New energy vehicles are so hot, what is the impact on the future steel?

In recent years, the development of new energy vehicles has been growing rapidly. According to the data of the China Automobile Association, in the first half of 2018, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China reached 412,000, an increase of 112% over the same period. And from the current point of view, although the subsidy range is gradually decreasing, with the official launch of the double-point transaction, the car enterprises will accelerate the layout of this field, and new energy vehicles will continue to maintain rapid growth.

It is worth noting that the difference between new energy vehicles and traditional vehicles is not only due to the difference in energy use, but also the manufacturing process and materials of the vehicles have undergone great changes. The demand for steel as the main material for automobiles will naturally also be affected. Zhao Yan, deputy chief engineer of China Automotive Research Automotive Lightweight Engineering Technology Center, said in an interview with Gasshi Automotive recently that compared with traditional cars, new energy vehicles have different types of steel in addition to the demand for steel. There are also differences.

Demand for light weight is urgent, demand for high-strength steel is rising

New energy vehicles are developing rapidly, and the short-board of cruising range is still the “heart of the car”. In this case, the car lightweighting solution faces more demand.

According to a number of research data, for traditional power vehicles, each 10% reduction in vehicle weight can reduce fuel consumption by 6%-8% and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 13%. For new energy vehicles, lightweighting can also reduce energy consumption and thus increase cruising range.

Recently, at the 2018 China Automotive Lightweight Industry Summit Forum hosted by Gasgoo Automobile, Cao Du, deputy dean and chief engineer of BAIC Research Institute, clearly pointed out that the increase in the quality of the kerb will cause an increase in rolling resistance and acceleration resistance. This leads to an increase in energy consumption. Conversely, lightweighting can significantly reduce the energy consumption rate of new energy vehicles.

According to the data shared by the city, under the operating conditions of the urban area, if the average weight of the electric vehicle with a weight of 1600 kg is 20%, the energy consumption can be reduced by 15%. Take the specific model as an example, the BMW i3 is only 1195kg in quality, which is 415kg lighter than the pure electric. If Yi Yi pure electric vehicle reaches the BMW i3 kerb quality, the cruising range can be increased by 12% (200km), and the energy consumption rate can be reduced by about 12% (13.76kWh/km).

Cao Du also said that the use of increased batteries to increase mileage, the cost is often very high. Therefore, new energy vehicles will pay more attention to the lightweight of the whole vehicle in order to reduce the energy consumption of the battery, so that the increased cost of lightweighting can “hedge” (offset) the energy cost saved.

New energy vehicles are more demanding for lightweight solutions, and high-strength steel is an effective measure to achieve lightweight vehicles. It is understood that high-strength steel is further improved on the basis of ordinary steel, which can achieve the effect of weight reduction and collision safety. It is widely used in automotive chassis beam reinforcement plates, suspension brackets and other components. Although its cost is higher than that of ordinary steel, it is still superior to other lightweight materials and is the development focus of the industry in the next five years or even longer.

Planning for lightweight materials in the Energy Technology and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap

Based on this, compared with ordinary steel, new energy vehicles will increasingly use high-strength steel and ultra-high-strength steel with more lightweight advantages. This is consistent with the development goals of lightweight materials in the Energy Technology and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap. As mentioned in the roadmap, by 2030, the proportion of high-strength steel applications has increased significantly. The amount of aluminum used in bicycles exceeds 350 kg, the magnesium alloy used in bicycles reaches 45 kg, and the amount of carbon fiber used accounts for 5%.

The fast-growing new energy vehicle consumer market will drive demand for high-strength steel. However, some insiders pointed out that in the field of high-strength steel production for automobiles, the products produced by domestic enterprises still have a large gap in terms of quality stability and performance consistency compared with foreign excellent enterprise products. Therefore, when the new energy automobile industry develops to a certain stage, as the market demand for steel changes, it will force steel production enterprises to increase research and development efforts, change product structure, and increase pressure on related enterprises.

Steel is still the main material, but the amount has changed

Steel has always been the main material that makes up cars. According to relevant statistics, the weight ratio of the main materials of an ordinary car produced in recent years is roughly 65%-70% for steel, 10%-15% for non-ferrous metals, and 20% for non-metallic materials. Undoubtedly, in new energy vehicles, steel is also the most used material at present, and this situation will not change for a certain period of time. FAW Gaogong Tian Hongfu once pointed out in an interview with the Geshi Automobile reporter that in 2025, the proportion of steel used in automobiles will still reach more than 50%. Of course, the steel here refers more to high-strength steel.

However, despite this, the amount of steel used in new energy vehicles will change relative to conventional vehicles. On the one hand, although pure electric vehicles increase the consumption of silicon steel sheets used in motors, they will significantly reduce the steel consumption of these systems due to their elimination of engines, gearboxes and other related components. On the other hand, hybrid vehicles will increase the motor system, not only to reduce the steel consumption of the original engine system, but also to increase the silicon steel sheet consumption of the motor.

Although compared with the previous, the automobile market with new energy vehicles has increased or decreased the overall consumption of steel, and there is no specific conclusion yet. However, according to public information, the demand for steel in the automotive industry in recent years is still relatively stable, generally around 55 million tons, accounting for 8.1% of domestic steel consumption, accounting for about 7.3% of all steel consumption. From this point of view, at present, the development of new energy vehicles has not brought about significant changes in the demand for steel. But it is undeniable that with the rapid growth of new energy vehicles, the next situation may be different.

As mentioned above, due to the requirements of electric vehicles for cruising range, the demand for lightweight materials is more urgent, including high-strength steel, including other lightweight materials, such as aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy, carbon fiber and other composite materials. Wait. Although high-strength steel is superior to aluminum-magnesium alloys in terms of anti-collision performance, processing technology and cost control, the amount of these materials will increase as more lightweight materials increase their advantages in cost and technology. And this will inevitably squeeze the amount of steel used.

Cao Du also pointed out in the speech that high-strength steel must be the development trend of the next 3-5 years. At the same time, aluminum alloy is also being promoted and applied, and carbon fiber will be more used in the field of new energy vehicles. In the next 10-15 years, the automotive materials industry will usher in a big revolution. The amount of ordinary steel, high-strength steel, polymer, aluminum alloy, magnesium and other materials will be equally divided. In other words, in a car, the proportion of the above materials may be around 20%.

In addition, he also said that the future development of the car must be designed to mix and match multiple materials. "The BMW 7 Series body-in-white uses three materials together, including four different carbon fiber forming technologies, three different aluminum alloy technologies. Although the body-in-white weight is only 40 kg, the vehicle is reduced by 130 kg. The success is balanced weight loss."