The No.9 electric motorcycle is coming. What can you learn from the new players？
[Industry in car home] Today, we are also "cross-border". Let’s guess a riddle first: the on-wheel torque is 300N·m, Bosch 10th generation ABS system, Maxxis semi-hot melt tire, nitrogen hydraulic shock absorption, front and rear weight ratio of 50:50, intelligent light-sensitive matrix LED headlights ….. What can you associate with all this information, track, modification or control? In fact, this is the product information of a two-wheeled electric motorcycle just launched by No.9 Robot Company. The reason why we pay attention to these is that the subversive design concept of the product itself is worth learning from the automobile industry, and the more important reason is the reconstruction of the current mobile travel map and the change of people’s demand for mobile travel. Traditional cars are no longer the only choice for mobile travel, and the intelligence and networking of electric bicycles and electric motorcycles have also been fully opened.
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1. Short-distance traffic has great development prospects, so Robot No.9 gradually expands the travel market layout and develops two-wheeled electric vehicles.
2. Value reconstruction is also reflected in the two-wheeled electric vehicle market, and short-distance travel is also a segment that is difficult for cars to cover.
3. Robot No.9 is constantly creating global technical barriers, and many of its practices are worth learning from some car companies.
■ Step from micro-traffic, short-term traffic to feeder traffic
On December 17, the two-wheeled electric vehicle industry ushered in a "new member"-robot No.9. At the press conference, Robot No.9 brought two brand-new two-wheeled electric vehicles-No.9 electric bicycle C (the new national standard electric bicycle) and No.9 electric motorcycle E (the motorcycle license is required). In addition, it also showed two electric motorcycle concept cars, namely No.9 electric T with self-balancing and remote control function and Segway Apex super electric motorcycle with a top speed of 200 km/h.
"Maximum speed, cruising range and price of No.9 electric C and No.9 electric E products"
Robot No.9, founded in Beijing in 2012, has become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of balance cars and unicycles, and it is also one of Xiaomi’s eco-chain enterprises. According to Liu De, co-founder and senior vice president of Xiaomi Group, Robot No.9 applies the robot concept to short-distance vehicles, which is different from other eco-chain robot companies.
Robot No.9 is one of the earliest companies invested by Xiaomi in the Xiaomi ecological chain system, and it is also the company with the largest investment amount. The reason why Xiaomi invested heavily in Robot 9 is the huge market development prospect of short-distance transportation.
According to the different distances, Gao Lufeng, chairman and CEO of No.9 Robot, divided the mobile travel field into five market segments, namely, micro-traffic (< ＜2km), short traffic (2-20km), feeder traffic (20-50km), long-distance traffic (50-500km) and ultra-long-distance traffic (> 500km). The automobile market we pay attention to every day mainly lies in feeder traffic and long-distance traffic, but today’s No.9 robot is gradually moving from micro-traffic and short-distance traffic to feeder traffic.
"We think that the whole big version of the image is like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Every category and category is like an integral part of this layout, that is, a small jigsaw puzzle." Gao Lufeng pointed out that there is a great market demand for two-wheeled electric vehicles, and Robot No.9 is committed to changing human travel modes and lifestyles with intelligent technology.
"No.9 electric e"
From the perspective of market demand, cars are only one of the choices for people to travel by themselves or by sharing. At present, cars can’t cover all travel scenes, especially special scenes such as the "last mile", and more lightweight and portable mobile travel tools are needed.
■ "Value reconstruction" is in all aspects of life.
At the press conference, we had a deeper understanding of the word "value reconstruction". At present, we are living in an era when all values are facing revaluation, and many products have been redone. The emergence of new brands relying on technological innovation and model innovation has constantly disrupted the original market structure, such as mobile phones, televisions and other consumer fields, and so will the automobile industry. The intelligentization of transportation industry is an irresistible trend. People’s huge demand for mobile travel does not need to be recreated, but exists objectively. The industry has been exploring how to promote the outbreak of this demand.
Self-driving and sharing cars are to change the pattern of the automobile market from technology and mode respectively, and give a brand-new definition to the automobile. Intelligent technology will change the properties of functional machinery in any field, thus subverting the whole industry. Gao Lufeng has a very impressive saying, "The traditional two-wheeled electric vehicle we are familiar with has no technical content at all." This is the reason why Robot 9 wants to change this industry with intelligent technology.
The reasons for redefining two-wheeled electric vehicles can be summarized in four aspects, including the introduction of intelligent technology, the implementation of new national standards, the change of sales channels and the personalized needs of users. In April 2019, the revised national mandatory standard "Technical Specification for Safety of Electric Bicycles" was implemented, which made the industry undergo a major reshuffle. The definition of electric bicycles was clearer and more rigorous, and both safety and performance were more in line with the actual market demand, which also opened a way for the electrification of motorcycles.
For robot No.9, its value reconstruction of two-wheeled electric vehicle products is its landing on the concepts of "smart moving people" and "smart moving things". The No.9 electric C and No.9 electric E brought by the No.9 robot not only pay attention to the product itself, but make the car no longer an island. In the past mobile products of Robot No.9, the vehicle networking has accumulated more than 100 million times, and these networking capabilities will be continued in two rounds of electrified products.
"No.9 electric C"
■ What can I learn from Robot 9?
If the No.9 robot is compared with the whole vehicle enterprise, it will definitely make some whole vehicle enterprises feel "ashamed". This can be understood from three aspects: user thinking, technical barriers and product rigor.
Three years ago, Gao Lufeng decided to make two-wheeled electric vehicle products, and also put forward the definition of "true intelligence". It is necessary to help users do subtraction through intelligent technology, and design products completely from the actual needs of users and with their thinking. In the past, two-wheeled electric vehicles or motorcycles had to go through the steps of remote unlocking, inserting the key, unlocking the P gear, closing the side brace, riding, releasing the side brace, pulling out the key, hanging the P gear, locking by remote control, etc., while the No.9 electric C and No.9 electric E have highly intelligent technologies, including unlocking without key induction, that is, they are not afraid of losing when they stop, triple positioning of GPS, Beidou and base station, remote monitoring and exclusive App, etc.
The second aspect is that Robot 9 is building its own technical barriers. It has more than 1,000 basic core patented technologies, established a global technical threshold, and obtained intellectual property rights in North America, Europe and other countries and regions. Gao Lufeng put it this way: "It is difficult for other practitioners to bypass our most basic patented technologies and copy or build products similar to ours."
The third aspect is the rigor of products, which not only lies in design, but also includes manufacturing control and product verification. It took 18 months to build the No.9 robot balance car, two years to build the scooter and three years to build the two-wheeled electric car. The vehicles released this time have gone through 2 million fatigue vibration tests and 15,000 km durability road tests. These data are several times the requirements of national standards.
Back to the automobile industry, many enterprises still don’t have the same attitude of making products as robot No.9. In the past few years, what consumers are complaining about is the dehumanizing design of automobile functional parts, that the on-board system is too complicated, that the interior and exterior design of products are blindly copied, that the quality control requirements are lowered for low cost, and that the enterprises lacking the core technology are exaggerating and promoting. It is difficult for enterprises with the above behaviors to accumulate a good reputation in the market.
『Segway Apex Super Electric Motorcycle
Editor’s note:
Every product of Robot No.9, whether it is a balance car, a unicycle, a scooter or a newly released two-wheeled electric vehicle, is the crystallization of its core technology, directly presenting cool products, and behind it is a deep understanding of the mobile travel market and the excavation of market segments. In fact, Robot No.9 also has a self-developed battery management system (BMS, which can be used for both lithium battery and lead acid) and an active vehicle attitude sensor system, etc. On the self-balancing car No.9 electric T and Segway Apex super electric motorcycle, it shows more extreme technical capabilities. As the saying goes, "I have all the technologies, whether to sell or not depends on the market demand." So, do we have any expectations for the ninth robot to cross the border into the automobile field? (Text/car home Liu Honglong)