According to the plan of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, at the end of this year, mandatory standards for air quality in the car will be released. Are the major companies ready for this, and are all the companies fully prepared for this?

Recently, after interviewing a number of vehicle manufacturers, interior suppliers and raw material suppliers, the reporter found that many companies did a lot of work on the control of air quality in the car and made technical reserves. However, in the improvement, all kinds of rickets have also been exposed: the OEMs are facing a lot of cost pressure, and some environmental technologies are not economic enough. At the same time, many suppliers lacking control awareness drowned in the water when the samples were sent for inspection. Moreover, a number of non-standard third-party testing agencies have emerged in the market.

The air quality in the car is gradually improving, driven by the upcoming mandatory standards. But when can you breathe in the car? I am afraid I still need to wait for the comprehensive transformation and upgrading of the industrial chain.

Environmentally friendly interiors must also be economical

To fundamentally solve the air pollution inside the car, the most important thing is to seize the source of pollution - automotive interior raw materials. According to Dai Gance of the School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, the air pollution in the car mainly comes from leather, plastic parts, adhesives and other interior decorative materials, which emit volatile organic compounds (VOC), including benzene, formaldehyde, xylene and other toxic substances. Gas, which is the chief culprit of serious harm to the human body. Therefore, the use of environmentally friendly materials is a key part of the control of air pollution inside the car.

During the visit, the reporter found that many interior suppliers and raw material manufacturers who are at the forefront of the industry have introduced some environmentally friendly materials. For example, Shanghai Jinhu Rili Plastic Co., Ltd. has launched ultra-low-distribution plastics – plastic can be clean, plastic can be clean? It is the lowest automotive interior plastics; Eagle Leather has launched Natalle, an environmentally friendly leather product; Bayer MaterialScience has introduced a new automotive water-based adhesive solution...

There are many new technologies for environmental protection, but their practical use and how to use them are the choice of OEMs. Why not? Due to cost constraints, automakers can only be discouraged by some costly environmental technologies and materials, especially for their own brands.

According to Huang Jiaqi, manager of non-metallic materials technology of Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd., in order to control the air pollution inside the vehicle, the automaker must carry out technical research and capital investment. After comprehensive calculation, the cost of bicycles will rise at the level of 100 yuan.

It can be seen that the cost pressure of the OEM is not small. Therefore, to control the pollution inside the car, first of all, the automaker should pay enough attention, be willing to invest money, and even make profit concessions. Of course, more importantly, suppliers also need to work with OEMs on the basis of environmental technology innovation to reduce costs. Otherwise, even with advanced technology and environmentally friendly materials, the cost is too high. so awkward.

In this regard, Huang Jiaqi said that in fact, for parts and components, improving VOC emissions does not necessarily lead to cost increases. Through the application of new materials and new processes, the overall cost of some components can be reduced, and some interiors can be environmentally friendly and economical.

According to the research and development personnel of Kumho Rili, the substandard air quality in the car is largely due to the unqualified automotive interior materials. To upgrade the materials to environmentally friendly materials, the cost of rising materials is different. . For example, Kumho Rily's ultra-low-spreading plastics – plastics can be used to reduce VOCs from the polymerization of proprietary raw materials, relying on the background of polymerization technology for formulation upgrades and process improvements, the cost of which is higher than plants and condensation. The environmental upgrade of rubber can basically be ignored.

Suppliers are common in fish and fish

The reporter found that since CCTV exposed the serious air pollution in a luxury car in 2013, many automakers have paid more and more attention to the control of the air quality inside the car, and have done a lot of work. For example, SAIC passenger vehicles have established a “Material Avoidance List” to strictly control the banned and some unrecommended materials, and through a series of measures such as training, test comparison, parts approval, process audit, problem analysis and tracking, etc. Control VOC emissions in the car.

However, in the process of control, the automakers also have a lot of helpless places. The biggest helplessness is that some suppliers are not very cooperative with their car air quality control work.

Huang Jiaqi said that although some suppliers who are at the forefront of the industry have introduced environmentally friendly materials and technologies, in general, many suppliers in the industry chain are still weak in their awareness of VOC emissions control. At present, the suppliers of “fishing in the water” are common in the market: some suppliers know that the VOC emissions of their interior parts are not up to standard, and then put the samples in the oven before baking, and then quickly dissipate the VOCs. Seek to be qualified and get away with it. But once the product reaches the assembly line, the problem is highlighted.

However, the OEM has also thought of a lot of ways to deal with this phenomenon. "The VOC quick check method can be used, that is, the portable test equipment is used to directly go to the site for inspection, instead of bringing the sample back to the laboratory for testing. This will effectively prevent the supplier from making a fake. The VOC quick check is also a future trend." Huang Jiaqi said. In addition, according to Yang Rusong, Director of Quality Assurance Department of SAIC Passenger Vehicles, SAIC Motors has set up on-site laboratories in the Lingang and Nanjing factories to conduct real-time VOC monitoring on the assembly line. It can be seen that in order to strictly control these falsified suppliers, the OEMs have racked their brains.

Yang Rusong called for solving the problem of air quality in the car. It is not only by the automakers, but also by one or two suppliers. It is necessary to work together in the entire industry chain to raise awareness of VOC control.

Testing industry needs to be standardized

In addition to automakers, interior suppliers and raw material suppliers, as the air pollution inside the car becomes more and more concerned by consumers, the inspection agencies in the industrial chain have also exposed some problems.

Song Guangsheng, director of the National Indoor Interior Environment and Environmental Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, said in an interview recently that with the increasing attention of the community to the air quality inside the car, some testing organizations have sniffed business opportunities, claiming to be able to carry air inside the car. Quality inspection, and on the website have published reports on the results of in-vehicle air quality testing for certain models. But in fact, the detection methods, testing instruments, testing conditions and testing items used by these so-called testing organizations are not standardized, and industry chaos is gradually emerging. The release of non-standard test results not only affects the correct implementation of national standards, but also misleads consumers into a correct understanding of the air quality inside the car, and forms a wrong public opinion orientation.

For the detection of chaos in the industry, Song Guangsheng suggested that the air quality inspection and evaluation should be standardized as soon as possible, including the specification of the air quality testing laboratory inside the vehicle, the air quality testing activity inside the vehicle, and the release of the air quality testing result in the vehicle. “The chaos in the air quality testing industry in the past two years is particularly obvious. It has been much better in the near future, but the non-standard testing institutions still exist.” Song Guangsheng said, “Some testing institutions only publish test reports for commercial interests. Suggested consumption. When discovering the air quality problem in the car, it is necessary to select a testing institution that has passed the national qualification certification, and pay attention to whether it can issue a test report with national approval and legal effect."

(Wang Jing)

After editing:

When can consumers breathe in the car? When will the interior air quality really improve? I am afraid this is not the unilateral efforts of the automakers, nor is it possible for one or two leading suppliers to do so. This requires the entire industry chain to transform towards green environmental protection. In the process of transformation and upgrading, it will inevitably expose various problems. This is not terrible. It is terrible to turn a blind eye to the problem. The good news is that many companies are still very active in managing air pollution inside the car.

In fact, in addition to the government and enterprises, every consumer is an indispensable force to promote the green upgrade of the industrial chain. Because the transformation and upgrading of the industrial chain cannot be separated from the promotion of national policies, on the other hand, it needs the market. Pull. When the concept of “green consumption” runs through the entire market, the author believes that in order to seize the market, even if there is no mandatory standard, environmentally-friendly automotive interior materials will become the standard for future cars.

Therefore, the author calls for consumers to consciously use the air quality inside the car as an important consideration for car selection, and actively purchase cars that use low-emission environmentally friendly interiors, which is beneficial to consumers' own health. In addition, it also enhances the market demand for environmentally friendly interiors. On the other hand, it encourages companies to actively develop and use environmentally friendly interiors and use environmentally friendly materials as standard vehicles.

Fighting against pollution inside the car, no one is missing!