According to the British "Economist" magazine recently reported that although new energy vehicles are becoming the carpenter of major car manufacturers, as long as a little bit of trouble, it will occupy the size of the media layout, but its high "worth" and not " The safety of the "flight" is a bit daunting; at the same time, the traditional gasoline and diesel vehicles are becoming more and more environmentally friendly, making a big comeback and making a comeback. Then, in the next decade, who will dominate the automotive industry with expensive electric cars or hybrid cars and more environmentally friendly traditional cars?

Emission Reduction Policy Accelerates the Environmental Protection of Traditional Vehicles

According to a report by the British "Economist" on December 10, the Chevrolet Volt car has a compact structure and is a new hybrid electric vehicle that was introduced by General Motors of the US last year. Since the battery fire broke out last month, Its sales are far from satisfactory. The problem of Vollanda’s battery should be easy to solve. Although the government has also provided certain subsidies, electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles (which can be driven by gasoline engines when the battery is dead) replace traditional fuel vehicles and dominate the highway. The pace is still slow and heavy, and the obstacles now face more and more.

At the same time, gasoline and diesel-powered cars have become increasingly fuel-efficient. This means that people may be reluctant to spend more money on purchasing electric vehicles or hybrid cars that have a green brand name.

From now until 2025, regulators in Europe, America and other regions plan to impose higher restrictions on the carbon dioxide emissions of automobiles (or require cars to have higher fuel efficiency). This forces auto manufacturers to have a two-pronged approach: The R&D investment and efforts of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles; on the other hand, they are trying to make traditional engines more environmentally friendly.

In order to achieve the emission reduction targets, automakers can use various new tricks to make traditional "classic cars" more environmentally friendly. For example, automakers are using the configuration used in high-end cars in the past for low-cost models: turbochargers, boosters (which means smaller engines, higher fuel efficiency), new fuel injection systems, and compliance Gas-mechanical tank covers, etc., are present in large quantities in low-cost cars.

In 2012, Ford Motor Company will launch a new Focus compact car in Europe, replacing the previous 1.6-liter, four-cylinder engine with a one-liter, three-cylinder engine, which can save the car about 20% of fuel. Ford’s engineer Joe Baikaj said that in the United States, buyers of Ford’s F–150 pick-up trucks are now starting to choose the V6 engine. They have previously ignored the V8 engine. The current V6 engine in addition to performance Comparable with V8, but also more fuel-efficient.

Traditional cars may still be the "king of roads"

Ricardo Engineering Consultants, a UK-based senior automotive engineering services company, and Sanford Bernstein, the US investment bank, have compiled and analyzed technical data related to traditional vehicles and environmentally-friendly cars. They concluded that the emissions of gasoline and diesel cars will be closer and closer to the emissions of hybrid and electric vehicles, but the latter will become more expensive in the next few years and, as a result, will greatly reduce their The market's "attraction" and "affinity." In the early 1920s, fuel-powered vehicles powered by internal combustion engines would still dominate the road, and the number of hybrid or electric vehicles sold in Europe would only account for one-fifth.

Because the US regulatory agencies have only recently made increasingly stringent demands on the fuel efficiency of cars, the American cars are "oil tigers" just as they were 20 years ago. However, Europe has long implemented a strict policy of restricting vehicle emissions. Its gasoline and diesel vehicles are more environmentally friendly than ever. Now, the new cars sold in the UK can run an average of 52.5 miles per gallon of gasoline, compared to 40.6 miles per gallon of gasoline 10 years ago. Ricardo Engineering Consulting's Neville Jackson said that even so, the efficiency of gasoline and diesel cars still has a lot of room for improvement because current internal combustion engine engines only use one-fifth of their fuel's energy. Great potential can be tapped.

Working together to develop new energy vehicles or a way out

Analysis by Ricardo Company and Bernstein Investment Bank shows that because owners are reluctant to bear the high cost of purchasing electric vehicles or hybrid cars, the fastest way to accomplish their emission targets is to increase input and make gasoline vehicles more expensive. Diesel vehicles become more environmentally friendly. However, even if they are lucky enough to complete the task, they still need a small percentage of hybrid cars and electric cars.

Bernstein Lang, of the Bernstein Investment Bank, said that this will force automakers to huddle together to develop new technologies. For example, Toyota has agreed to work with Ford to develop a hybrid sports utility vehicle; Toyota will also work with BMW to develop battery and diesel engines for electric vehicles. Moreover, car manufacturers have also begun to engage in the field of battery leasing (such as Renault Automotive) and car sharing (such as Daimler) to reduce the price of new energy vehicles and make them affordable to consumers.

Hybrid cars and electric cars may drag on the profits of automakers in the next few years, but they are a useful marketing tool. General Motors found that after adding the hybrid car, Volenda, to its models, urban youngsters who are often dismissive of Detroit cars are slowly flooding into the General Motors showroom. However, many of them are still discouraged by their $32,000 price (although the government has generously subsidized many of them). As a result, after several trade-offs, some of them will still choose traditional gasoline and diesel vehicles. Only Cruze half the price of Cruze.