The turbulent 2020 has become the first year of the "landing" of new energy products by car giants in China.

    At the end of October, the first domestic pure electric model of the Volkswagen I.D family will finally come out. Before that, on September 13, BMW Brilliance BMW's first global model pure electric BMWiX3 also officially unveiled.

    Although there are two "first-generation" products of pure electric i3 and plug-in hybrid i8, BMW has launched a series of plug-in hybrid models in the Chinese market in recent years, and the launch of the core model of BMWiX3 is The starting point of BMW Brilliance's pure electric strategy.

    "You may think that BMW launched a bit late, but we think it is the right time. Because after years of development, only truly competitive products can gain a foothold and develop in the market." said BMW Brilliance's senior vice president of marketing.

    It is worth mentioning that this strategic model is also BMW's first model equipped with the latest fifth-generation BMW eDrive electric drive technology. It is only produced at BMW Brilliance's Shenyang plant and will be subsequently exported for global sales.

    In 3 years, 25 models of new energy and electric strategy "follow" the public

    As of the end of 2019, BMW has sold more than 500,000 new energy vehicles in China, and in the first half of this year, it sold more than 10,000 vehicles with the BMW 5 Series PHEV alone, a year-on-year increase of 49%.

    In BMW's plan, the sales of new energy vehicles will exceed 1 million by 2021, and by 2030, this number will exceed 7 million. The previous plan of the Volkswagen Group was to reach the goal of annual sales of 1 million electric vehicles by the end of 2023, and BMW set the goal to "catch up" with Volkswagen.

    At the same time, the BMW Group is steadily advancing the process of electrification, and plans to provide 25 new energy vehicles worldwide by 2023, and the proportion of pure electric vehicles is about half.

    In addition to BMW iX3, follow-up BMW will also launch 3 series pure electric, 5 series pure electric and X5 pure electric models. According to media reports, the BMW 3 Series pure electric will be put into production in 2022, while the 5 Series pure electric and X5 pure electric will be put into production in 2025, and these three new cars will also be equipped with the fifth-generation BMW eDrive electric drive technology.

    Despite the changeable external environment, Wei Lande, President and CEO of BMW Brilliance, believes that China is still the world's most stable new energy vehicle market. "The August figures for the overall Chinese automobile market show that the overall market is picking up. The luxury car market is also growing, which is fully in line with China's high-quality development concept."

    He revealed that since 2009, BMW Brilliance has invested more than 64 billion yuan in China, and will continue to invest in joint ventures in the future, and the new energy field will be the focus.

    It is not a simple "oil-to-electricity" BMW models will push a variety of energy models

    It is worth noting that BMW did not emphasize the "pure electric exclusive platform" like Volkswagen advocated the MEB platform, but changed a product strategy.

    Wei Lande defines it as the user having more "power to choose". This also means that BMW's subsequent models will launch fuel version, plug-in hybrid version, pure electric version and more energy options for consumers with different needs. At the same time, in this way, the original "BMW flavor" of the model is maintained.

    But this is not the traditional "oil-to-electricity" model. Although BMWiX3 does not look much different from BMW X3 on the outside, the internal fifth-generation BMWiDrive electric drive technology is lightweight, compact, integrated and expandable. Based on the development concept, BMW iX3 integrates the electric motor, inverter and transmission into a drive unit, which greatly reduces the weight and the required installation space while ensuring performance.

    The drive unit is integrated with the rear axle to further improve the drive efficiency. In addition, this new system will also be installed on the i4 and iNEXT two new models.

    "With a highly intelligent and flexible product architecture, BMW will provide customers with the same driving pleasure, high-standard interconnection experience and comfort, and high-level texture no matter what driving method the customer chooses." BMW Group Greater China President and CEO Gao Le said so.

    At the same time, in order to maintain BMW’s unique driving pleasure, BMW’s classic driving experience control system is retained with the help of a new generation of drive systems. BMW has technologies in the fields of chassis tuning, precise control, dynamic control, and driving comfort. The advantages are also fully reflected in the BMW iX3.

    Safety is more important than battery life. Core technology "must be in our own hands"

    For pure electric vehicles, everyone is more concerned about battery safety and cruising range. From the perspective of BMW iX3, it is equipped with 811 ternary lithium batteries supplied by CATL. The battery pack consists of 188 batteries and 10 battery modules. The cruising range exceeds 500 kilometers. The average power consumption per 100 kilometers is 16.7 degrees, which is equivalent to fuel. 1.3L of the car.

    It is understood that the power battery pack is produced by the second phase of the BMW Brilliance Power Battery Center, which is the first plant in BMW's global production network to put into production the fifth-generation power battery. In November last year, BMW's Munich headquarters established a battery cell R&D technology center and cooperated with CATL to develop exclusive battery supplies.

    Wei Lande pointed out that the establishment of the battery cell R&D center is to understand and master the requirements of high-quality batteries in terms of performance, specifications, etc., and how to control the quality, and to ensure that the battery cell supplier can produce Meet BMW's specifications. "At present, we will not produce batteries independently, but the expertise throughout the entire battery value chain will ensure that we are always at the forefront of technology."

    It is worth mentioning that in order to ensure the safety of the battery, after receiving the battery, BMW Brilliance will go through a spraying process, adding an insulating film and an insulating pad to add a "triple insurance" to the battery.

    At the same time, the external hard shell of the entire battery pack also assumes a part of the "support" function as a part of the chassis. For this reason, some space is also sacrificed. In terms of cruising range and safety, the latter is given priority.

    When talking about the recent industry controversy facing the 811 battery, he emphasized that the NMC 811 battery cell is currently the best technical solution for BMW. "It can help our BMW fifth-generation power battery achieve high energy density, high energy efficiency, long-lasting quality, All aspects of high security have achieved multi-dimensional optimization and balance."

    However, from the perspective of BMW's global layout, in order to meet the subsequent large-scale model production targets, in addition to the CATL era, BMW also signed a long-term order agreement with Samsung until 2031, and also signed an order with Yiwei Power. .

    Service system "new power"

    In addition to products and technologies, the promotion of new energy vehicles is inseparable from the guarantee of charging services, and under the pressure of competition from new power companies, traditional "giants" are also quietly changing.

    The new BMW iX3 is equipped with two charging ports, DC fast charging and home charging. DC charging can accept a maximum charging power of 100 kilowatts, and it only takes 45 minutes to charge the battery from 0 to 80%. In the case of an AC charging maximum power of 11 kilowatts, it only takes 7.5 hours to fully charge.

    At the same time, BMW provides customers with a full range of solutions including private charging, public charging, exclusive charging and digital charging services.

    By the end of this year, BMW’s public charging service network will cover more than 270,000 charging piles, including 80,000 DC fast charging piles. The BMW brand exclusive parking and charging service has been extended to 6 airports in 5 major cities in China and nearly 10 popular city business districts. The charging network of more than 250 authorized dealers from more than 120 cities will also be gradually opened before the end of 2020.

    BMW iX3 owners can enjoy a 3-year or 100,000-kilometer vehicle warranty, an 8-year or 160,000-kilometer warranty for the power battery, and an 8-year or 120,000-kilometer warranty for the electric motor and control unit. During the vehicle warranty period, customers can enjoy 7×24 hours of road assistance for free. When the power battery is about to run out or has been exhausted, customers can also enjoy free mobile charging services, free valet charging services, and free towing to the nearest Services at charging sites. In addition, customers also enjoy free door-to-door pick-up and delivery service within three years of maintenance, saving time to and from the store.

    In addition, it is estimated that by the end of 2020, the number of BMW i authorized dealers will reach nearly 200, covering approximately 60 cities.

    BMW’s new energy strategy is very determined. From battery safety, charging services, product technology and other aspects, there is even a feeling of "all-round", "In the future, BMW will maintain great flexibility in its new energy strategy." Especially in today's volatile internal and external environment, this is a more pragmatic and reliable "play"