The power performance of domestic heavy-duty vehicles has been increasing year by year. According to statistics, the power range of the leading heavy-duty truck engines in China in 2001 ranged from 180 horsepower to 210 horsepower. In recent years, the truck market has developed rapidly, and the dominant power range of heavy-duty truck products has increased from 260 horsepower to 300 horsepower.
Heavy trucks in foreign countries are developing in the direction of high power and large tonnage. "In the 1950s, the maximum power of trucks was about 150 kW, and by the end of the 1990s, the maximum power was about 440 kW. In the next 50 years, the maximum power of heavy trucks will probably reach 735 kW. The total mass of automobiles will be It reached 100 tons," said one expert.
Big power represents a new trend in the development of international engines. Among them, heavy-duty trucks with a load of over 15 tons will have the largest market demand, and heavy-duty trucks with a load of over 20 tons will maintain a high-speed growth trend. High-tonnage, high-power, high-end heavy trucks suitable for specialized transportation will become the mainstream models in China's truck market.
Some experts believe that the challenges that heavy trucks bring to parts companies are many.
Lack of technology "core"
In terms of technology, the engine is facing the greatest challenge compared to other components. An expert said: "Compared with advanced foreign engine levels, China's engine integration technology has been lagging behind for 8 to 10 years." At present, foreign engine companies' new products are all in the 500 horsepower to 600 horsepower, while the domestic has only 400 horsepower engines, and The technology is still imported from foreign countries; Compared with foreign engines of the same type, engines used in domestic heavy-duty vehicles mostly use in-line six-cylinder diesel engines; in the case of similar total displacement, domestic heavy-duty vehicles have low power and high emissions. Low reliability, poor fuel economy and other shortcomings. The minimum fuel consumption rate of domestic heavy-duty vehicle engines is generally about 215g/kW·h, while the minimum fuel consumption rate of foreign advanced technology heavy truck engines is generally 191g/kW·h to 196g/kW·h.
A technical expert of an engine company stated that for diesel engines, the problem of mechanical components responding to the trend of heavy-duty is not significant. However, many of the core components in the oil supply system are still based on imported products. Although simultaneous research is being conducted on this issue in the domestic market, it cannot be produced in batches at present and it cannot meet market demand.
At present, the independent development capability of domestic heavy-duty vehicle transmission manufacturers is still relatively weak, and the capacity for supporting new models is far from enough. The technology of domestic heavy-duty vehicle transmission products originates from the United States, Germany, Japan, and other countries. The imported technology is mostly foreign products from the 1980s to the 1990s. An expert said: "Although the domestic transmission companies have made great progress in technology, they can develop new products that meet the matching requirements on the basis of the original technology introduction. The heavy-duty vehicle transmission industry can annually There are more than a dozen new products introduced to the market. However, judging from the development of today's heavy-duty vehicle transmissions, domestic heavy-duty vehicle transmission companies do not have real core technology products and are still experiencing a general development process in the development of new products."
According to statistics, at present, in the domestic heavy-duty vehicle transmission market, 1/3 of the products are imported, while in other two-thirds, more than 80% of the products are derived from foreign technology, and the sales volume of self-developed heavy-duty automobile transmission products is very small.
Management must improve
A prominent person in the industry told reporters that although there is a gap between our products and foreign countries, we can catch up in a short time. However, if the level of quality management does not go up, there is no significant improvement in the consistency of production and there is always a problem with product quality.
Due to the gap in the quality management of domestic parts and components companies, some OEMs are still more willing to buy foreign "original" products. Zhao Liuqi, a professor at the Department of Automotive Engineering at Tsinghua University, told reporters: “Our companies will invite foreign companies to improve the performance of their parts and components. The technical equipment is also similar to foreign counterparts. However, due to the management level, the staff’s skill and quality need to be improved, using the same materials. The quality of the products produced by the same equipment is very different. After the products of some foreign brands are assembled in China, the quality will be worse."
Although many parts and components companies have passed such qualification certification, they still need to improve their own technical level, assembly process level and quality management level. Especially in terms of quality management, there is a big gap between domestic parts and components companies and foreign countries. Zhao Liuqi pointed out: "It is important to strengthen quality management."
Product to be updated
The upgrading of heavy-duty truck parts cannot be underestimated. Professor Zhao Liuqi believes that the output and quality of the product need to be improved. He said: “It has been nearly 20 years since the introduction of Steyr's axles in China, and the products need to be replaced. In addition, the company’s product structure is slightly monotonous and does not constitute a series. Production does not form a scale, there is not tight seals, gear noise And other issues."
Relevant experts also said that while updating products, domestic companies must strengthen product quality inspection and improve product reliability. For heavy trucks, the reliability of the engine is particularly important. An expert in the engine industry told the reporter: “The verification requirement for heavy-duty engines abroad is that the failure rate of the engine within 800,000 kilometers cannot exceed 10%. If the standards are not met, the products cannot be shipped. There is no such requirement in China. In fact, Domestic companies' verification of products may not even reach the '100,000-kilometer'.†He said that improving product levels requires a lot of computational analysis and test verification.