Low Emissions, Low Fuel Consumption: Future Trends in Automotive Power Development. The Ford Electric Car VOLT has been around for over 100 years. Excessive resource exploitation has made fuel shortages a looming Damocles' sword over contemporary society. Scientific authorities estimate that by the first half of the 21st century, there is a risk that the Earth's stored oil will be depleted.
Special attention: Electric vehicles are both cost-saving and stylish. Beijing's power grid electricity load has reached a new high; doubts still exist regarding the promotion of electric cars. On March 23, 2005, oil prices were adjusted upwards. Previously, the price of 93-octane gasoline was 3.39 yuan per liter, and after increases on May 23, 2005, July 23, 2005, until April 15, 2010, despite some short-term fluctuations, prices have risen several times. Today (August 6, 2010), oil prices have soared to 6.61 yuan. In the foreseeable future, rising oil prices seem unavoidable.
In this market context, companies are beginning to pay more attention to the fuel economy of automobiles. In fact, some automakers have already started using automotive fuel economy as their main research direction.
Lean Burn Technology: Lean burn refers to increasing the air-fuel ratio within the engine so that the mixture burns when the air-fuel ratio exceeds the theoretical value. Simply put, it means burning a small amount of gasoline in a very lean state. We know that the theoretical air-fuel ratio is a basic parameter of the engine, and ordinary engines cannot arbitrarily change the air-fuel ratio. Therefore, if an engine is to achieve lean burn, two conditions must be met:
Firstly, lean burn technology requires strong ignition energy. This is easy to understand - with less gasoline in the mixture, more energy is needed to ignite it.
Secondly, lean burn technology requires that air can mix fully with gasoline. With a reduced proportion of gasoline in the mixture, the requirement for mixing air and fuel becomes higher. If the fuel does not mix well with the air, when the spark plug ignites, encountering parts of the unevenly mixed air-fuel mixture with even less gasoline, ignition will become more difficult.
Honda i-DSI Engine: Taking Honda's i-DSI engine as an example, it uses a relatively rare external cylinder lean burn technology, which is not as advanced as direct injection but is cheaper compared to direct injection engines. As mentioned earlier, the i-DSI engine adopts a dual spark plug design, which can well meet the demand for greater energy required for lean burn.
Cylinder Direct Injection Technology: The engine can basically automatically select two operating modes according to the engine load condition. When at low load, it uses stratified lean burn, and at high load, it uses homogeneous combustion.
At low load (stratified lean burn), the throttle is semi-open, and the fuel system injects fuel during the compression stroke of the engine. A special piston top design creates a rolling flow with the intake air and injected fuel, forming an air-fuel mixture around the spark plug that reaches the theoretical air-fuel ratio and is sufficient for combustion, thereby igniting the entire combustion chamber's mixture. Meanwhile, in other parts of the combustion chamber, there is a high air-fuel ratio mixture rich in air, thus forming lean burn.
At full load (homogeneous combustion), the fuel injection amount is precisely controlled based on the amount of intake air. The fuel and air are synchronously injected into the cylinder and fully atomized and mixed, causing the air-fuel mixture that conforms to the theoretical air-fuel ratio to uniformly fill the combustion chamber, i.e., forming homogeneous combustion. Full combustion allows the engine's power to be fully utilized. Moreover, the evaporation of the fuel cools the mixture, eliminating the possibility of detonation. That is to say, under homogeneous combustion conditions, lower fuel consumption is achieved while obtaining high power output and torque.
Electric Regenerative Control System Schematic: The development of electric vehicles is just beginning. Manufacturers currently focus on developing electric vehicles equipped with regenerative control systems. Simply put, this means maximizing energy recovery during braking. On July 28, 2010, General Motors announced that some Chevrolet dealers in the United States had begun accepting orders for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. The retail price of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle in the U.S. is $41,000, and consumers can receive up to $7,500 in personal income tax credits from the U.S. federal government. At the same time, General Motors also announced that China and Europe would officially introduce the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle in the fourth quarter of 2011, making them among the earliest markets outside the U.S. to introduce the Chevrolet Volt.
Currently, electric vehicle charging stations are being built in various regions of China. It is understood that Shanghai has already built the Chaoxi Charging Station, covering 400 square meters and equipped with nine charging parking spaces. Many provinces and cities, including Beijing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jilin, Hubei, and Shaanxi, have respectively planned pilot construction of multiple medium and large-sized charging stations. They also plan to build AC charging piles in areas such as power supply business outlets, government agencies, public buildings, and residential neighborhoods.
However, due to the characteristics of lithium-ion battery chemistry, fast charging within dozens of minutes often only fills about 50% of the battery capacity. If attempting to drive on highways, it implies needing to stop for charging every certain distance. "The battery breaks down before it has been charged many times." Under the condition of fast charging for 15 minutes, the damage to the battery is very serious. To say that the immaturity of battery technology will significantly constrain the development of charging stations.
To truly achieve "zero" emissions and "zero" fuel consumption with fully electric vehicles, there is still a long way to go.
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