Nanshan Group takes the route of relying on technology to win orders.
This is the slogan Cao Yang has been promoting within the company.
Now that it has begun to produce cars, it is natural for Xingchen Automobile's products to have technical content.
Otherwise, how can you take the high-end route?
In terms of brand heritage, no matter how you market it, there is definitely no way to compare with established car companies such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Rolls-Royce.
But technically it is possible to break through.
Relying on technology that surpasses its peers, there is no problem in creating high-performance cars that surpass its peers.
Based on this idea, many of the technologies used by Cao Yang on Xingchen 2 and Xingchen 3 were more than ten years ahead of this era.
Although it cannot be said to be a black technology, it is definitely amazing enough.
When the time comes, it will be absolutely no problem to use it to run races or continue to do laps in Niubei.
If the W16 engine is developed in the future, then from W12 to W16, the performance of the high-end version will definitely be even better.
So soon, in addition to handling some of the company's main matters, he began to invest a lot of time in technology research and development.
"Mr. Cao, currently the members of our battery team are good at different things."
"Some people have been studying batteries used in pure electric vehicles. If they are allowed to switch to the research and development of FHEV batteries, it is not impossible, but it would be a waste of talent, and the other party may not be very happy."
"Some people were studying lithium nickel oxide batteries before, and now it will take some time to switch to lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries."
"Electric vehicles are the future direction, but whether they are FHEV, PHEV, or BEV, they should have their own market in the future."
"We may not need to dedicate all types of R&D talents to FHEV batteries alone."
Lin Cheng is a professor recruited from a university by Nanshan Group and now serves as the deputy general manager of Nanshan Battery.
The position of general manager is temporarily vacant.
As a professor from a university, his professional level is not a problem.
However, since it has been involved in several directions before, now it is natural to hope to work in several fields at the same time.
Otherwise, if the bet is wrong, wouldn't all the efforts be meaningless?
"Professor Lin, your analysis also makes sense."
"We do not need to limit the research on FHEV batteries. PHEV and BEV can also be developed simultaneously."
"However, in the short term, our focus will definitely be on FHEV batteries. After all, this is what will be used soon on Xingchen 3."
"As for the battery chemistry system, based on the company's previous research, I think we only need to study two types of lithium iron phosphate batteries and lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries at this stage."
"Other lithium cobalt oxide batteries, lithium manganate batteries, lithium nickel oxide batteries, etc., although they all have their own advantages, the corresponding shortcomings are also very obvious."
"Like lithium cobalt oxide, Sony first applied it commercially, and it has excellent properties of high specific capacity and low self-discharge."
"But the cost is high, the thermal stability is poor, and the battery decays quickly at high rates and deep cycles, making it unsuitable for use in electric vehicles."
"Lithium manganate is cheap enough, but its energy density and power density are not inferior to other types."
If you want to convince a talent like Lin Cheng who came out of college to convince you, the best way is to show your professionalism in front of him.
If you make him feel powerful in the professional field, he will naturally become much easier to communicate with.
So Cao Yang was going to have a good chat with Lin Cheng about batteries.
"Mr. Cao, everything you said is correct."
"No matter which material the battery is made of, it actually has its own advantages and disadvantages."
"New lithium-ion battery electrode materials such as lithium iron phosphate are characterized by large discharge capacity, low price, non-toxicity and no environmental pollution."
"Currently, countries around the world are racing to achieve industrialized production, but its tap density is low, which affects the electric capacity and may not be suitable for the needs of electric vehicles."
"Lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries can effectively increase the cell voltage by increasing the nickel content, thereby obtaining higher energy density."
"And because it contains less cobalt, the cost is only a quarter of that of lithium cobalt oxide and is more environmentally friendly."
"This material is indeed a hot research topic in the battery field, but it is not without its own problems."
"A basic fact is that as the nickel content increases, the specific capacity of the ternary cathode material gradually increases, and the energy density of the battery core will also increase."
"However, the thermal stability of high-nickel materials in the state of charge is poor, which leads to a decrease in battery safety. Battery manufacturers and end product users are concerned about the safety of such batteries. They need to consider battery cell design and power supply systems. Design, power supply and other aspects of the system to ensure reliable and safe design.”
"There are various other specific technical issues, but none of them have been completely resolved."
When talking about professional matters, Lin Cheng was still very enthusiastic.
This is his area of expertise.
He also wanted to take this opportunity to let his boss see his level.
"You are right, every type of battery has its own problems."
"At this time, the vision of each enterprise will be tested."
"If the future development trend is lithium iron phosphate batteries, but we focus on lithium cobalt oxide batteries, then there will definitely be no future."
"In turn, the industry is still not sure which battery technology is easier to achieve breakthroughs and become the future development direction."
"And if we can make a successful choice, we can overtake others in a corner and become the leading battery company in the industry."
"Frankly speaking, our research history in battery technology is definitely not comparable to companies such as Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba, nor is it comparable to Korea's LG Chem and SK Innovation."
“Even domestic BYD and some other companies have a longer history in battery research than we do.”
"But as long as we choose the right direction, it is not impossible to overtake in corners."
"In the future, lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries will be our main high-performance batteries, and lithium iron phosphate batteries will be our main low-cost batteries."
“The combination of these two paths can allow us to quickly become the leader in the industry.”
"Of course, I'm talking about things within ten years. If we look at it in the long term, research on semi-solid batteries and solid-state batteries will definitely be involved in the future."
"It's just that our Nanshan Battery hasn't even learned to walk yet, so we can talk about running later."
Cao Yang is very determined to take the route of lithium iron phosphate and lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries.
This is a path to success that has been proven by history.
Among the four main materials of the battery, positive electrode material, negative electrode material, electrolyte and separator, the positive electrode material not only accounts for more than 40% of the cost, but also directly determines the energy density of the battery core.
Because of this, most power batteries are named after the cathode material.
Lithium iron phosphate and lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries are naturally no exception.
In later generations, both CATL and BYD will focus on these two products.
Of course, everyone's focus is different.
BYD is better at lithium iron phosphate batteries, while CATL is better at nickel cobalt manganese batteries.
"Mr. Cao, the two research directions you mentioned are indeed one of the popular research areas in the industry."
"There are many choices for battery cathode materials. We have to study them all, which is obviously unrealistic."
“It’s not impossible to be able to lock in a target and delve deeply into this field.”
After all, it was the boss's decision, and Lin Cheng was not so stubborn in his objection.
The most important thing is that what Cao Yang said is not unreasonable.
It's just that Lin Cheng has no way to directly determine the research direction.
Now that Cao Yang's attitude was so obvious, he naturally no longer struggled.
Of course, he is mainly involved in this field, and even lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries are still an area in which he is relatively good at.
You can also use your own advantages in the future.
"Good steel should be used on the blade. Although there are two research and development directions now, our Xingchen 3 is a sports car, and it must use lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries with better performance."
"In this case, Nanshan Battery's FHEV battery will definitely use lithium nickel cobalt manganate as the cathode material."
"Then the next work is to discuss how to implement this technology into specific parts."
Cao Yang is here to "reinforce the development of new projects". Now that the battery used on Xingchen No. 3 has a development bottleneck, he will naturally "reinforce the development of new projects".
"Mr. Cao, we have also done some industry research in this regard, reviewed many related papers, and already have some ideas."
"Preliminarily, prismatic batteries should be a more suitable type for use in hybrid batteries."
“Considering that hybrid batteries don’t require much power, basically two kilowatt-hours of electricity is enough.”
"But it has high power requirements, so we plan to use lithium nickel cobalt manganate batteries with a relatively low nickel content, which can better meet the technical needs of hybrid batteries."
“However, the corresponding cost will be higher than that of high-nickel batteries.”
Lin Cheng began to have a serious discussion with Cao Yang based on his previous research.
"The cost of power batteries is definitely higher than that of energy batteries."
"Especially for hybrid batteries, because they need to be charged and discharged quickly in a short period of time or at high power, the requirements for positive and negative electrode materials and separators are very high."
When Cao Yang said this, Lin Cheng immediately thought of a question.
"Mr. Cao, we have also had some contact with material suppliers during this period. I have some ideas that I think need to be discussed in advance."
"Oh? But it doesn't matter!"
Cao Yang really wanted to hear the opinions of people in Lin Cheng's industry.
"Currently, the positive and negative electrode materials of lithium batteries, especially the positive and negative electrode materials, are mainly in the hands of Japanese companies such as Sumitomo Metal, Mitsubishi Chemical, Japanese Chemical, and Mitsui Copper Foil."
"There is no way we can completely avoid them in the short term."
"Although there are some related positive and negative electrode material manufacturers in China, they have not yet fully developed and grown and require further support."
"So I think we need to consider acquiring some key materials ourselves or investing in building factories to produce them, so that we can grasp the core competitiveness."
"In addition, with the increase in battery production, related metal resources such as lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, nickel, and cobalt will one day become relatively scarce in the future."
"The prices of these materials are not particularly expensive now, but maybe the situation will be different when the production of batteries increases in the future."
“So I think it’s also necessary for Nanshan Investment to come forward and lay out some companies related to lithium mines, nickel mines, and cobalt mines from an early stage?”
When Lin Cheng said this, Cao Yang couldn't help but his eyes lit up.
Being able to raise this question so early shows that Lin Cheng has thought about the problem seriously.
Cao Yang, who knew the situation of future generations, also knew very well that what Cao Yang said would happen in the future.
Especially for materials related to lithium ore such as lithium carbonate, the price increase is even more astonishing.
It is hard to imagine that a kind of mineral resource can increase its price more than ten times or dozens of times.
Is this an increase in the price of oil used by mining trucks?
Or has the value of the mines lying on the ground really changed that much?
"I will let Nanshan Investment start to consider the layout of mineral resources, but I am not in a hurry right now. When the time is right, I will purchase some domestic and foreign minerals."
Cao Yang naturally knows the importance of lithium mines, but waiting until the financial crisis to buy them will obviously save a lot of money.
Anyway, the current usage of lithium batteries in cars is very low, and it will not grow by leaps and bounds in the next few years.
I still have enough time to plan.
As for the various materials used on the battery, such as the positive and negative electrodes, the situation is different.
"As for the positive and negative electrode materials, some can consider producing them themselves, and some can consider investing in some domestic suppliers to support their development."
"Of course this cannot be achieved in a short time."
“At the beginning, it was not impossible to consider purchasing some parts from manufacturers such as Sumitomo Metal.”
"It is also possible to take this opportunity to inspect manufacturers such as Sumitomo Metal and prepare for our own production in the next step."
Batteries will be a very big industry in the future.
In addition to the familiar battery manufacturers, there are also various supporting material manufacturers behind them.
Even the profit margins of these material manufacturers are sometimes higher than those of battery manufacturers.
Naturally, Cao Yang would not ignore this matter completely.
Mainly, the quality of these materials is closely related to the performance of the battery.
For example, if the copper foil is not made thin enough, the other components of the battery core will remain unchanged and the performance will drop.
Similarly, the diaphragm is also very critical.
"The performance of the separator determines the interface structure and internal resistance of the battery, which directly affects the battery's capacity, cycle and safety performance."
"Separators with excellent performance play an important role in improving the overall performance of batteries."
"In this regard, Nanshan Battery needs to consider investing in its own factory to build it."
Cao Yang also quickly gave his own suggestions.
Along with these suggestions, he and Lin Cheng also began to discuss specific battery specifications.
We even called the personnel responsible for the research and development of battery equipment from Nanshan Equipment.
Everyone discussed together and developed a prototype step by step for the FHEV battery used on Xingchen 3.
For the rest, Cao Yang would naturally come over from time to time to "reinforce the growth".
Of course, this is something to talk about later.
Cao Yang now wants to discuss the development of electric motors for hybrid models with Nanshan Transmission.
(End of chapter)
