Compared with the frequent quality problems of friends, Weilai is still very reassuring to consumers in this respect. Excellent quality is inseparable from excellent manufacturing technology and high requirements of manufacturing standards. I have been to many car factories before, but it is really my first time to come to the factory of New Power Automobile Company, and as the owner of Weilai, I may get some different experiences!
As for Weilai's Hefei factory, it is a high-end new energy vehicle manufacturing base with deep cooperation between Jianghuai and Weilai. 20 17 was officially put into use in the second half of the year. It has four process workshops, namely stamping, body painting and final assembly, as well as a quality center, a test track, an energy center, a Weilai center and a comprehensive office area. Due to the limited experience time of this factory trip, we mainly visited the body workshop and assembly workshop of Weilai factory, and the manufacturing technology of these two workshops can also reflect the current car-making technology of Weilai.
When it comes to the body shop, the first thing that comes to mind is the white body. However, unlike the steel used by most automobile manufacturers, all production models of Weilai adopt the all-aluminum body structure. This also makes Weilai's body workshop different from the body workshop we learned before.
The traditional steel car body is mainly welded, with sparks flying from time to time and strong dust and burning smell. This is probably our traditional concept of body shop. However, the connection of all-aluminum body mainly depends on riveting technology. Compared with the welding process, the temperature is more suitable and the noise is less. Of course, the welding station is still reserved for the all-aluminum car body, but some connecting stations in the workshop are equipped with dust removal devices to absorb the trace smoke and dust generated in the welding process of spot welding area, arc welding area and laser welding area and exchange air, so that the whole workshop meets the current requirements of emission reduction and environmental protection. So when you walk into the body workshop of Weilai, the most intuitive feeling is quiet and clean.
Speaking of automation, Weilai's car body workshop has achieved 100% automation at the core station, and the overall automation rate of the workshop is 97.5%. It is the latest all-aluminum production line in China. In addition, as the first self-developed all-aluminum body platform in China, the aluminum utilization rate of Weilai ES8 is as high as 96.4%, which is the highest among all mass-produced all-aluminum bodies. In addition to ES8, the aluminum utilization rate of Weilai ES6 has reached 965,438+0%, and even 65,438+0% of carbon fiber board consumption, which is 38% lighter than the same amount of aluminum.
Moreover, in order to ensure the strength of the whole vehicle, Weilai will also use different aluminum materials in different parts of the all-aluminum body. ES8 body-in-white adopts 3 series, 5 series, 6 series and 7 series aluminum materials. Among them, the 3 series aluminum material is vacuum high pressure die-casting aluminum alloy, which has high strength and dimensional accuracy, can form a complex structure and promote the design lightweight; The distribution of 5 series aluminum materials is relatively scattered, mainly used for four doors, one cover and brackets; 6 series aluminum materials are mainly distributed in the roof, floor and front cabin; 7 series aluminum, especially 7003 deformed aluminum. ES8 is made of 7003 aluminum in the main front and rear longitudinal beams and the front energy-absorbing box, among which the front longitudinal beam is the largest, with 10.4kg on both sides. 7003 aluminum has the advantages of high strength, excellent impact toughness and energy absorption, and is often used in aerospace field.
One advantage of using an all-aluminum body is that it can effectively reduce the overall weight of the body in white. Because the density of aluminum is smaller than that of steel, the all-aluminum body of ES8 can reduce the weight of steel body by about 40%. Moreover, the proportion of body-in-white in the vehicle weight will also be reduced, and the proportion of body-in-white in the vehicle weight of ES8 is 13.6%. Due to the reduction of vehicle weight, the load of power system can be reduced, the power acceleration performance can be improved, and the braking, steering performance and energy consumption can be obviously improved.
In addition to the body workshop, another big workshop visited this time is the assembly workshop. In the assembly workshop, perhaps because Weilai is a company that manufactures new energy vehicles, it pays special attention to environmental protection in factory manufacturing. So what impressed me most was not the assembly process, but the environmental protection technology. The roof of the assembly workshop adopts 5 12 fully automatic transparent ventilation skylight with an area of16.2m2, which can make maximum use of natural light for workshop lighting. At the same time, photovoltaic panels are also arranged on the roof, which can maximize the use of natural energy and reduce the total energy consumption of the assembly workshop by 20%. In addition, the ground source heat pump technology is also used in the assembly workshop to realize the temperature regulation in the workshop. 1 16 independent air conditioning modules are installed in the assembly workshop, and heat exchange is carried out in the underground120m deep water, so that the somatosensory temperature in the workshop is always in a relatively comfortable constant temperature state.
Moreover, in order to ensure the assembly quality of the whole vehicle, the key parts will be monitored in real time and traceable. Each accurately traced component has a separate two-dimensional code information, which is consistent with the permanent identification information on the physical object. Nearly 100 parts that can be traced accurately contain at least four key information: part number, part version number, supplier code and unique serial number or production batch (production date).
In addition, for Weilai car owners, the most anticipated thing is OTA upgrade, because each upgrade can actually bring many new functions to users. Therefore, in order to continuously upgrade OTA, Weilai not only firmly grasped the research and development of intelligent gateway, intelligent cockpit and automatic assisted driving system, but also adopted the strategy of on-board control module, which is different from traditional brands. Weilai requires suppliers to bring the latest version of supplier software into the factory module at that time. After the installation is completed, Weilai will compile the latest vehicle program and conduct joint debugging and test. Weilai has 35 control modules that need to be written in the factory, which takes 28 minutes. In order to match the rhythm of software iteration, Weilai's manufacturing system is also flexible enough. There are 22 brushing stations in the assembly workshop, which are distributed in the interior section and the OK section (mainly for software brushing, function testing and four doors and two covers adjustment).
Editor's summary: As a car owner, the experience of coming to Weilai Factory this time is really good. After all, it is definitely a different experience to see how your car is produced. In addition, this experience also made me full of confidence in Weilai's manufacturing. With the continuous improvement of market sales, I believe Weilai will be able to keep improving in vehicle manufacturing in the future.