hardcore off-road suvs are gradually becoming popular in china, but american cars, which are good at this, do not seem to have caught up with this round of favorable conditions. is it because they did not launch new energy product lines in a timely manner?jeep wranglerplug-in hybrid, and the upcoming new model (september 20)Jeepthe grand cherokee plug-in hybrid obviously doesn't think so. but the problem encountered by jeep and the classic american hard-core off-road suv behind it may lie here.

the plug-in hybrid that was patched 3 years ago still needs to be used

the wrangler is the first jeep model to use plug-in hybrid technology in mass production. it was introduced three years ago, which is not particularly early, but it is definitely not late in the hardcore off-road suv market. however, because the vehicle's operating conditions are more severe than those of ordinary passenger cars, jeep's plug-in hybrid technology was patched at the beginning of its implementation, and this patch is the p0 motor.

looking at the p0 motor alone, in fact, even today, it is also used as a supplement to the 48v mild hybrid structure in some pure fuel vehicles. so regardless of the issue of advancement, the p0 motor has a strong patch color no matter which electrification system it appears in, especially for jeep.

because what jeep actually uses isbenz、bmwthe p2 plug-in hybrid architecture is widely used by automakers such as jeep. even the assembly supplier is zf, which is the 8at gearbox with an integrated p2 motor. however, most phev technology using the p2 architecture will not retain an additional p0 motor. because the advantage of the p2 motor is that it can "act as both a father and a mother", with multiple uses, high efficiency and high space utilization. but for jeep, the special vehicle usage scenarios make it dare not put all the pressure on the p2 single motor. therefore, the p0 motor, which can independently supply on-board electrical equipment and complete the power generation function, was retained by jeep.

but is it really because the users drove the jeep too hard? the limitations of this architecture in battery and electronic control technology are probably the key. more importantly, jeep has not been able to find new breakthroughs in technology for more than three years.jeep grand cherokee 4xe, still using this foundation.

first of all, the p0 motor, which needs to be connected by a belt, has nothing to do with efficiency. on a pure fuel vehicle, any extra electrification is of course a positive thing. but for a phev technology model, the p0 motor is only associated with low power generation efficiency. for example, even if it focuses on power generation, in the p1+p3 configuration that is more commonly used by chinese brands, a more integrated p1 motor is needed, rather than a p0 motor "plugged in" with a belt.

so, can we use a p1 motor and then connect a p2 motor? no car company will do this. as mentioned before, the p2 motor is theoretically sufficient. and after it is compatible with the engine function, there is no need to keep the front motor. so the key to the problem should fall back to the p2 motor itself. this is related to the gearbox assembly, which we will talk about later. here we solve the last problem of electrification itself, that is, the power battery.

yes, hardcore off-road suvs need to consider many factors, so the battery layout cannot be directly mounted on the chassis. but jeep's ancestral battery capacity of about 17kwh is now too modest. this not only makes the vehicle's pure electric range always hover around 50km (the new jeep grand cherokee 4xe is expected to have a pure electric range of 48km), but also causes the entire plug-in hybrid structure to enter the power generation state more often, objectively increasing the burden on thermal management and durability.

this is what i mentioned earlier. the user's driving environment may be more extreme than that of most passenger cars. however, jeep's plug-in hybrid structure itself has buried hidden dangers. for reference, the p2 plug-in hybrid, which is also a hardcore off-road route,great wallits tank series can now basically bring the battery capacity of plug-in hybrid models close to the mainstream level of 40 degrees.

if we can’t get around the gearbox, can we not make a plug-in hybrid?

the electrification part is stagnant, so what about the original fuel structure? the performance of this longitudinal 2.0t turbocharged engine is still quite competent. as the choice to replace the naturally aspirated six-cylinder engine six years ago, jeep can be said to have stepped on the golden displacement of 2.0t early. and to meet the needs of hard-core off-road suvs, the multi-speed longitudinal at gearbox, zf's 8at is a reasonable match. even if we look at this combination from the perspective of plug-in hybrid technology, the zf 8at itself can also be a gearbox assembly with an integrated p2 motor.

but all of this has its premise. first, the vehicle must be large enough, especially the longer the wheelbase, the better. in this regard, the jeep grand cherokee is of course no problem, while the jeep wrangler can only be adapted to the long wheelbase version. because for longitudinal gearbox models, the longer the wheelbase space, the easier it is to accommodate the 8at gearbox with integrated p2 motor.

even so, the power of this motor is also limited. for example, the latest bmw m5, its p2 motor is only up to 145kw. this data is different from the non-high-performancebmw 7 seriesplug-in hybrid, exactly the same. so for the time being, we can regard 145kw as the civilian reliability limit of the zf 8at integrated motor. and jeep is even stepping on the previous "red line" of the old version, which is 100kw. according to the data disclosed by the new jeep grand cherokee 4xe, the comprehensive power of the power system should remain basically unchanged.

the 100kw power limit is due to the fact that jeep purchased the zf 8at code-named 8p75ph series due to cost factors. or is it because jeep's own tuning capabilities are limited and it continues to use the original solution for stability considerations? this is unknown. but one thing is certain, that is, zf and bmw,audithe relationship between them is obviously not something that jeep can match. even if we don’t discuss the plug-in hybrid technology, the good reputation of the so-called zf 8at in the fuel vehicle system is largely due to bmw’s tuning. and jeep obviously has a hard time achieving the tuning data advantage in terms of information symmetry.

taking other brands that have mastered transmission technology as an example, great wall's p2 architecture can basically keep the power of the p2 motor at around 120kw. it is not even a phev architecture.toyota prado, can implement hev technology based on the transmission integrated motor. this technical solution can even be used in horizontally structuredcrown sportcrossit has an integrated electric motor with a maximum power of 61kw.

so it is clear here that if you want to do a good job of plug-in hybrid with p2 architecture, the importance of transmission technology is very high. from the jeep wrangler 4xe three years ago to the new jeep grand cherokee 4xe to be released soon, it is clear that this has not been overcome. in fact, jeep earlier proposed a plan to launch an extended-range model by taking advantage of the topic of the wrangler's replacement. and the extended-range model, without a doubt, bypasses the key technical issues of the p2 plug-in hybrid.