New energy vehicles are booming, and charging facilities are becoming more and more complete. However, when car owners enjoy the convenience brought by new energy vehicles, they may find a problem: the charging port positions of new energy vehicles of different brands and models are different. Some are at the front of the car, some are at the rear of the car, and some are on the side. So, where is the most scientific position for the charging port? Today, let’s discuss it carefully.
1. In the early days, many low-priced electric vehicles preferred to set the charging port at the front of the car, especially the design hidden in the car logo of the air intake grille.
But the disadvantages are also very prominent:
Inconvenient to use: Domestic charging piles are mostly at the end of vertical parking spaces. The charging port at the front of the car means that the vehicle must “get in”. When there are cars on both sides, the difficulty is much higher than reversing into the garage.
Poor safety: The front of the car is a high-incidence area for collisions. A slight rear-end collision may damage the charging port and increase the maintenance cost; and the hard charging port is not conducive to pedestrian protection, which does not meet the requirements of current safety tests such as C-NCAP. Nowadays, except for low-priced microcars such as Hongguang MINIEV, mainstream models have basically abandoned this type of charging port.
2. The side charging port is divided into two layouts: front fender and rear fender, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Front fender charging port
Advantages: It avoids the risk of collision with the front of the car, is more friendly to pedestrian protection, and can still use the radiator fan to dissipate heat; when charging in a side parking space, it is more convenient to operate than the front charging port.
Disadvantages: The front fender is a sheet metal part, and modifying the mold and adding reinforcement structure will increase the cost; in the vertical rear fender charging port (similar to the fuel tank refueling port position)
This is one of the most popular designs at present:
Safety: Similar to the front fender, it avoids the risk of collision with the front of the car, and the structural strength of the rear fender is sufficient to protect the charging port. Convenience: When charging in a vertical parking space, the vehicle can be reversed into the garage, which is less difficult to operate; the location is close to the fuel tank refueling port of a fuel vehicle, which is in line with the user’s usage habits.
However, the left and right positions of the rear fender charging port are also particular:
Left rear fender: The driver can operate it by getting off the left side, without going around to the right side, which is more time-saving.
Right rear fender: When charging in a narrow parking space, it can leave more space for the left driver; when parking sideways, it is closer to the charging pile, reducing the pulling of cables.
3. Rear charging port: the “potential stock” with the best overall performance
The rear charging port is considered to be the design with the best overall performance, especially in pure electric platform models.
Advantages: Maximum convenience: The charging piles in domestic vertical parking spaces are mostly at the end. After the vehicle is reversed into the parking space, the rear charging port can be directly aligned with the charging pile, without pulling long cables, avoiding entanglement and wear, and the advantages are more obvious in narrow parking lots.
Higher safety: The probability of collision at the rear of the vehicle is lower than that at the front of the vehicle, and the rear structure can better absorb the collision energy, reducing the risk of damage to the charging port; at the same time, the rear of the vehicle is away from pedestrian-dense areas, reducing potential safety hazards.
Disadvantages: For models that share a fuel/pure electric platform, there may be a layout conflict between the charging port and other components (such as the reserved position for the exhaust pipe), but with the popularization of the pure electric platform, this problem is gradually being solved.
4. Technical considerations behind the location of the charging port
In addition to the above-mentioned convenience, safety and other factors, the selection of the location of the charging port also involves some technical considerations. For example, the current characteristics problem, AC power cannot directly charge the battery, and electric vehicles need to be equipped with an on-board charger for slow charging. It converts AC power into DC and boosts the household 220V electricity to more than 300V. The voltage of the charger and related wiring harness is very high. To ensure safety, an orange-yellow high-voltage wiring harness is used between the charging port-charger-battery, which is expensive. From a cost perspective, arranging the charger and the charging port together can shorten the length of the high-voltage wiring harness and reduce costs.
In terms of heat dissipation, the efficiency of the charger is generally 94-95%, and the remaining 5-6% will be converted into heat. Even if the charging power is only 3.5-7kW, it is necessary to equip a special radiator and air duct, or even a cooling pipeline. For models with 6-in-1 electric drive systems or higher integration, the location of the charger depends on the drive form. If the charging port is to be placed on the rear fender, it may be necessary to add a high-voltage harness connecting the cabin and the rear fender charging port, which increases the cost and wiring difficulty, so some manufacturers choose to arrange it nearby and design the charging port on the front fender. Similarly, rear-drive electric vehicles place the charging port on the rear fender, which has the shortest high-voltage harness and the lowest cost.
Which location is the most scientific? Considering safety, convenience and cost factors, the rear fender charging port and the rear charging port are currently better choices: – The rear fender charging port conforms to the user’s usage habits (similar to the refueling port), has reasonable cost control, and is widely applicable. – The rear charging port is superior in convenience and safety, especially suitable for pure electric platform models, and is a future development trend.
However, the choice of the charging port location is also closely related to the technical route and model positioning of the car company. With the advancement of industry standardization, there may be more unified and optimized design solutions in the future to make the charging experience more convenient.
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