The Chinese new energy vehicle market in 2024 is full of good performances. At the beginning of the year, BYD announced the launch of the Qin PLUS Honor Edition, with a starting price of 79800 yuan, a price reduction of 20000 yuan compared to the entire 2023 model line. This not only prompted major new energy brands to adjust prices, but also prompted traditional automotive companies to start price reductions in advance to meet the challenges of new energy vehicles, driving the year-on-year growth of national automotive production and sales in the first quarter of 2024 by 6.4% and 10.6%, achieving a good start to the first quarter.



On March 28th, Xiaomi held a launch event for its first new energy vehicle, the SU7, and official delivery began on April 3rd. With its beautiful appearance, advanced configuration, and attractive price, it received 88898 orders within 24 hours. Other car companies are launching new models or adjusting prices in a short period of time to respond. In less than three months, the second peak of the new energy vehicle market in 2024 was triggered.



The market is hot, and some doubts have also been raised and constantly amplified. The first one to bear the brunt is that the charging harness material of Xiaomi SU7 has been pointed out to be different from traditional copper wire harnesses. Xiaomi has also actively responded to this, mentioning in "Xiaomi SU7 Answers to Netizens' Questions (Episode 8)" that "currently, the vast majority of charging harnesses in host manufacturers use aluminum conductor solutions, and Xiaomi SU7 also uses aluminum conductor solutions. Aluminum conductors have the same conductor performance and safety performance as copper conductors, except for different conductivity, but can achieve the same current carrying capacity through different cross-sectional areas."



The author strongly agrees with Xiaomi Motors not avoiding questioning and providing a comprehensive and objective response quickly. I believe this will be beneficial for promoting the improvement of domestic new energy vehicle safety.

From Xiaomi's response, we can see that only the charging harness in the SU7 uses non copper materials, while the other harnesses in the car still use traditional copper wire harnesses. As is well known, wire harnesses are the main network of automotive circuits, connecting various components on the vehicle and responsible for the transmission of relevant electricity and electrical signals, known as the "automotive nerve". In a modern car, the length of the wiring harness can reach 5km; Tesla shortened the wiring harness of Model S to 3km by optimizing domain control, reducing controllers, and shortening CAM bus; By migrating more software to high computing power modules, the concentration can be further improved, reducing the wiring harness length of Model 3 to 1.5km. This effectively reduces the total amount of vehicle wiring harnesses, while at the same time, copper wire harnesses are still used for safety and reliability considerations.

In the high-voltage wiring harness of new energy vehicles, whether it is the connection between the battery and the drive motor, the connection inside the battery, or the connection between the electronic control system and the battery/motor, copper wire harnesses are currently used. The main factors to consider include copper material having better conductivity; The material has better toughness, is not easily oxidized, and has a longer service life; In addition, the connection between copper wire bundles and interface copper materials is more reliable and less prone to electrochemical corrosion.





In the design and material selection process of charging harnesses, on the one hand, more careful consideration should be given to the reliability of harness installation, and effective measures should be taken to avoid loose connections and corrosion after vibration or long-term use; At the same time, more redundant designs should be made for potential issues such as material oxidation and heat dissipation under high currents to improve safety and reliability. For safety and reliability reasons, companies such as Volkswagen continue to use copper wire harnesses as charging harnesses for their new energy vehicles.





New energy vehicles are an important area for the development of new productive forces in China, and innovation is the core of the development of new energy vehicles. In the development of new energy vehicles, breakthroughs need to be achieved through continuous innovation. On the other hand, safety is the cornerstone of the development of new energy vehicles. Every innovation in new energy vehicles must be based on safety, and steady progress must be made to achieve sustainable development of new energy vehicles in technology, market, and industry.