Li Xiang got into a fight with netizens again because they questioned the quality of his car.
The thing is like this. Some netizens mentioned that "a friend said that the Ideal L9 is good in everything, and he has already paid the deposit. He has not made up his mind because he found that the suspension of the Ideal (L9) is obviously iron, and the manufacturer insists on it. The surface was painted with aluminum alloy, which puzzled him. "
The controversy unexpectedly attracted a strong response from Li Xiang, and his words were very tough.
"No one stipulates that cast iron must be coated with black paint, anti-corrosion coating is silver", "We never said it was aluminum, aluminum is not a high-end thing", and even "it is recommended that aluminum is better than steel and Dear netizens, please tear down the main steel structure of your house and replace it with aluminum...
It’s hard to imagine spending nearly 500,000 yuan on a car and being criticized like this by the boss of the other party. After all, it is not easy for others to buy the Ideal L9. They may have to find friends who drive Cullinan or Maybach to look at the car together. Let’s not talk about the quarrel between
. Here I would like to briefly discuss the Lixiang L9, which sells for 459,800 yuan and is considered by Li Xiang to be the best SUV within 5 million yuan. Is it right to use iron (steel) suspension?
When Li wanted to confront netizens, he left a message, but later deleted it:
"It is strongly recommended that those netizens who cognitively believe that aluminum must be better than steel and iron should remove the main steel structure of their houses. Dismantle them all and replace them with aluminum ones. It is absolutely safe and scientific. This is not a sneaky concept, but to make what you think in your mind, what you say, what you do in action, and what you really do, consistent. The integration of knowledge and action. Where to use aluminum and where to use steel and iron in a car is not determined by patting your head or typing on the keyboard. "
First of all, building a car is really a systematic project. What materials are used in what places? Yes, body and material engineers must have spent decades exploring this issue, and even overturned the original decision during the exploration.
If you look at it from this perspective, from the perspective of vehicle manufacturing, there seems to be nothing wrong with what they said. But it's a little different from a suspension perspective.
Nowadays, major luxury brands are using a large amount of aluminum alloy materials to build cars. Most of them use steel to build the body in white, and then add aluminum alloy materials to certain key parts. For example, the use of hoods can reduce the weight of the front of the car and is also beneficial to pedestrian protection. The use of aluminum alloy on the roof can lower the center of gravity.
However, it is generally believed that aluminum alloy for suspension is the most valuable, which can reduce the unsprung mass, make the suspension response faster and provide better riding comfort. The suspension made of aluminum and steel materials is like the different feeling of wearing a pair of light shoes and a pair of heavy shoes when running.
aluminum alloy suspension has other benefits, such as rust resistance. So it can be understood that if it is a high-end model, it must be made of aluminum alloy, and it does not matter if it is more expensive. Even if carbon fiber is not suitable for civilian car suspension, it is estimated that supercars will use it.
But on the other hand, aluminum alloy is not as strong as steel. Suspension and body structure are both stressed parts, and more aluminum alloy is needed to achieve the same strength as steel (you will know after watching the all-aluminum body structure of Audi R8 , the aluminum parts are very thick). In this way, the advantage of aluminum in lightweighting is compromised.
Of course, for luxury brands that are not short of money, this does not matter. After all, aluminum alloy still has some advantages.
However, if the cost of building a car is also taken into account, the overall structural strength, weight, etc. are also taken into consideration. Especially for large SUVs, it is hard to say whether to use steel or aluminum. Because the suspension structure of large SUVs has higher requirements, strength, stiffness, durability and other indicators must also be taken into consideration.
The weight gap between steel and aluminum may be closing.
We are not suspension engineers or experts. In theory, it should be the engineer who has the final say whether to use steel or aluminum for suspension. Of course, this means that if the budget is about the same, if the money is in place, nothing will happen.
Finally, we magnify the problem and put aside suspension and talk about building a car. Is aluminum alloy necessarily better than steel? uncertain.
Let’s talk about an interesting example. Magna builds subframes for many luxury cars. At first, they used aluminum alloy instead of steel, which can greatly reduce the weight. Later, it was discovered that the aluminum alloy was still not strong enough, and finally had to go back to heavy materials like steel.
Therefore, the difficulties encountered by automobile engineers are much greater than imagined. The lightweighting of automobiles requires the support of materials science, structural mechanics and other multi-disciplinary support. It strives to reduce weight while maintaining body rigidity and safety performance. Influence.
