What is special about IZOA E?

Author：He Lun, IIA’s Co-Chief Content Officer, Deputy Head of IIA Academy of Auto

Automobile hot topic Q&A (Ep.229)

TEXT:

Q: What do you think is the biggest feature of IZOA E?

A: Compared with all the pure electric vehicles so far, I think the "three electric technology (battery, motor and electric control)" of IZOA E and other pure electric vehicles of Toyota is the most profound. These technologies began to accumulate in the Prius, the first generation of hybrid vehicles in 1997. It should be known that hybrid power is much more complicated than pure electric technology. It can make hybrid power to the extreme, and it is easy to be a pure electric car.

In addition, 20 years ago, I went to the Shantou National Electric Vehicle Test Demonstration Zone twice, and I learned from interviews and test drives that Toyota gifted five pure electric RAV 4 EVs to China in 1998 as experimental vehicles in the demonstration zone. It is far ahead of all pure electric vehicles in the demonstration area in terms of key indicators such as reliability, durability, battery attenuation, safety, cruising range, and charging methods, including the well-known general-purpose EV 1.

Therefore, although IZOA E is a newcomer in the pure electric vehicle market, it has the most solid and outstanding electric technology genes.

Q: What are the specifics of these excellent genes, for example, in terms of battery safety that people pay special attention to?

A: Including Tesla, BYD, NIO, some electric vehicles have spontaneous combustion, or battery accidents such as fire and explosion in the accident have become the biggest psychological obstacle for many people to buy electric vehicles. It is in this regard that Toyota's performance is perfect. At the IZOA E press conference, the manufacturer stated that Toyota has sold 15 million electrified vehicles worldwide and still maintains a record of zero battery accidents. The electrified models mentioned here include HEV, PHEV and BEV models. 

This is certainly not accidental. I remember that at the "Toyota Technology Space" event held in Changshu 6 years ago, I learned that Toyota has sold a total of 7.05 million hybrid models, 4,600 pure electric vehicles, and both nickel-metal hydride batteries and lithium batteries. There have been no cases of battery leakage, burning or explosion. At that time, I made an exclusive interview with No. 2 technical expert in Toyota's safety field, and the assistant to the chief safety executive officer of Toyota. Regarding the safety of lithium batteries, he said: Toyota also uses lithium batteries as power, but it is a gradual process. For example, in Yaris, the first attempt was to use a lithium battery as a non-power source. From some small places, I began to accumulate some experience and made it very confident, and then slowly consolidated to try something new. Toyota is cautious about new technologies, and the other is to evaluate it at a higher standard than usual. Of course, we have accumulated some experience and some feedback during the use, and then formulated the necessary standards to grasp this scale.

This is the typical Toyota style and the fundamental reason why Toyota’s battery safety technology is reassuring.

Q: How is Toyota's situation in terms of durability? Mainly refers to the problem of battery attenuation.

A: Still at the "Toyota Tech Space" event mentioned earlier, I saw in a live picture that when the Toyota hybrid model travels 500,000 kilometers, the battery decay is about 8%. I was incredible at this time. According to the explanation of Toyota experts, this is mainly due to Toyota's control technology for charging and discharging, which is the result of years of continuous accumulation and improvement in the development and practical application of hybrid technology. I remember that a Toyota expert said privately 10 years ago that the first-generation hybrid Prius also had battery attenuation problems, and the solution was to replace the battery for customers free of charge. Later, Toyota focused on the durability of the battery, and solved this problem on the second-generation Prius, so that the battery life reached a level roughly equivalent to the life of the entire vehicle.

It is also worth mentioning that, as mentioned earlier, Toyota gifted five nickel-metal hydride battery RAV 4 EV electric vehicles to China in 1998, and they all successfully passed the 8-year experimental cooperation period. After the expiration date, Toyota stopped technical support in 2006, but as far as I know, until 2016, there are still two RAV 4 EVs running, each with a cumulative journey of more than 400,000 kilometers. 20 years ago, pure electric vehicles have such durability, what else can you say?

Now, I have no data on the battery attenuation of IZOA E. It is reported that big data shows that Tesla is driving 300,000 kilometers and the battery attenuation is less than 10%. But Tesla Model 3 as the industry benchmark, its battery pack warranty is 8 years or 160,000 kilometers, and IZOA E into the engine is 8 years 200,000 kilometers, which is the best in the industry, significantly ahead of all opponents. FAW Toyota dares to give IZOA E such a high battery warranty, which is also the result of years of Toyota's accumulation of hybrid battery technology. It can be said to be full of confidence.

With such battery durability, IZOA E Jinqing will become the pure electric car with the highest residual value in the used car market.

Q: What do you think about the control of IZOA E Jinqing?

A: I haven’t tested it yet, but from the experience of previous test drives of Toyota hybrid models, its controllability can’t be wrong. For example, the acceleration problem, I feel that the acceleration of the Toyota hybrid model is strong, but it is very linear and smooth. The intervention of the engine and the motor and the size of their respective forces have been integrated to the point where the fire is pure. This has been for many years. The results of Toyota's repeated thinking and accumulation in the development and practice of hybrid electric control system software are at least one grade higher than the German hybrid models I have tested. Similar to what was said before, it should be easy to make the complex integration of the two sets of power systems to the ultimate level, to make a relatively simple electric control system for a pure electric vehicle, and to provide the driver with a good driving experience.