“Accelerating the Global Development of Smart EVs by 3 Years”

On September 8th, at BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen, Chairman and President of BYD, Wang Chuanfu, made a bold statement: “Accelerating the global development of smart electric vehicles by 3 years.”

Wang made this statement at the launch event of BYD’s E-Platform 3.0. E-Platform 3.0 features BYD’s self-developed blade battery, eight-in-one electric powertrain, and wide-temperature range and high-efficiency heat pump, which can achieve a maximum range of 1000 km, accelerate to 100 km/h in 2.9 seconds, improve low-temperature range up to 20%, and increase charging for up to 150 km in just 5 minutes. Moreover, E-Platform 3.0 adopts intelligent domain controllers and BYD’s self-developed car operating system, BYD OS.

E-Platform 3.0 is undoubtedly BYD’s response to the era of intelligent electric vehicles. BYD has demonstrated its leadership not only in electrification but also in intelligence. From the connotation of E-Platform 3.0, which includes electric drive platform, chassis, electronic and electrical architecture, and on-board OS, it is not a traditional chassis or electric drive platform, but a “platformization of the vehicle architecture.”

Starting from E-Platform 3.0, BYD has moved into the era of architectural vehicle manufacturing, similar to Geely’s CMA architecture and BAIC’s IMC architecture, which is essentially the same as Tesla’s approach, and a step further than Toyota’s TNGA architecture and more advanced in concept than Volkswagen’s MEB and MQB platforms, which are purely chassis and electric drive platforms.

As a “platform,” BYD’s strengths are evident: from the parameters of E-Platform 3.0, the power performance, charging, and temperature control are among the best in the world; the safety of the chassis has been improved, while the handling and comfort of the chassis remain to be observed; the intelligence-related parts need to be verified by advanced driver assistance and intelligent cabin experiences.

Undoubtedly, E-Platform 3.0 will continue to push BYD’s high-end pure electric products upwards, and compete with Tesla and XPeng Motors in the field of intelligence.

E-Platform 3.0 Details Fully RevealedAt this year’s Shanghai Auto Show, BYD released the e-platform 3.0. However, at this press conference, BYD fully showcased the various features and performance of e-platform 3.0.

Wang Chuanfu and BYD Executive Vice President Lian Yubo summarized the advantages of e-platform 3.0: safety, efficiency, intelligence and aesthetics.

(1) Safety: blade battery + exclusive power transmission design + body-battery integration

In terms of safety, BYD first started with its own battery cell- the blade battery. Due to the intrinsic safety of lithium iron phosphate and the innovative structural design of the blade battery, the safety of both battery cell level and battery pack level is very prominent.

Regarding vehicle safety, the blade battery pack and body are integrated, similar to the CTC concept mentioned by CATL, and the battery cells also play a part of the chassis function.

This time, BYD emphasized the pure electric exclusive power transmission path in the chassis. When encountering a collision, the collision force will be transmitted through a specific path, rather than acting on the battery pack, causing the deformation and damage of the battery. BYD’s measures include reducing the height difference of the front longitudinal beam, smooth transmission, standard full-frame subframe for dispersed transmission, and adopting a fully flat floor design on the side to achieve stable and continuous transmission. Therefore, Lian Yubo claimed that e-platform 3.0 created an electric vehicle with the ability to meet global regulations that exceed five-star safety standards.

In terms of body rigidity, Lian Yubo said that with the help of the blade battery pack, the torsional rigidity of the body will reach 40,000 Nm/°, achieving a luxury executive driving experience, “making the upper limit of structural strength of fuel-powered cars the lower limit of pure electric cars.”

(2) Efficiency: eight-in-one powertrain + wide-temperature range heat pump

In terms of efficiency, e-platform 3.0 brings out the industry’s top integration: the world’s first eight-in-one electric powertrain.

The so-called eight-in-one integrates eight components: three electric drive components-electric motor, electric control, and reducer; three power supply components-OBC, DCDC and high-voltage distribution box; as well as battery management system (BMS) and vehicle control unit (VCU).

Lin Yubo explained that such deep integration reduces energy transfer loss and achieves a comprehensive efficiency of 89%, which is at the top level worldwide. Its power and charging performance are also guaranteed. If a new four-wheel drive system is adopted, the 0-100 km/h acceleration can be as fast as 2.9 seconds, and the maximum driving range can exceed 1000 km. By using the world’s first electric drive voltage boosting fast charging technology, the maximum driving range can be achieved after a 5-minute charge of up to 150 km. Additionally, BYD has adopted a combination of permanent magnet synchronous motor and asynchronous motor for the first time. The dual motors output during acceleration, and the permanent magnet synchronous motor is used primarily in everyday driving to reduce its no-load loss.

One of the major challenges of electric vehicles at present is their low efficiency during winter months, where battery charging and discharging performance are significantly reduced, and the heating function of the air conditioning system causes a significant reduction in driving range. On the e-platform 3.0, BYD has proposed a solution: a wide-temperature range heat pump system. Many car companies have been using heat pumps in electric vehicles. They transfer heat from the air to the cabin or use it to heat the battery pack. However, in extremely low-temperature conditions, such as -20°C, traditional heat pumps do not work effectively. BYD’s approach breaks the boundaries of traditional heat management systems and makes full use of the environment, powertrain, residual heat in the passenger compartment and power supply system to achieve work temperatures between -30°C and 60°C. This can maximize winter driving range by up to 20%.

Breaking the boundaries means that traditional electric vehicle cabin, battery pack, and electric drive system cooling management were separate systems. BYD has integrated these separate systems. Tesla, BMW and other car companies have also achieved this integration. However, the temperature range of BYD’s heat pump, i.e. -30°C, is quite outstanding. The exact method used to achieve this is still unclear. Some companies claim to achieve sub-zero temperature heat pumping by using jet enthalpy.

In terms of intelligence, e-platform 3.0 first includes portions of the electronic/electrical architecture. To satisfy the demands for future intelligent electric vehicles with respect to communication, data security, over-the-air (OTA) upgrades, and computing, as well as the need for cost reduction, traditional electronic/electrical architectures are undergoing a transformation. E-platform 3.0 includes the electronic/electrical architecture portion for the first time. In terms of intelligence, e-platform 3.0 integrates the traditional distributed electronic/electrical architecture into a domain control architecture consisting of four domains, i.e. intelligent power domain, intelligent vehicle control domain, intelligent cockpit domain and intelligent driving domain, to improve system interaction efficiency.

E-platform 3.0 deeply integrates the whole vehicle’s driving, braking, and steering functions, makes full use of the characteristics of the motor’s rapid response, develops the industry’s first powertrain control unit, and is mounted on the Dolphin model.BYD’s intelligent cockpit domain and intelligent vehicle control domain have been put into mass production, making it the first Chinese company to mass produce domain controllers. On the software side, BYD has independently developed BYD OS, a software and hardware decoupled operating system for vehicles, providing a high-standard cooperation system for advanced intelligent driving.

(4) Aesthetics: the advantages of pure electric platform regarding passenger space.

In terms of aesthetics, e-platform 3.0 emphasizes the advantages of pure electric platform models, namely, larger passenger space than same-sized fuel vehicles. In addition, BYD’s integrated effect of 8-in-1 and the full flat bottom chassis integrated with flat blade batteries also provides more spacious room.

Take the dolphin model for example, its length is similar to that of a small fuel car, but the interior space is equivalent to a B-class car.

Overall, e-platform 3.0 has shorter front and rear overhangs and longer wheelbases, which greatly expand the passenger space. The lower body posture and longer wheelbase design provides more flexibility for the vehicle’s aerodynamic design, and the drag coefficient (Cd) of the car can be reduced to as low as 0.21.

Dolphin leading the way, midsize and large models to follow

Based on e-platform 3.0, BYD has launched two models, the Dolphin and BYD e6 PLUS.

The Dolphin and BYD e6 PLUS belong to the compact A-class platform of e-platform 3.0.

Due to the expandability of e-platform 3.0, it also supports midsize B-class and large C-class platforms, corresponding models of which will be launched subsequently. Prices will also cover the range of 100,000 – 400,000 RMB.

What will the subsequent models of e-platform 3.0 look like?

BYD’s concept car, ocean-X, offers some clues.

Ocean-X is a midsize high-performance sports car based on e-platform 3.0, featuring integrated blade battery body design, 8-in-1 powertrain and four-wheel drive architecture.

In terms of appearance, ocean-X has also made a breakthrough, breaking away from the design language of the BYD family. From the word “ocean”, the design language it advocates may be used on the marine life series that BYD intends to create.

What can e-platform 3.0 bring?

E-platform 1.0 has incubated BYD e6, making BYD a pioneer in electric vehicles and the first to enter the application stage of electric vehicles.# e Platform 2.0
The e Platform 2.0 incubated a series of high-end new energy electric vehicles such as Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan, helping BYD become the first Chinese brand to enter the new energy vehicle millionaires club.

e Platform 3.0

Although e Platform 3.0 has solved the problem of low temperature and improved the efficiency in terms of electric performance, it is not a fundamental improvement. The fundamental improvement is in response to the electronic and electrical architecture and onboard OS of smart cars. Therefore, e Platform 3.0 will lead BYD into the era of intelligent electric vehicles, catching up with opponents such as Tesla and Weiyuanli in intelligent driving assistance and intelligent cockpit. In terms of electric drive, advancing towards 1,000 kilometers of range and running 150 kilometers on a 5-minute charge… All of these mean that e Platform 3.0 will support BYD to continue to improve its brand and compete in high-end vehicle models.

DM-i

Compared with another major technology of BYD this year, DM-i continues the high performance of BYD’s plug-in hybrid technology, and more importantly, popularizes the plug-in hybrid technology, putting tremendous pressure on gasoline cars. Can e Platform 3.0 make pure electric vehicle models cheap enough so that consumers can buy electric vehicles at prices comparable to gasoline cars?

At present, the hope may be placed on e Platform 4.0 or a new platform called e Platform-i. However, overall, e Platform 3.0 demonstrates BYD’s strong automotive power supply and electric drive capabilities, as well as the ambition of the rapid development of automotive electronic and electrical architecture and onboard OS.

This is something that BYD has been able to achieve over the past 18 years of researching and developing electric vehicles, building a full industry chain design and manufacturing capability from materials, components, systems control to vehicle integration. This is also the confidence that Wang Chuanfu opened e Platform 3.0 to the industry and proudly announced the acceleration of the development of intelligent electric vehicles across the industry.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.