The Chinese car market is in chaos, and the so-called harmonious "North Qiaofeng" and "South Murong" suddenly exchanged fire today! This morning, Great Wall Motor took the lead in reporting BYD, which was directly on today's popular microblog search.

　　Just after 10:00 this morning, Great Wall Motor suddenly issued a statement, saying that it had submitted reporting materials to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and reported that BYD Qin PLUS DM-i and Song PLUS DM-i used atmospheric fuel tanks, suspected of failing to meet the standard of evaporative pollutant emissions of the whole vehicle.

　　Two hours later, BYD responded quickly, and the official declared that "we are firmly opposed to any form of unfair competition! We reserve the right to legal proceedings!"

　　What is the "atmospheric fuel tank problem" reported by Great Wall?

　　In the Great Wall report letter, it was mentioned that BYD "uses atmospheric fuel tanks and is suspected of substandard emissions of evaporative pollutants from the entire vehicle". What does this sentence mean?

　　We have created a comparison chart for everyone to better understand the applicability of atmospheric and high-pressure fuel tanks.

　　As shown in the above figure, a normal pressure fuel tank can be understood as a fuel tank with constant pressure, and the fuel tank of a car is not completely sealed. Due to the strong volatility of gasoline, transitioning from a liquid to a gaseous state can increase the pressure inside the fuel tank. Ordinary fuel tanks may be affected by high pressure, so a "carbon canister system" needs to be designed for the tank. The vaporized fuel enters the carbon canister through the "fuel vapor exhaust pipe" connected to the carbon canister, and this gaseous fuel will be adsorbed on the activated carbon of the canister. The next time the engine is started, air is sucked in from the vent hole of the carbon canister, and the generated airflow causes the fuel adsorbed on the activated carbon to desorb and enter the combustion chamber to participate in work, effectively controlling the fuel tank pressure and reducing fuel waste.

　　However, plug-in hybrid (including plug-in extended range hybrid) vehicles do not start the engine most of the time. If a normal pressure fuel tank is used, the gasoline in the tank continues to evaporate, and the activated carbon adsorption capacity of the carbon canister is limited. Once the limit of the carbon canister adsorption capacity is exceeded, that is, "the carbon canister is overloaded", the gasoline vapor only enters the air outside the vehicle through the ventilation hole of the carbon canister, causing air pollution. Therefore, plug-in hybrid and extended range electric vehicles generally use high-pressure fuel tanks, with high-pressure fuel caps and pressure resistant fuel pipes to form a strict closed environment and prevent the leakage of oil and gas.

　　How did BYD respond to this question? In a word: because the inspection status does not meet the requirements of the national standard, the inspection report of Great Wall Motor is invalid! In its statement, it did not mention the core point of the Great Wall report whether its own product uses a "high-pressure fuel tank" or a "atmospheric fuel tank", only stating that "the inspection status does not comply with regulations".

　　Affected by this incident, the shares of Great Wall Motor and BYD both plunged this afternoon. Among them, Great Wall Motor fell by more than 7% and BYD fell by more than 2%. As of press release, Great Wall Motor fell more than 6%, and BYD fell more than 2%.

　　What does this exchange of fire mean?

　　The public exchange of fire between the two giants is still the first in the history of Chinese automobile development. Regarding the subsequent evolution and impact of the event, a post by a Zhihu respondent named "JackyQ" today has attracted a lot of attention.

　　Since entering 2023, the Chinese automotive market has launched a "hell mode". The BYD DM-i series, relying on its established scale advantage, continues to launch the "champion version", holding high the banner of "oil and electricity at the same price" and significantly reducing prices, carrying out strategic positioning to block almost all competitors such as Great Wall, Geely, Changan, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors, with remarkable results.

　　From January to April this year, BYD's cumulative sales reached 762400 units, a year-on-year increase of 94.3%. Great Wall Motor sold 313100 vehicles from January to April this year, down 7.18% year on year. Similar to Great Wall, other companies are also facing significant downward market pressure.

　　Industry insiders point out that the market has evolved from a "price war" at the beginning of the year to today's "legal war" and "public opinion war", indicating that the original pattern and order are rapidly being overturned, and a "major restructuring" that is related to the life and death of many companies is taking place. Today's event can be regarded as a wind vane and a watershed. It can be expected that more thrilling events will occur within the next two years.