New Energy Technology - New Energy Bus

Ankai New Energy

As one subsidiary company to Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (Group) Co., Ltd., Anhui Ankai Automobile Co., Ltd. (Hereafter referred to as Ankai) is a publicly listed company for specialized production of series buses and automotive parts. As one China’s Torch Program Key Hi-Tech Enterprise and one China’s National Innovative Experimental Enterprise, Ankai owns state-level electric bus system integration engineering R&D center and national post-doctoral workstation.

After the completion of the new energy production base with a total investment amount of RMB 670 million and an occupation area of 249,333m2 in 2015, Ankai formed an additional yearly production capacity of 6,000 new energy buses.

As one China’s earliest bus manufacturer for R&D of new energy vehicles, Ankai focused on the development of new energy buses as early as 2003 and presently has formed 6~12m pure-electric bus, touring bus, and commuting bus series platform products. Its 5th generation new energy bus with “e-Control” system achieves >350km driving range and reduces the composite energy consumption by >10% than the previous generation product. It's presently the pure-electric bus of China’s highest composite performance indicators. Ankai’s latest 6th generation pure-electric bus closely follows the international development trend, applies the China’s latest pure-electric bus development technology, and realizes comprehensive surpasses in terms of operating efficiency, body structure, energy consumption, driving range, lightweight, and vehicle cost to build the new generation electric bus of lightest mass, longest driving range, and highest lifecycle cost-performance in the industry.

R&D Strength

As one pioneer of China’s new energy vehicles, Ankai spares no effort in terms of the R&D and industrialization to strive for the realization of the corner overtaking for China’s automotive industry. From the world’s first pure-electric bus route to the industry’s first new energy intelligent management system (Ankai “e-Control” system) and to the China’s sole “National Electric Bus System Integration Engineering R&D Center” and “National and Local United Engineering R&D Center for Electric Bus System Development and Application”, Ankai closely follows the national new energy vehicle development strategy, sticks to the technologic route of primary pure-electric vehicle and auxiliary plug-in hybrid vehicle, tracks the latest technologies for development of fuel cell buses, and insists on independent R&D of vehicle control systems and asynchronous motors, the independent development of permanent motors, the integration and application of power batteries, and the product technologic development route of weight-reduction and cost-reduction.

As a contractor for national electric bus system engineering R&D center and based on the construction objectives of engineering R&D center and the technologic development needs of Ankai, Ankai set up the China’s leading Ankai engineering center lab, which incorporates 5 main labs and 18 sub-labs.

High Safety And Reliability
For Guarantee Of Vehic le Operations

Highly integrated controllers
The integrated 5-in-1 controller integrates the drive motor controller, electronic power steering motor controller, air compressor motor controller, DC/DC, and high-voltage distribution, which is developed to realize high efficiency, energy-saving, and higher safety and reliability.
Vehicle system-level EMC design
The design rules of body framework, electric parts, and connecting cables are defined, the design specifications are prepared centering on the EMC ground, shielding, and filtering, and the vehicle is verified in accordance with GB/T18387 and GB14023.

5-level safety protection for power battery system

01

Fireproof and flame-retardance design for power battery system
02

Smoke detection and wireless transmission alarm
03

Battery over-current, over-voltage, over-charging, and over-discharging protection system
04

Quick unlocking and detaching system for battery compartment
05

Automatic fire-extinguishing system

6-level protection design for high voltage system of vehicle

Complete IP67 protection standard compliance and high wading safety

Wading depth protection

Battery compartment water-proof design + IP67 protection standard compliance for electric steering pump, drive motors, and electric inflation pump
Wading test at 5~10km/h in 30cm deep water

Charging contactor seizure protection and temperature control

In event of seizure of the contactor, the vehicle controller sends via communication control a signal to the battery management system to restrain the charging. During the charging, the battery management system real-time monitors the information of temperature sensor at the charging socket connection. Upon detection of over-temperature at the connection, a signal is sent via communication network to restrain the charging and a warning is shown on the instrument.
IP67 high protection grade design

IP67 high protection grade design
500mm water immersion test for 24h

Vehicle brake override system

Even if the accelerator pedal is depressed, the driver can still stop the vehicle by depressing the brake pedal.
Isolation between battery and passenger compartment

The battery for a pure-electric bus is installed on the side or the roof to completely isolate from the passenger compartment so that the battery is beyond the access of the passengers and the standard requirements are met.

Vehicle steering priority system

Upon detection of any abnormal online status such as electronic accelerator, electronic brake, and air pressure sensor, the vehicle real-time activates the graded safety control status, such as status warning, system power reduction, and active stop. The high pressure oil supply is maintained for the steering circuit to realize the 30s delayed steering function.

Complete inspection capability and more reliable quality

Ankai boasts the performance test capability for the prototyping of vehicle, road reliability and performance test of vehicle, and performance, strength, life, and environment of main parts and power assemblies, including motors, electronic control, and battery.

Vehicle R&D and performance lab (National accredited) Vehicle test and performance verification

New energy vehicle power system lab
Power battery lab Electronic control system lab

System integration test
Parts performance lab

Parts test

Energy-saving And Environmental-friendliness

for improvement of environmental-friendly benefits

Independent permanent magnet synchronous drive motor
The independent permanent magnet synchronous drive motor realizes iterative development and mass production and application, with the performance indicators leading the industry.
Permanent magnet synchronous steering system
The permanent magnet synchronous steering system features high efficiency, small volume, and light weight compared with AC asynchronous steering pump under same power condition.
Permanent magnet synchronous inflation pump system
The permanent magnet synchronous inflation pump system is applied. The inflation pump is arranged behind the rear wheels of the vehicle to reduce the noise of driver zone.

EBS braking energy recovery control system
The central processing module acquires the signal of brake travel sensor to learn the driver behavior information and, based on the permissible energy recovery status of vehicle, utilize the recovered braking energy to the maximum extent. Under different loads and acceleration/deceleration controls, it intelligently distributes the energy recovery and dynamic braking proportion to realize comfortable braking. EBS intelligent control realizes the ABS distributed torque control and solve the variation problem of braking force due to deactivation of motor braking triggered by ABS.
Cruise vehicle power system optimization and matching
Based on the system structure of vehicle, the vehicle simulation model is built by AVLCruise for simulation of vehicle performances, including acceleration performance, gradeability, top traveling speed, energy consumption economy. In addition, the wheel hub test data is combined to benchmark the differences of analysis data and test data to continuously improve the power performance, economy, and effectiveness of simulation technology.

All-round lightweight design for improvement of energy-saving performance

Ankai full-integral structure body is made of Baosteel 16Mn sectional steel. The vehicle structure is mechanically analyzed and optimized to realize high lightweight extent and reduce the weight by 200kg than traditional vehicles. In event of an external force impact at any point of body, the impact force is distributed to all places of the body. The torsional strength of the steel parts is 3~6 times of that for other common buses.
The new high-energy density lithium iron phosphate battery is applied to improve the group energy density from 120Wh/Kg to 153Wh/Kg and reduce the power battery weight by 800kg.
The lightweight parts, including seats, PVC floor, A/C, and aluminum alloy wheel rims, reduce the vehicle weight by 2% and improve the driving range.

High intelligence and comfort for
improvement of vehicle operation experience

Intelligent control system

Ankai “e-Control” system is the comprehensive upgrade of Ankai electric excellence management system (I-EMS). On the basis of “Vehicle Control System”, “Motor Drive System”, and “Energy Management System”, it integrates three characteristics, namely humanized control, multi-level safety, and intelligent function, to bring about a technologic and comfortable driving/riding experience and lead the comprehensive entry of China’s new energy buses into intelligent large-screen age.

Intelligent environment perception and pre-warning system

Pedestrian Collision Warning (PCW): The system detects the orientation of pedestrian, the severity of danger, and the possible collision with pedestrian and displays an icon on the instrument and issues a continuous warning tone.

Vehicle Distance Monitoring Warning (HMW): Upon detection of a vehicle ahead, the instrument displays a vehicle icon and the distance to the vehicle ahead. When the preset distance is approached, the system displays an icon on the instrument and issues a continuous warning tone.

Frontal Collision Warning (FCW): Upon detection of possible collision with vehicle ahead, the system will alarm up to 2.7s prior to the collision.

Lane Departure Warning (LDW): Upon detection of unconscious lane departure, the system issues a continuous tone and displays a warning sign to the driver.
Speed Limit Indication (SLI): The system issues a continuous warning tone and displays a warning sign in event of speeding.

Ankai anhui vehicle networking monitoring platform

The vehicle safety control strategy performs the all-weather and full-condition real-time scanning and monitoring to guarantee the system safety and driving safety. The vehicle networking technology is utilized to remotely real-time monitor the driving status of vehicle and realize the intelligent operations. The electromagnetically compatible vehicle and electronic parts guarantee the high-reliability communication of vehicle local area network and realize the multi-terminal monitoring by computer and mobile phone.

Intelligent hill-start assist system

When the creeper function is activated, by means of the braking control, the braking pressure for four wheels is maintained, until the drive system has sufficient drive force for forward driving. It can effectively prevent the backward gliding danger due to startup failure of motor, reduce the frequent uses of parking brake and foot brake during traffic jam on slopes, and lower the driver’s fatigue strength.

NVH noise reduction technology

The CAE software analysis and new drive motor technology are applied to ensure steady low-speed driving, reduce the noise, and improve the comfort of the vehicle.
The permanent magnet drives for the auxiliary systems, including permanent magnet steering motor and inflation pump motor, effectively reduce the noise and vibration and improve the riding comfort..

Openable front face design

The lower edge of the front windscreen is designed into four parts, which can be unfolded in three directions. The split bumper adopts tiltable and detachable structure to ease the checking and services of lamps, wiper, defroster, and brake master cylinder and bring about remarkable conveniences for the customer's maintenances. The telescopic towing hook and the external air charging port are provided in the front middle portion to ease the towing of vehicle.

Design upgrade of driver zone

The driver zone is independently designed to realize safe, sweet, and ergonomic layout and higher operation convenience. The large touchscreen design is leading the industry application and is upgraded in intelligent level.

Comfortable riding space

The low floor, whole passage, and large space of the vehicle and the beautiful and neat interior upholstery matching bring about a fresh and comfortable vehicle space and the concise design style and matching make the optimized interior space broader. The multiple humanized detail treatments on Ankai bus provide more comfortable space for the passengers.