Chery to spend $A26b on new tech over five years

CHINA’S ninth largest automotive manufacturer and largest passenger car exporter, Chery, has hosted an event in Wuhu, China with the theme of Technology Within Reach to showcase its technology progression underlined by an accumulated 26,000 patents.

The 2023 Chery Tech Day, complete with a dedicated Chery Patent Wall, placed a focus on the manufacturer's R&D capabilities at multiple technical zones throughout the venue.

The extraordinary patent tally ranks Chery at the forefront of the industry and gives credence to the (quaint) national label Tech Chery.

And according to the Wuhu-based automaker, the feverish pace of tech’ development is set to continue over the next five years as it is poised to invest over 100 billion yuan (A$21.6 billion) in R&D and simultaneously establish 300 Yao Guang Laboratories (study of magnetism) worldwide.

Unusually, the state-owned company’s adherence to an independent innovation strategy has resulted in autonomous R&D capabilities in: complete vehicles, engines and critical components.

Numbered among its portfolio of invention patents are core technologies and key domains, encompassing traditional automobiles, new energy, intelligent connectivity, and autonomous driving.

In China, Chery has received several National Scientific and Technological Progress Awards, and has been honoured three times as a national-level Innovative Enterprise.

At the tech’ day, Chery disclosed that these initiatives will primarily focus on breakthroughs in strategic technologies related to intelligent cabins and autonomous driving. The company saying this concerted effort aims to establish the foundational elements necessary for crafting an internationally competitive brand with a global presence.

Chery attributes its rapidly growing sales growth to the integration of “advanced technological achievements” into its products a statement underscored by January to September 2023 results that show Chery’s cumulative sales reached 1.253 million vehicles, surpassing the total sales for the entire previous year.

Some of Chery’s technology highlights include its eco-friendly smart modular platform that has shortened manufacturing time. An evolution of the traditional auto-making process, the Chery system reduces the number of production stations by 50 per cent.

Chery uses a “whole-process green manufacturing” system with resulting energy consumption reduced by 80 per cent. Its integrated pure electric drive using a “smart platform” has “multi-power” capabilities and a multi-drive combination mode that enables motor efficiency up to 97 per cent and an energy recovery rate up to 100 per cent.

The “smart battery” features an intelligent management system with liquid-cooled high-efficiency heat transfer structure and intelligent heat management with thermal runaway suppression technology.

Stronger computing power is delivered by a 64-bit processor, with computing speed up to four-trillion times per second, which Chery says is double that of competitors of same class.

At a more prosaic level, Chery says it places a high value on customer’s safety and security demonstrated in its autopilot system that features monitor, assist, or even take control of certain steering, braking, and parking functions on a vehicle, “applying advanced technology to further ensure security in daily driving”.

The company uses innovative design concepts such as “dynamic water flow body shape” that “reflects the natural dynamics and appeal of Chery’s streamlined new generation 2.0 Hydro Dynamic Surfacing.