The huge market for air suspension will open, and the domestic substitution process will accelerate.

From the evolution of decentralized architecture to central computing platform, from hardware-defined cars to software-defined cars, the innovation of car-making concepts with data-determined experience, from transportation tools to the changes in user expectations of the "third living space", the development of artificial intelligence is The automotive industry has brought about unprecedented changes.

Suspension, as a device that connects the body and the axle, started from the first passive suspension composed of coil springs in 1934, and has experienced milestone iterations such as non-independent suspension, independent suspension, active suspension and air suspension. With the support of vehicle electrification and intelligence, the air suspension market continues to increase in volume.

According to Gasgoo statistics, the domestic monthly loading volume of air suspension will show an upward trend in 2022. By November, the monthly loading volume exceeded 30,000 units, and the penetration rate has reached 2.3%; it is expected that by 2025, the air suspension penetration rate will rise to 15 %, the market size is close to 38 billion, and the compound annual growth rate reaches 41.3%. Air suspension is entering the huge market.

What advantages does air suspension have for cars compared to traditional suspension?

In line with the trend of electrification and intelligence, it may become an incremental configuration of mid- to high-end models

Compared with traditional suspension, air suspension presents better characteristics in many aspects such as vehicle safety, driving comfort and energy economy, which are widely concerned by users.

Improve safety and operational stability. When the car turns or accelerates sharply, the damping force output of the shock absorber will be controlled to effectively suppress pitch and roll; when the car is laterally unstable or emergency braking occurs, the damping force can be used to control the beating of the four wheels to reduce the dynamic load on the wheels. This enhances the tire's grip and makes driving safer.

Ideal comfort. By changing the piston shape of the air spring, the volume of the airbag, and the internal pressure of the airbag, the body bias frequency can be reduced and controlled to around 1Hz, which is more comfortable for the human body, so that the human body will not experience symptoms such as dizziness; it can also filter high-frequency noise and improve the interior of the car. Sound quality; actively raise or lower the car body to enhance passability or facilitate getting on and off the vehicle, and the driving experience is upgraded.

Energy economy. The height control valve can automatically adjust the height of the vehicle body. When the vehicle speed is high, it reduces wind resistance by lowering the vehicle body, thereby reducing energy consumption. For fuel vehicles, it can reduce fuel consumption by 2-3%, while electric vehicles can reduce power consumption by about 5%. .

Overall, the performance advantages of air suspension are responding to the new needs generated by vehicle electrification and intelligence. Due to the increased battery mass of electric vehicles, the sprung mass of the vehicle becomes heavier, causing the spring stroke to be compressed. The shock absorption capacity of the car when driving on bumpy roads will be correspondingly weakened, so a harder spring stiffness or compression stroke is required to support the chassis. This It will also reduce driving comfort. One of the important features of air suspension is that the stiffness curve can be designed freely, and the above problems are easily solved.

In addition, the air suspension's ability to reduce energy consumption points to the "range anxiety" of electric vehicles and improves their range. Its electronic control systems, sensors and other devices will be better integrated with intelligent systems to help the vehicle complete dual upgrades in performance and experience.

 At present, the penetration rate of air suspension in new power brand models continues to increase, and it has become standard equipment in Weilai ES8, ET7, Ideal L9, L8, L7, Xpeng G9 and other series.

The strong rise of local enterprises and the acceleration of localization process

Facing the huge air suspension market, local companies are turning to key technologies such as air springs, variable damping shock absorbers, and air compressors. As local companies break through technical barriers in the research and development of the above key components, the cost of the entire system will continue to drop to less than 10,000 yuan. Konghui Automotive Technology has been deeply involved in the suspension field for many years. It has the development capabilities of entire system integration, controller hardware development capabilities, and a complete R&D industry chain. It began to supply air suspension systems to Lantu FREE in June 2021. In recent years, Market share continues to gradually increase.

At the 2023 Third Automobile Intelligent Chassis Conference, Qiu Tao, system integration director of Zhejiang Konghui Automotive Technology Co., Ltd., said that the continued increase in supply volume has placed higher requirements on Konghui Automotive Technology’s production capacity . According to statistics, in January this year, the entire air spring production capacity was less than 30,000 sets; after hard work, as of October, the production capacity has reached more than nearly 36,000 sets, and continues to increase; the production time of the air spring production line has also dropped from the original 60 seconds to 50 seconds. While production capacity continues to increase, the pass-through rate of air springs has also been steadily improved, and is currently stable at more than 98%. The two series with the largest supply volume at present are Lantu's air spring products and Ideal air spring products.

Konghui Automotive Technology’s customers are mainly high-end brands of domestic enterprises, and it plans to enter the global automotive business from 2023 to 2025. Currently, we are actively negotiating with foreign-funded enterprises such as Lotus, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ford, SMART, Jaguar Land Rover, and Tesla.

Master core self-research capabilities and break through technical barriers at multiple points

Core self-research capabilities are an important cornerstone for the team to move fast and steadily. Konghui Automotive Technology masters the core algorithm of independent intellectual property rights and has a professional team for the entire system integration test and vehicle testing, which can cooperate with the OEM in the chassis tuning stage.

In the design of air spring assembly, stiffness characteristics play a vital role. In order to achieve the preset indicators, the corresponding net stiffness target is first formulated, combined with dynamic chassis analysis and chassis tuning, and finally a complete stiffness curve is formed to establish the stiffness characteristics of the entire air spring. Compared with traditional single-cavity air springs, double-cavity air springs can freely switch between high and low stiffness. In the single gun mode, its stiffness is lower than the double gun low stiffness mode, and the improvement is as high as 30-50%. Konghui Automotive Technology is the first in the industry to achieve mass production of dual-chamber air springs.

In terms of production technology, Konghui Automotive Technology has independently developed automated production lines, including automatic sea inspection stations, high-precision optical inspection stations, high-precision potential withholding lines and fully automatic boxing lines. The controller automated production line is also one of its contents, covering program filling, shell main assembly, comprehensive inspection and testing; peripheral components such as PCB and SMP are completed by other companies.

At present, the industry standard in the field of electronically controlled suspension is still blank. Konghui Automotive Technology actively participates in the formulation of relevant industry standards, and is taking the lead in formulating technical specifications for electronically controlled suspension air springs for passenger cars with the Engineering Research Institute. The specifications cover technical requirements and experimental methods.

The core competitiveness of Konghui Automotive Technology lies in the sustainable innovation of electronically controlled suspension. In 2020-2023, its goal is to establish a leading position in the country, and there is no doubt that this goal has been successfully achieved; in the future 2023-2025, Konghui Automotive Technology will enter the international joint venture brand market; after 2025, there will be more Multiple active suspension products are mass-produced.

Orderly layout, steady and long-term progress in the "hundred teams competing for the flow"

At present, Konghui Automotive Technology has received designated letters from many car companies for the supply of electronically controlled suspension systems or air springs. It is expected to deliver 70,000 units in 2022, more than 350,000 units in 2023, and more than 100 units in 2024. 10,000 copies.

Facing the tens of billions of air suspension market, Konghui Automotive Technology has carried out research and development and industrialization layout. From the perspective of production bases, the construction of Huzhou and Chongqing bases has been completed, and Guangzhou and Wuhan bases are under preparation. These bases will focus on the assembly of air springs and monitors and the production of CDC. In the field of R&D, it is planned to build a general R&D institute and headquarters in Suzhou, and set up R&D branches in Changchun and Shanghai.

From the perspective of product planning, after achieving mass production of single- and double-cavity air springs, it is planned to launch a three-cavity air spring in the second half of 2024. In the ASU field, the supply of open valve pump systems has been achieved, and the closed valve pump system will also achieve mass production in the first half of 2024. In the field of active suspension, products including single-control shock absorbers are being developed, with plans to achieve mass production in 2024 and the first half of 2025 respectively. In the field of controllers, mass production of two-in-one controllers has been achieved, and three-in-one controllers have also entered the final stage of research and development, and are expected to be mass-produced in the first half of 2024. More products will be launched in the future, including three-chamber air springs, integrated FIO assemblies, CDC shock absorbers and active lateral stabilizer bars.