Under the oil ban, how can Japanese automakers transform into electricity?

Electrification map of Japanese car companies including Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru and mazda 6.

Compile? |? Yang

Editor? |? Jane (female name)

Produced? |? Bangning studio

With the Prius, Toyota made the word hybrid a household name. Honda brought hybrid electric technology to the United States with its first generation of two-seat Insight. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors are also pioneers in mass production of pure electric vehicles.

Although Japanese automakers made great achievements in electrification in the early days, today, they seem to have fallen behind. In this era of pure electric vehicles, Toyota and Honda, which have always favored hybrid systems, seem to be somewhat outdated. In the field of battery power, Nissan and Mitsubishi have long been surpassed by their competitors.

A major policy promulgated by the Japanese government may make these automakers regain their competitiveness.

According to an initiative put forward this month, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry? Yes? Economy? Trade? And then what? Industry) proposes to gradually ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles around 2035. This proposal is expected to be passed by the end of the year, and it was first reported by NHK.

This new policy is regarded as the cornerstone of a larger goal. The more ambitious goal is that by 2050, Japan will become a country with zero net greenhouse gas emissions. Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide, who took office in September this year? Suga) announced this long-term goal. It should be noted that this new policy (2035) still allows the sale of hybrid vehicles.

According to the Nikkei, according to the framework, electric vehicles must account for a certain proportion in the product portfolio of automobile manufacturers. Companies that fail to reach this ratio can only sign carbon trading agreements and buy points from competitors.

This new directive will have a far-reaching impact on the Japanese auto industry.

On the one hand, the new directive may become the gospel of leading companies of hybrid vehicles such as Toyota, which will help promote Nissan's dying ambition in pure electric vehicles.

On the other hand, banning the sale of new cars powered by pure gasoline may lead to the reorganization of some smaller automobile manufacturers, such as Subaru, Mazda and Suzuki, because these companies have little budgets in R&D and the transition to electric vehicles is slow.

For these three small-scale companies (Subaru, Mazda and Suzuki), the overall shift to electrification may prompt them to seek to strengthen cooperation with giants such as Toyota.

For Mitsubishi Motors, under such pressure, it may seek to strengthen its dependence on Nissan. Nissan holds a 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors.

As for Honda, it is currently cooperating with General Motors in electrification and fuel cell technology. This sign shows that Honda can't go it alone.

In addition, the ban may also have a major impact on some iconic Japanese models known for their roaring engines, such as Nissan? GT-R and redesigned Toyota Supra.

As for those suppliers who are engaged in engine and gearbox parts business on a global scale, the impact is even more self-evident.

This 15-year elimination plan gives Japanese car companies some time, and they can basically make two or three product cycle adjustments. However, if the transformation speed of Japanese automakers is slow, they will have to hand over the Japanese market to non-local enterprises, such as General Motors or Audi.

General Motors and Audi AG are more active and brave in entering the field of electric vehicles. It is estimated that by 2035, they already have a mature product line of pure electric vehicles.

In turn, this environmental protection goal of Japan may prompt Japanese automakers to accelerate their pace in the global electric vehicle competition.

In addition to Japan, other countries, including Britain and France, are also pushing their own oil ban policies. California plans to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars in 2035.

The global automobile industry is transforming to electric vehicles. Japan's directive not only forces Japanese automakers to enter the field of electric vehicles, but also makes them more competitive in global competition.

In fact, Japan, the third largest automobile market in the world, has greatly promoted electrification. About 36% of the cars sold in Japan are powered by some form of battery.

In Japan's domestic market, recognized hybrid vehicles dominate. In the first six months of this year, hybrid vehicles accounted for 98% of new energy vehicles, about 640,000 vehicles. In contrast, the sales of pure electric vehicles in the same period were only 6755.

But Japanese automakers have not stagnated. Even small companies realize that the demand for clean cars is an indisputable fact and begin to transform into electrification.

The efforts of these automakers include that Toyota hopes to sell 5.5 million electric vehicles every year by 2025. Toyota's partner Subaru plans that by 2030, 40% of its global sales will come from electric vehicles. Mazda plans to equip all its models with electrification options by 2030, including light hybrid vehicles.

Because Mitsubishi Motors decided to stop producing pure electric i-MiEV mini-cars, Nissan became the only automobile manufacturer selling pure electric vehicles in China.

By 2023, Nissan hopes to electrify 60% of its domestic sales, 50% of its European sales and 23% of its China sales. Nissan has not set a target for the US market, because the company is not so optimistic about the demand for electric vehicles in the US market.

The goal of Mitsubishi Motors is that by 2030, electric vehicles will account for half of its global sales.

Honda, Japan's third largest carmaker, plans that by 2030, two-thirds of its global sales will come from hybrid vehicles, plug-in vehicles, battery electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.

The following are the plans and expectations of major Japanese automakers.

0 1.？ Toyota

Benefit more from hybrid power.

Toyota can be described as the king of hybrid power, but it shows conservative skepticism in pure electric power. But since last year, things have changed. Toyota demonstrated its vision for electric vehicles by launching a series of pure electric concept cars.

Toyota hopes to launch 10 electric vehicles around the world in the early 2020s. These products include the electric crossover developed in cooperation with Subaru, and the electric vehicle for the China market this year.

Toyota also said that it will launch an ultra-small two-seat electric vehicle in Japan in 2020, with a cruising range of 62 miles, but it has not yet been realized.

Toyota predicts that the lineup of electric vehicles will cover six body types with unique design-long wheelbase, cracked headlights and rearview mirrors with cameras. These six models include 1 large SUV, 1 medium SUV, 1 medium crossover, 1 medium van, 1 medium sedan and 1 compact sedan.

Toyota is participating in the development of a special platform for pure electric vehicles, called e-TNGA, which is developed on the basis of a new generation of TNGA modular platform.

E-TNGA by EV？ University of California? Spirit? The company mobilized full-time engineers to participate in research and development. University of California? Spirit? Corp is an alliance company established by nine companies headed by Toyota Motor Corporation, which is committed to developing and enjoying electric vehicle parts. Other members include Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki and Daihatsu.

Under this framework, Toyota will cooperate with Suzuki and Daihatsu to develop a compact electric vehicle.

But Toyota has another weapon on the road to electrification-hydrogen fuel cell technology. Toyota is one of the biggest supporters of hydrogen fuel in the world, because other automakers no longer pursue hydrogen technology.

This month, Toyota launched the next generation Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, further advancing its vision. This redesigned Mirai has charming streamlined lines and abandons the old-fashioned appearance of the first generation Mirai. Mirai will help Toyota meet Japanese and American emission standards.

However, since the Japanese ban was issued, Toyota will get more boost from its widely popular traditional hybrid series. At present, Toyota has been equipped with hybrid power on 28 models of Toyota brand and Lexus brand, from Corolla to Lexus ls, and even the century luxury car.

And Toyota's JPN taxi Before the postponement of the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020, Toyota developed this spherical vehicle to transport athletes during the Olympic Games.

20 19,? Toyota Motor sold 638,600 electric vehicles in Japan, accounting for about 40% of its total sales in Japan.

02. Honda

General motors is its trump card.

Honda has been focusing on hybrid vehicles and fuel cell technology, but occasionally it will set foot in the field of electric vehicles. The second generation Clarity cars have introduced electric, plug-in and hydrogen fuel cell versions. However, due to poor performance, Honda stopped selling this car.

However, this year Honda returned to the electric vehicle market segment with its ultra-small E hatchback with pure electric retro style. By September 2020, Honda had sold 65,438+0,578 electric vehicles in Europe and only 23 in Japan.

A large number of electric vehicle products based on dedicated platforms are under development. Last year, Honda said that the new global electric vehicle platform will be launched before 2025, which will be applied to large electric vehicles such as crossover cars and cars, mainly for the United States, China and other markets.

At the Beijing Auto Show in September, Honda hinted at SUV? E:e: the new direction of the concept. This is a battery-powered crossover, which will be launched in China market soon.

Honda plans to achieve two-thirds of global sales from electric vehicles by 2030. This SUV? E: The concept is also part of this plan.

The high penetration rate of hybrid vehicles in Japan's domestic market will help the company's propaganda offensive.

In Japan, Honda's hybrid products include Insight, Accord, Fit, Flieder, Vezel, Legend, Odyssey, NSX, CR-V and STEP? WGN and fit station wagon version shuttle. In 20 19, Honda sold183,000 electric vehicles in Japan, accounting for about a quarter of the total sales in the local market.

But Honda also hopes to get help from cooperation. In April this year, in addition to accelerating the hydrogen fuel cell power system, we also strengthened cooperation with General Motors to develop electric vehicles and their parts.

According to the cooperation agreement, GM will help Honda develop two electric vehicles using GM's upcoming Ultium special battery. Honda will design the interiors and appearances of these two cars.

These two cars will be based on GM's global electric vehicle platform and manufactured by GM in North America. It is expected to start selling in the US and Canada markets in 2024.

At present, it is not clear whether GM's cooperation will directly replace part of the work of Honda's special electric vehicle platform, or there will be a certain degree of overlap. Honda's models for the American market are usually considered too big in Japan, but this cooperation has opened up an interesting possibility, that is, "reverse importing" Honda brand electric vehicles to Japan.

03. Nissan Motor Company.

Enjoy Renault's pure electric platform * * *

When 20 10 launched the Leaf model, Nissan was a pioneer in the field of electric vehicles. At that time, there were only a handful of competitors in the field of electric vehicles, such as Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Tesla Roadster and Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid.

Today, the second generation Leaf has lost its place in the increasingly crowded electric vehicle market. Almost every major automobile manufacturer is competing to launch electric vehicles, or in some cases, launch a complete series of electric vehicles.

This year, with the launch of Ariya pure electric crossover, Nissan's efforts have finally been boosted. Ariya is produced based on a brand-new dedicated pure electric platform, which Nissan will share with Renault Group. This platform has a longer cruising range and a better driving experience, which is partly attributed to the full-time four-wheel drive of dual motors.

Ivan, Senior Vice President of Global Product Planning of Nissan Motor Company? Espinosa said that the new CMF- electric vehicle platform will more easily promote the sales of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.

In addition, Nissan will also rely on the popular e-Power series hybrid technology. This technology has been deployed in Japanese Note hatchbacks and Serena family vans.

The main principle of this technology is that a small gasoline engine generates electricity and then provides power for the motor. Driving is similar to electric car, but the system eliminates mileage anxiety because of the convenience of refueling.

In Japan, Nissan also sells hybrid versions of Kicks, X-Trail crossover, Skyline, Cima and Fuga cars. In the United States, these models are sold under the British-finidi brand.

According to Nissan's medium-term business plan, by March 3, 2024, 1 10,000 electric vehicles will be sold worldwide every year, including e-Power vehicles. However, by the beginning of 2024, Nissan will launch four more electric vehicles, and Renault Group will also launch an electric crossover.

Nissan is developing another mini-car electric vehicle platform in the Japanese market. A pure electric mini-car based on the IMk concept car exhibited at Tokyo Motor Show last year is one of the electric vehicles to be launched in the future.

In order to strengthen its strength in electric vehicle production, Nissan invested 3,654,387,000 US dollars in 2065,438+09, located in Tochigi? Modernization of the factory. This factory used to be famous for producing GT-R sports cars.

04. Mitsubishi Motors

Rely on Nissan

Mitsubishi Motors was one of the first automobile manufacturers to introduce electric vehicles, and as early as 2009, it introduced the miniature egg-shaped i-MiEV. This car is based on the design of the gasoline-powered mini-car I in the Japanese market and has been sold in the United States for some time.

Since then, Mitsubishi Motors has also put forward other plans to promote electric vehicles, but financial problems have forced these ideas to run aground. I-MiEV has never been completely redesigned, and Mitsubishi Motors has confirmed that it plans to eliminate the car. Nikkei reported that it is expected to be phased out this fiscal year.

At the same time, Mitsubishi Motors has been profiting from the plug-in Outlander PHEV (a medium-sized crossover), but it has not completely transformed.

In 20 19, Mitsubishi sold about 90,000 plug-in cars worldwide, including 48,000 in Japan.

A few years ago, Mitsubishi Motors broke the scandal of manipulating fuel economy data in Japan, which made Mitsubishi Motors, which was already in trouble, almost bankrupt. Then, Nissan acquired a 34% controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors on 20 16. At that time, this cooperative relationship was once advertised as a strong alliance in the field of electrical systems.

According to the latest revival plan, Mitsubishi Motors is adjusting its electrification schedule. The first step is to launch Eclipse in Japan this year? Cross compact plug-in hybrid crossover.

At present, the company has no plans to introduce this plug-in car into the US market, but Mitsubishi Motors said that it will sell this electric car in Australia and New Zealand next year.

In the next two years, Mitsubishi Motors plans to launch a new generation of Outlander, equipped with a plug-in version of the improved hybrid transmission system. In addition, Mitsubishi Motors is cooperating with China partner Guangzhou Automobile Group to develop a brand-new electric vehicle for the China market.

In the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, Mitsubishi Motors was once considered as a pioneer in developing plug-in hybrid technology, but it remains to be seen whether its two partners are interested in using this technology.

Mitsubishi Motors is considering introducing an all-electric mini-car for Japan to replace the i-MiEV. This car is based on the mini-car system being developed by Nissan.

05. Subaru

Rely on Toyota

Subaru is one of the small Japanese companies hidden under the wing of Toyota, and it plans to rely on Toyota to launch future hybrid and pure electric technologies.

Subaru is good at all-wheel drive. At present, the pure electric platform for medium and large vehicles is being jointly developed. Subaru and Toyota will launch an electric crossover in the early 2020s.

The main target market of Subaru electric crossover is the United States. Company CEO Peng Mei? Nakamura told the car? News, this electric crossover will meet California emission standards.

However, Subaru is skeptical about the actual demand of American electric vehicles, which account for about two-thirds of its global sales. Nakamura? It is said that Subaru can sell 654.38+0.3 million croscrosks in the United States in a month, of which only 300 are hybrid cars.

"For the US market, we are not sure how fast electric vehicles will grow. Therefore, we have to carefully consider our strategy and the way to add electric vehicles to the product line. " He said.

In Japan, which advocates hybrid power, Subaru's performance is much better. The company sells electric versions of Forester, Leopard and XV. XV is called Crosstrek in Japanese local market.

In September this year, Subaru sold 9,800 hybrid cars in Japan, accounting for about one-third of its total sales.

A hybrid car launched by Subaru will be launched in mid-2020. Before 2035, Subaru hopes to apply some form of electrification to all models in the world.

06. Mazda automobile

Relying on rotary engine

Mazda is another Japanese automobile manufacturer that cooperates with Toyota. The two sides have cooperation in capital cross-shareholding and electric vehicle development.

Mazda is adopting a multi-pronged electrification method. In addition to pure electric, it will also be promoted in the fields of mild hybrid electric vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles with rotary engines.

In short, Mazda hopes that all models will be electrified by 2030. But even by 2030, its pure electric vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles with rotary engines will only account for 5% of the entire product line. In Mazda's current product plan, the proportion of internal combustion engine vehicles and some form of electrified vehicles is the same.

Mazda has started to introduce a mild hybrid car, which is the latest skyactive designed by the company for Japan and Europe. -? X gasoline engine adds engine auxiliary technology.

Mazda also has another platform to adapt to the wider electrification layout. The platform made its debut on MX-30, a compact crossover vehicle, which was exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show in 20 19.

MX-30 has designed a pure electric drive system for Europe and a mild hybrid system for Japan, equipped with 5. 1 kW auxiliary motor and gasoline engine.

Mazda also plans to restore the iconic rotary engine as a range extender for electric vehicles. Mazda said that the rotary engine is very suitable for this task because it is small, powerful and very quiet.

It is widely speculated that the rotary engine will be launched as early as this year. But the Nikkei? According to a report by XTech, the plan will be postponed until 2022.

Ito, executive vice president of Mazda, was quoted as saying? In Fujiwara's words, Mazda actively postponed the launch of the rotor engine, thus redesigning the rotor engine to match the traditional and plug-in hybrid power systems.

Fujiwara said that Mazda is developing plug-in hybrid equipment for larger rear-wheel drive models, and the rotor engine will help plug-in technology stand out in the field of small cars.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.