Tonight in China BYD unveiled its fifth generation DM technology and launched the first two cars to use it, the Qin L DM-i and the Seal 06 DM-i, at a press conference. Key information is that BYD has achieved three world’s bests: highest engine thermal efficiency (46.06%), lowest fuel consumption (2.9 l/100 km) and longest comprehensive range 2,100 km.

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DM stands for Dual Mode and the system originally debuted with the F3DM back in 2008. And that first car is part of the reason why the press conference for the fifth generation system was held in Xian rather than in BYD’s home city of Shenzhen. The F3DM was produced at the Xian factory.

BYD’s fifth generation system is a development of the fourth generation DM technology. It’s based on a 1.5 liter plug-in hybrid petrol engine. This can deliver a maximum power of 74 kW and 126 Nm or torque. Thanks to improvements in technology the engine now has a thermal efficiency of 46.06% which BYD says is the world’s most efficient. This has been achieved by a combination of technologies which include an ultra-high compression ratio of 16, a high tumbling air duct, intelligent combustion system, intelligent EFI system, EGR before urging air extraction, intelligent split cooling, and intelligent variable lubrication system.

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The system utilizes battery packs of either 10.08 or 15.87 kWh, which of course are made up of BYD’s Blade battery. For the electric motor element of the system it uses either an EHS120 electric motor with maximum power of 120 kW and torque of 210 Nm or the EHS160 motor with maximum power of 160 kW and 260 Nm torque. Also utilized as part of the system is a 12V lithium iron phosphate battery which has the same life as the vehicle and is lead-free. The electric hybrid system (EHS) boasts efficiency of 92% under comprehensive working conditions, which is an increase of 5% and a power density of 75.47 kW/l an increase of 15.5%.

Furthermore the energy density of the plug-in hybrid blade battery is now 115 Wh/kg which is an increase of 15.5% Discharge rate is now 16C which is an increase of 33% while feedback rate is up 20.3% to 5C. BYD is also emphasizing its safety and uniformity of temperature.

For charging it means that with AC it has now been upgraded from 3.3 kw to 6.6 kW and the charging time shortened by 60%. With DC charging from 30-80% now takes 21 minutes. Furthermore external discharge uses such as V2L can now support up to 6 kW rather than the previous 3.3 kW.

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Editor’s note:

There was a funny comment on Weibo (China’s Twitter equivalent) which pretty well sums up how important this announcement by BYD is. It starts by saying “The hottest topic in the automotive world tonight should be BYD’s 5th generation DM technology!” it then goes on to outline the three bests from BYD (46.06%, 2.9 l/100 km, 2100 km). Finally the kicker “These data, take any one of them and they are far ahead in the automotive field, but these 3 achievements are integrated in one car, and so the horror can be imagined.” Indeed many producers the world over are probably going to have a sleepless night tonight.

Sources: Autohome, Fast Technology