Great! The acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h takes no more than 5 seconds. Not all brute force can work wonders.
In an era of excessive horsepower, the country is finally going to rein in high - speed vehicles.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Public Security drafted a solicitation of comments on a mandatory national standard for "Technical Conditions for the Safe Operation of Motor Vehicles", putting forward a series of specific requirements for the safe operation of motor vehicles.
Regarding vehicle performance, clear restrictions have been made: it is stipulated that after each start of a passenger car, it should default to a state where the 0 - 100 km/h acceleration time is not less than 5 seconds.
In other words, in the future, whether you buy a high - performance fuel - powered vehicle or an electric vehicle, the default 0 - 100 km/h acceleration time will have to be over 5 seconds.
Given the high entry threshold for high - performance fuel - powered vehicles with an acceleration time of less than 5 seconds, it's obvious to everyone which type of vehicles this new supplementary mandatory national standard focuses on.
After the release of the solicitation of comments on the new national standard, netizens reacted quite strongly to the topic of restricting acceleration performance. Many people applauded, believing that this is a necessary correction for the wild growth of new energy vehicles.
"Those exaggerated promotions will finally be rectified."
The statement has become more rigorous, and it won't make people overly pursue speed. In a situation where most new energy vehicles can achieve 0 - 100 km/h in less than 4 seconds, the market competition standards are also about to undergo a reshuffle.
01 Balancing Safety and Performance
Although restrictions are imposed, it's not a "one - size - fits - all" approach.
Let's first look at the specific regulations. After each power - on/ignition of a passenger car (except for engine automatic start - stop), it should be in the default working state with a 0 - 100 km/h acceleration time of not less than 5 seconds.
The new rule refers to the "default working state". In other words, there is no prohibition on vehicles having higher performance in non - default working states.
It only requires restrictions in the default mode. This means that in the follow - up, through operations similar to switching driving modes, users can lift the acceleration restriction after making an active choice. It doesn't directly "cut off the performance ceiling". The intention is to make drivers take certain conscious actions when using the high - acceleration mode to improve their driving preparation.
In this way, electric vehicles with acceleration performance easily breaking through the 3 - second mark will start with a more gentle performance after each restart, which also indirectly improves the safety factor.
Once the new rule was released, netizens had diverse opinions. Some people believed that it depends on the person. "It's not the car's problem; it's the driver's problem."
The official also gave a supplementary explanation for why this revision was made:
In recent years, there have been many accidents of uncontrolled acceleration at startup of pure electric vehicles and plug - in hybrid vehicles. Most of these accidents are due to the driver's insufficient driving preparation and control ability when using the high - acceleration mode. Therefore, it is required that the vehicle be in a default working state with lower acceleration performance at startup, so that the driver needs to take certain conscious actions when using the high - acceleration mode to improve their driving preparation. According to statistics, currently, the 0 - 100 km/h acceleration time of driving school training vehicles and most fuel - powered passenger cars is generally more than 5 seconds. Both new and experienced drivers are more accustomed to this level of acceleration and are less likely to make misoperations.
In the supplementary explanation, the reason is actually explained - cheap horsepower also brings potential risks.
As we all know, the characteristic curve of the motor torque is completely different from that of the internal combustion engine. It can directly output the peak torque in the zero - speed range without waiting for the speed to climb. This "instant response" power makes new energy vehicles start and accelerate faster than traditional fuel - powered vehicles.
This has led to the fact that even household new energy vehicles in the 200,000 - yuan range can achieve 0 - 100 km/h in 3 or 4 seconds, bringing the performance of million - yuan supercars inexpensively and unconditionally to every holder of a household driver's license.
As stated in the supplementary explanation, ordinary people have insufficient driving preparation and control ability for the high - acceleration mode, which can easily lead to road traffic accidents. There have been too many such incidents in the past two years.
Yu Chengdong once said, "Some cars blindly pursue 2 - second or 3 - second acceleration, which far exceeds the needs of normal roads. This excessive speed has no practical meaning. Safety is the most important thing."
"We are capable of achieving 2 - second acceleration, but in the laboratory, a 1.9 - second result can only stay on the race track under the constraints of regulations, roads, and user capabilities."
Moreover, the new rule does not prohibit high performance but balances safety and performance through the "non - default" setting.
As early as May this year, 11 automobile companies jointly submitted a "Technical Explanation on Restricting the Default Maximum Driving Force of Passenger Cars" to the National Technical Committee for Automobile Standardization, suggesting that "gentle start" be used as the default strategy, leaving "high performance" for users to choose actively, and supporting traceable logs.
Obviously, automobile companies have long realized that with the progress of driving technology, when the violent acceleration performance is quickly made available at a price within the reach of ordinary consumers, it may backfire.
In addition, another rule has been made regarding the "stopwatch - style" acceleration performance of new energy vehicles. "Pure electric and plug - in hybrid passenger cars should have a function to suppress accidental pedal - pressing acceleration. When the vehicle is stationary or creeping, it can detect and suppress the power output, and prompt the driver through an obvious signal device (e.g., sound or light signal)."
From the description, it is obviously a restrictive and warning measure designed for the "unexpected acceleration" during the starting phase of electric vehicles.
02 Intelligent Driving Will Also Require User Verification
This new solicitation of comments on the mandatory national standard also focuses on various common problems in new energy vehicles in the past two years.
For example, regarding the controversial issues of car door handle locking and safety escape recently, the new rule stipulates that all doors (excluding the tailgate) must have a mechanical release function. If the vehicle is equipped with an electric door handle, a mechanical emergency handle must be installed at the same time, and a prominent sign should be set nearby.
When the vehicle's irreversible restraint device (airbag) is deployed or a battery thermal event occurs, the non - collision side doors should automatically unlock, and the doors should be able to be opened from the outside without tools. It is also required that each passenger in a passenger car should be able to get on and off the vehicle through at least two different doors.
To prevent vehicle thermal runaway events, pure electric and plug - in hybrid vehicles should have the function of automatically cutting off the power circuit under specific circumstances. When the vehicle's speed changes by 25 km/h or more within 150 milliseconds in the longitudinal or lateral direction, or when the irreversible restraint device is deployed, the vehicle should be able to automatically cut off the power circuit to prevent safety accidents such as battery fires.
Once a battery thermal runaway event occurs, the vehicle should prompt the people inside the vehicle through obvious sound and light signals, and the power battery should be equipped with a directional pressure - relief and pressure - balancing device, leaving a pressure - relief channel to ensure the safety of the people in the cockpit during battery pressure relief.
For pure electric buses and plug - in hybrid buses with a length of 6 meters or more, it is required that the outside of the battery box should not catch fire or explode within 5 minutes after the battery alarm, so as to provide time for passengers to escape safely.
The specification of assisted driving is still being continuously improved. In this new rule, verification of the driver's system - using ability has become a key requirement.
The new standard stipulates that after each vehicle is powered on or ignited, at least one of the two methods of biometric identification or account login must be used to confirm that the driver has completed the training on using the assisted driving system before the vehicle can continue to drive.
This means that if a different person drives the same car, they may not be able to use the assisted driving function unless they have all completed the system training.
In addition, when the combined driving assistance system is activated and the vehicle speed is greater than 10 km/h, at least the methods of hand - off detection and line - of - sight - off detection should be used to continuously detect whether the driver is performing the corresponding dynamic driving tasks.
As there are more and more "color TVs" in cars, to ensure safety during driving, the solicitation of comments also requires that when the vehicle speed exceeds 10 km/h, the display devices in the front of the cab should be turned off, and the functions of playing entertainment videos and games should be prohibited. This includes in - car displays and head - up display devices.
Of course, these are not all the regulations. Currently, it is only in the solicitation of comments stage and has not been officially implemented. According to the public notice, these new regulations may replace the current GB 7258 national standard in about 6 months.
By then, the regulations in the new energy vehicle system will face a new round of constraints, which will surely make the market safer.
This article is from the WeChat official account "SuperEV - Lab" (ID: SuperEV - Lab), author: Wang Lei, published by 36Kr with permission.