Recently, the "FH400B hydraulic retarder " independently developed by Fast has won the title of 2013 national key new product, which indicates that the country will gradually increase the support for the future development of the car retarder industry. As an auxiliary brake product, the retarder has a great effect on improving the safety of commercial vehicles . There have been dozens of domestic companies involved in the development of eddy current retarder and hydraulic retarder.
The new technical safety conditions for motor vehicle operation (GB7258-2012) implemented in September 2012 put forward requirements for some commercial vehicles to impose mandatory retarders or other auxiliary braking devices. Although this provision has been regarded by the industry as a turning point for the rapid development of the retarder market, in fact, the production and sales volume of the retarder in China's automobile market has not significantly increased in the past two years, especially in the case of hydraulic retarders. . Many companies told reporters that the development of the retarder market in the next few years is likely to be bland.
Passenger car, medium-heavy vehicles with big differences
“In China, the application of retarder products is focused on the passenger vehicle field, and mainly eddy current retarder.†Shi Jiekun, Marketing Manager of Shenzhen Terjia Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters.
Shi Jiekun said that eddy current retarder has been the standard configuration of the passenger car market, and the total sales of passenger cars equipped with eddy current retarders have increased year by year. The passenger car retarder market still has a lot of room for improvement. Last year, about 200,000 large and medium-size passenger cars over 7 meters in size were produced and sold in China. Only about two-thirds of the passenger cars were fitted with retarders, almost all of them were eddy current retarders, and buses equipped with hydraulic retarders were sold last year. Only about 1,000 cars.
The heavy-duty vehicle market is different from the passenger car market, and its requirements for retarders are relatively high. Compared with the eddy current retarder, the hydraulic retarder has the advantages of large torque, small volume, low quality, no need for special heat protection treatment, and good electromagnetic compatibility. Su Hongyun, manager of application technology and project department at Voith Turbo China, explained: “The passenger car has a low self-weight, and the brake requirement is lower than that of a medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle, and the eddy current retarder is relatively cheap, so the domestic eddy current is slow. The speeder still has opportunities for development in the passenger car market, while medium- and heavy-duty vehicles can only match hydraulic retarders that have better braking performance and contribute to vehicle weight reduction, but high costs and technical difficulties have hindered their domestic use. Marketing factors."
Last year, the sales volume of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles in China was approximately 1.06 million. China’s major commercial vehicle companies such as FAW, Dongfeng, and CNHTC accounted for more than 80% of sales. Shi Jiekun said that these commercial vehicle companies have chosen low-cost routes, and the price of hydraulic retarders is difficult to meet the cost-effective requirements of commercial vehicles for these manufacturers. Therefore, the hydraulic retarders have not been assembled in batches.
Fierce competition has begun
With parts and components markets that foreign companies have joined, competition is often fiercer. China's retarder market is no exception. “Although there has been no significant growth in the retarder market, market competition is also very intense.†Shi Jiekun told reporters, “According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 30 retarder enterprises with a certain scale in China, but some companies produce Inexperience, lack of technical reserves, and many product problems. Importing companies mainly include Voith and ZF, but the price of imported products is high and the market is unacceptable.†Because the total market is not yet large, there are many manufacturers, and there are no A retarder company has a clear competitive advantage in the market.
On the other hand, domestic enterprises have a consistent view of imported companies. First of all, importers do not understand the Chinese market and customer needs. Retarder matching is still carried out according to European standards. Second, if European product technology is not adjusted, it is difficult to meet the domestic use environment. Finally, foreign companies have very weak post-sale service, and it is likely that In the event of a problem with the product, the customer could not use the vehicle for several months.
In this regard, foreign-funded enterprises do not think so. For the relatively weak aftermarket, Hao Xu, truck sales manager at Voith China, gave the answer. “After the sale, after the delivery of the vehicle to the customer, we provide free training on the use of the retarder and communicate regularly with the customer to understand the product. If the product has quality problems, we will promptly dispatch technical personnel to perform the inspection. In addition, the retarder is a product with no wear characteristics, and the failure rate is extremely low.†Su Hongyun stated: “In order to reduce the price of products, Voith’s The localization project was launched. In May this year, Voith's first domestic hydraulic retarder will be released. With the gradual increase in the localization rate of accessories, it is expected that the price of the product will fall to about 80% of the current price."
Hydraulic retarder approved but no market
From a technical point of view, the hydraulic retarder has obvious advantages over the electric turbine retarder, and will inevitably replace it, and will be fully applied in the commercial vehicle field. This view has been unanimously approved by the surveyed companies. In Europe, the use of hydraulic retarders in the commercial vehicle market has approached 100%.
From the point of view of the technical development of domestic commercial vehicle companies, companies started the matching of hydraulic retarders as early as five years ago. Even though no direct benefits have been generated to date, no company has abandoned the research and matching of hydraulic retarders. They are testing the market with actions. In the past few months, Dongfeng, China National Heavy Duty Truck, FAW Jiefang, Shaanxi Auto and other companies have successively demonstrated high-end models equipped with hydraulic retarders. They all hope to use hydraulic retarders to increase their occupancy in the high-end commercial vehicle market as soon as possible. rate.
Liu Yi, Assistant General Manager of the Shaanxi Fast Group and Director of the Design Institute of the Engineering Research Institute, said: “The hydraulic retarder is definitely a development trend, but the sales volume will not grow rapidly. The reason is that the promotion time is not yet met. Continue to cultivate the market, let users understand and learn to use the retarder. The matching test of the automaker must continue to improve. The cost of the product should be further reduced."
At the same time as Voith made its own hydraulic retarder, it has already started marketing. Hao Xu said that Voith's hydraulic retarder has been applied in the passenger car market, but the truck market is mainly a pre-test run of the product. Currently, the truck market has more than 1,000 units and is preparing for the full market. "In the field of auxiliary braking, we should develop in a more comprehensive direction." Shi Jiekun said, "European auxiliary braking technology is developing in the direction of a combination of hydraulic retarder and engine braking. In the case of high-speed engine operation In the following, engine braking can be used to assist vehicle deceleration; when the engine is operating at an intermediate speed, a hydraulic retarder can be used; and when the engine is running at a low speed, conventional brakes can be used. The dynamic effect is greatly improved while reducing the hardware loss of the vehicle, which helps to prolong the service life of the vehicle."