical director of GAC Research Institute, Huang He and other expert guidance teams made unremitting efforts to create the first dual-motor parallel shaft series-parallel hybrid special transmission - GAC's first-generation electromechanical coupling system GMC10。But GMC 10 just solves the problem, on this basis, in terms of cost, efficiency, quality and other aspects to find a comprehensive "better solution" is not easy, any configuration scheme, may be because of the mode switching control complex, vehicle layout difficulties, and even no mature supporting industry chain and other problems and overturned.
In desperation, the R&D team benchmarked and analyzed dozens of hybrid transmissions on the market, studied a variety of hybrid technology routes such as series-parallel connection, power shunt, P2, etc., and carried out comprehensive analysis and layout verification of different configuration schemes, and finally made a breakthrough again after carrying out the calculation and analysis of nearly 190,000 combination schemes, and created the first integrated dual-motor multi-gear series-parallel hybrid special transmission - GAC's second-generation electromechanical coupling system GMC 20。
This hybrid transmission, independently developed by GAC, is compatible with diesel-electric hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and extended-range hybrid systems, as well as hydrogen power systems, and is suitable for a variety of models with different energy sources. It has won many domestic and international awards, including "the world's top ten hybrid systems". "Toyota, Honda are not ceilings, we can surpass. Qi Hongzhong, deputy director of the powertrain technology R&D center of GAC Research Institute, said with emotion. Today, the powertrain of China's own brands, represented by GAC, has been on par with the world's leading level, and has even caught up with and surpassed in the fields of engine thermal efficiency and hybrid system thermal efficiency utilization.
Marching towards the goal of 100 billion energyIn addition to power, energy is also the top priority for the development of new energy vehicles in China. The energy ecology sector is one of the five major increments of GAC Group to build a "trillion Guangzhou Autoc", and Youpai Energy is the main carrier of GAC Group's energy technology ecology.
Next to the GAC Research Institute is the location of Youpai Energy. Yan Liangbo, deputy general manager of Youpai Energy, said that Youpai Energy is focusing on the "trillion GAC 1578 development outline" and the implementation of the "2 Energy Action" plan, and actively building a vertically integrated new energy industry chain layout of "lithium mine + basic lithium battery raw material production + battery production + energy storage and charging and swapping services + battery leasing + battery ** and cascade utilization". According to the plan, the revenue of the energy ecological sector is expected to reach 100 billion yuan in 2030.
In addition, on the basis of the complete industrial chain layout, Youpai Energy will also drive the integrated development of business with big data, realize the deep integration of electricity and battery data, and empower the six main businesses of lithium mine and raw materials, battery manufacturing, energy replenishment operation, battery asset operation, energy storage operation and renewable energy operation with data value mining.
Yan Liangbo revealed that the business layout of Youpai Energy will focus on the construction of an industrial chain with battery production as the core and the construction of an electricity service ecology including charging and swapping business and battery banking. Pacific Automobile learned that in terms of battery production, the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory, which covers an area of 666 acres and has a planned production capacity of 36GWh, has been officially put into operation in December 2023, and the first 6GWh production line has been landed. In terms of energy replenishment business, GAC Energy has built 979 charging stations and plans to reach 2,000 by 2025, and has built battery swap stations in 150 cities, which can be completed in 2 minutes. The battery bank actively cooperated with GAC Aion to implement battery leasing services for vehicle-electricity separation models, and has been put into operation in September 2023. At the same time, Youpai Energy will also focus on V2G and B2G to promote the interconnection and interaction of "vehicle station network", connect with virtual power plant application scenarios, and maximize the full life cycle value of battery assets.
ConclusionLooking back on 2023, GAC Group's cumulative sales volume will exceed 2.5 million units, and it is moving towards the strategic goal of "trillion GAC" step by step. In China's fast-changing market, technology is the strongest competitiveness.
I still remember that on the 2023 GAC Science and Technology Day, GAC Research Institute released a series of "black technologies" that lead the industry trend. Including GAC flying car GOVE, a vehicle equipped with a hydrogen-electric hybrid system, the world's first ammonia engine for passenger cars, and the GAC Rubik's Cube scene co-creation platform, etc., it presents the R&D achievements of GAC in three dimensions.
In terms of intelligence, in 2023, GAC R&D Institute will focus on the key core technologies of intelligent networking based on the centralized electronic and electrical architecture "Xingling Architecture" of vehicle-cloud integration, and has become the world's first mass-produced application of "centralized computing + regional connection" EEA 30 electrical and electronic architecture. In addition, GAC R&D's multi-sensor fusion technology solution for mass production, represented by the self-developed L4, has been put into demonstration operation, L2 L25. Driving assistance has been mass-produced and applied in AION S, GS8 and other models, and the advanced intelligent driving assistance system NDA has been mass-produced; The medium- and long-term pure vision algorithm technology solution won the "No. 1 in the world of pure vision list" in the Nuscenes autonomous driving test competition, and was awarded the "No. 1 in the world in the motion trajectory ** list" in the Argoverse 2 Sports** Challenge. Behind these leading achievements are countless engineers' performance days of research. As the president of GAC Research Institute, Wu Jian has his own understanding of the spirit of engineers. "Engineers have to have the ambition to create. We will do what the country needs. ”
There is no doubt that it is with such an engineer spirit that GAC Research Institute can continue to break the blockade and monopoly, develop batches of international and domestic leading black technology, and lay a solid scientific and technological foundation for the "trillion GAC".