Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 273 One small step for battery, one giant leap for Nanshan

In the early 20th century, cars didn't have keys.

Cars at that time still required human power to start, and to start the car, a crank was needed.

Start the engine by turning the crank handle.

Today, there are still many tractors and agricultural equipment retaining this original starting method in vast rural areas.

This can be regarded as the earliest prototype of a car key.

However, most people cannot use this domineering key, especially female drivers.

Because to activate this "key", you must first have enough arm strength.

If you are not careful, this "key" will fly up and break your front teeth.

This period lasted quite a long time, and there were some changes in the middle. Finally, in 1980, the convenience of car keys was further improved.

At that time, Ford used the "remote key" technology for the first time. Just press the button on the key to unlock the vehicle remotely. However, when you need to start the car, you still need to insert the key into the ignition ring and turn the key.

At present, [-]% of the cars sold in China use this type of key.

Obviously, as a high-end luxury car, Xingchen Auto cannot continue to let the key stay at this stage.

The smart keys and one-button engine start functions that can be seen everywhere in later generations are equipment determined by Cao Yang himself.

Regardless of whether the development team can complete the development themselves, it needs to be used.

Because this kind of smart key that can automatically unlock and lock has appeared in 1998, and was first used in Mercedes-Benz cars.

As long as the key is on your body, you can unlock and start the vehicle without taking it out. For people of this era, it seems very classy and respectable.

Luxury brand models such as BMW and Audi will naturally follow suit.

However, they are only used on their respective high-end models. Entry-level low-end models still use traditional keys.

"Mr. Cao, according to what we have learned from the current investigation, Bosch, Continental and Denso have a relatively rich accumulation of smart keys. If we directly find them to develop together, the schedule is expected to catch up with the production of Xingchen 1."

"We will consider independent research and development after we have enough time to accumulate relevant technologies."

Zhou Zhichao, the Minister of Electronics and Electrical Appliances, is under the greatest pressure among the ministers.

As high-end luxury models, many special equipment are related to them.

Just like the smart key being discussed now, as well as the navigation, adaptive cruise system under development, and the headlight design that always dissatisfies Cao Yang.

These are all parts that are the responsibility of the Electronic and Electrical Department.

"Among the many trendy electronic devices in cars, the smart key system is very eye-catching."

"Keyless entry technology brings excellent convenience, and one-button start brings a full sense of technology."

"Just the change from turning the key to pressing the button is enough for many bosses to pay a lot more money."

"This technology will definitely be a selling point in the future and can be continuously improved."

"We cannot leave such critical things to outside suppliers."

When Cao Yang said this, he couldn't help but think of the lines of the Bentley car "Engine Start" in the movie 2012 during the critical moment.

At that time, you can definitely consider implanting it in some movies. In order to improve the style of Star 1, it is not impossible to consider directly investing in some movies and TV series.

He would not trust such an important function to be handed over to manufacturers such as Bosch, Continental and Denso, which have strong competitive relationships with Nanshan Group.

Let's not talk about whether others will cause you some troubles. In terms of price alone, these manufacturers will definitely form a very good tacit understanding and give Xingchen Automobile a try.

Anyway, there is absolutely no manufacturer in China that has the production capacity for smart keys.

"Mr. Cao, your analysis is very reasonable."

"The keyless entry system not only provides sufficient convenience, but also ensures safety. It is a high-end configuration that is very popular among consumers."

"But although the smart key seems to be a very small part, it takes a lot of time to develop, and the technical threshold is not low."

"In principle, the smart key uses RFID, which is radio frequency identification technology, and has a verification action during the process of opening the car door."

"When the vehicle is locked, signals are constantly sent out."

"When the smart key appears within the signal range, there will be a response to complete the key matching behavior."

"When consumers walk to their cars and touch the door handle, the door locks automatically open."

"After entering the car, as long as the driver ensures that the key is in the car, the driver only needs to step on the brake pedal and press the start button, and the engine will start automatically, eliminating the trouble of finding the car key."

"But in order for smart keys to fully meet functional and safety requirements, the requirements for chip design are very high, and they also need to communicate with the ECU to ensure reliable performance."

"Although we have established a semiconductor joint venture with BYD, we also have technical cooperation with Huawei, and we even have a semiconductor division within the research institute."

"But our work is just in its infancy, and there is no way to complete the chip design of smart keys in a short time."

"When there are a lot of programming failures, or insensitive responses or even errors, the gains outweigh the losses."

Zhou Zhichao obviously does not have the confidence to develop a smart key by himself.

This thing looks like a small thing, but its technical content is still very high.

Each OEM is basically a partner with its own fixed traditional key or functional key.

Mercedes-Benz cars basically use Bosch key systems.

As for Toyota, Denso must provide these parts.

For Honda cars, they also have their own Honda locks.

If this technology is mastered by other third parties and accidentally used to steal cars, it will be a big deal.

In 2004, unlike later generations, there were surveillance cameras and cameras everywhere.

In this era, car theft is still a common occurrence, and vehicle theft and rescue insurance is still a separate type of insurance.

"If the chip design of the smart key can be solved, can your electronic and electrical department complete the design of the smart key on time?"

Zhou Zhichao said a lot of things, but it cannot be said that what he said was unreasonable.

However, Cao Yang obviously didn't want to hear it.

Isn't it that he stays at Xingchen Automobile Research Institute every day to help "solve" these bottleneck issues?

"If there are no problems with the design work related to the chip and programming, then the design of the smart key will not be difficult, and we can definitely complete it ourselves."

Zhou Zhichao didn't even think about it and immediately said it could be done.

As the head of the Electronic and Electrical Department, he still has this ability to make judgments.

"By the way, what are you going to do with the small battery on this smart key?"

Logically speaking, this question should be asked to the purchasing department and should be a supply issue.

But in fact, a lot of the work done by the purchasing department has already been done by researchers in the development stage.

Obviously, specifying which type of battery is a matter that requires technical verification during the development stage.

Otherwise, if one of your smart keys runs out of power in two months, consumers won't be able to scold you to death?

"For the small battery, we are currently planning to use batteries provided by Panasonic."

"Of course, we are also communicating with BYD. If they also produce this kind of battery in the future, there will be no problem in switching to their battery."

"However, their current battery division mainly produces mobile phone batteries and computer batteries. This small button-like battery is not their focus yet."

"We only plan to produce 1 units of Xingchen 1, which will not use many batteries in total."

When Zhou Zhichao said this, Cao Yang felt that he had found a good entry point.

Battery!

People today are not fully aware of its importance.

Can Cao Yang still not realize it?

One of the previous cooperation projects between Nanshan Group and BYD was the research and development of batteries.

But so far, it seems that no specific product has been released.

Taking this opportunity, a battery factory was set up in Nanshan Auto Parts, specifically responsible for the production of button batteries.

Starting from button batteries for smart keys, we can also sell button batteries for various remote controls.

After accumulating for a period of time, we will further consider developing batteries for use in cars.

Whether it is FHEV batteries, PHEV batteries or BEV batteries, they will have broad application prospects in the future.

Especially in the short term, FHEV batteries can be considered to be combined with Xingchen Automobile to launch FHEV versions of models.

No charging is required, and it can provide enough power when starting, making the car quieter.

Toyota's Lexus has gone down this road before.

"Panasonic batteries can be used as an alternative. There are only 1 batteries anyway. Even if you buy them and don't use them, it won't have much impact."

"But taking this opportunity, I will let Nanshan Auto Parts start their own research and production of button batteries."

"Our subsequent smart keys will be equipped with Nanshan's own batteries as much as possible."

Cao Yang's decision surprised Zhou Zhichao.

Although he had seen how powerful Cao Yang was, he couldn't help but remind him on this matter: "Mr. Cao, although the battery on the smart key is small, its technical content is actually quite high."

"To maintain sufficient power, you need to use lithium batteries, but lithium metal is very active. To make the performance of lithium batteries stable enough, you need to make a series of selections of positive and negative electrode materials, electrolytes, separators, etc. test."

"And it is best to introduce large-scale automated equipment for production to ensure product quality stability."

"In this case, the investment is definitely not small, and the final cost may be higher than buying it directly from Panasonic."

"Although it is a very correct general direction to hand over key components to the group's brother manufacturers as much as possible."

"But some parts inevitably need to be produced by other manufacturers, including batteries. There are already various relatively mature manufacturers on the market, and we also plan to directly use their mature products."

Taking this opportunity, Zhou Zhichao directly talked about the battery.

After all, the only batteries in cars now are batteries and button batteries in smart keys.

No other batteries exist.

Cao Yang attached so much importance to the battery issue that Zhou Zhichao was also worried that if he didn't let the other party know about the battery issue until it was too late, it would have a bad impression on him.

"The battery uses lead-acid batteries. This battery technology is very mature and there is not much room for improvement."

“I don’t think there’s any problem if you just choose the products on the market.”

"But button batteries are lithium-ion batteries, which is the most promising category in the battery industry."

"It is also the technology involved in our current battery cooperation project with BYD, so even if the current usage is very small, it is worth spending time and manpower to accumulate technology in this area."

"Maybe in a dozen years, electric vehicles will be popular."

"We need to plan ahead."

Cao Yang gave a very firm reply.

In this regard, Zhou Zhichao will not refute again.

He just analyzes the problem from his own point of view and then provides suggestions.

If the boss thinks there is a better plan, he will naturally follow his advice.

"Mr. Cao, if this is the case, then I think we can consider investing in the battery production line. In addition to producing button batteries, what other products do we need to produce?"

"Mobile phone batteries and laptop batteries, the products that BYD is currently producing, are definitely not acceptable."

"This was specifically emphasized in the previous cooperation agreement between the two parties."

"If we simply rely on providing batteries for each remote control, the market capacity will be very small, because most remote controls now do not use button batteries."

Zhou Zhichao can be regarded as conscientious.

He was obviously the person in charge of development, but he started to think about the market.

"Nowadays, the penetration rate of mobile phones has become higher and higher. Mobile phone batteries are a big market, although we have no plans to do it."

"But in the early stages of development, you can consider making a power bank to increase the load on the battery production line."

Cao Yang had an idea and came up with an idea.

Power banks are too common in later generations.

Although the era of smartphones has not yet arrived, if the mobile phone battery has a universal charger, buying a few more can solve the problem.

But there is no market for power banks.

"power Bank?"

"Yes, it is equivalent to a mobile power supply for charging mobile phones."

"Mr. Cao, if you use lithium batteries to make power banks, the price will probably not be cheap, and sales may not be very good."

Zhou Zhichao thought that he had replaced a mobile phone lithium battery some time ago. One battery cost more than 100 yuan, which was very expensive.

The size of the power bank must be much larger than that of a mobile phone battery. Wouldn’t the price be even more exaggerated by then?

"Power banks are not the company's main business, and they are not even the future development direction. They are just to provide a channel for the battery production line to absorb production capacity."

"So in this area of ​​business, as long as we don't lose money, the price should be as low as possible."

Cao Yang does not expect the battery business to make money for Nanshan Group in the next ten years, as long as there are products to support the personnel and production lines in this area.

The real outbreak period will definitely have to wait until the launch of hybrid models and electric vehicles.

"If that's the case, you can give it a try. Then I will communicate with Mr. Dai from Nanshan Auto Parts."

The boss has taken the battery sales situation into consideration, so Zhou Zhishan has nothing to worry about.

However, the news that Nanshan will invest in a battery production line must have come down, and BYD is a little worried.

"Mr. Wang, I just received news that Nanshan Auto Parts is planning to invest in a new battery production line and is already discussing cooperation with us."

As BYD's vice president in charge of the battery business, Lu Faxiang is a veteran subordinate who is deeply trusted by Wang Fu.

Now he hurriedly came to find Wang Fu, obviously realizing that something was wrong.

"Nanshan wants to develop batteries?"

When Wang Fu heard this, he was stunned for a moment.

This information is indeed a bit surprising.

"Yes, the news has been confirmed."

"The battery business is our company's most important profitable business at present. If Nanshan also engages in it, the impact on us will be huge."

“I think it’s necessary to negotiate with them so that they don’t violate the cooperation agreement between the two parties?”

Lu Faxiang's first reaction was that Nanshan was going to enter the field of mobile phone batteries and computer batteries and compete with BYD for the market.

This area of ​​business is still quite profitable now.

Nanshan must have started to feel envious after he figured out the situation.

Well, it must be like this.

Thinking of this, Lu Faxiang became even more anxious.

The two parties have started cooperation in the battery business. Although it cannot be said that they have completely mastered all of BYD's battery technology, they know something from the cooperative project team.

If some more people are hired from BYD, it will definitely pose a huge threat to BYD's battery business.

"its not right."

"If Nanshan wanted to compete with us, he would have secretly built a battery factory. He wouldn't have let you know right from the beginning."

"You're even discussing a cooperation business with the battery factory. Don't you think it's strange?"

Wang Fu also experienced a lot of storms and waves. Although he was surprised just now, he quickly calmed down.

According to his understanding of Cao Yang, he is not the kind of person who competes with BYD for food.

Otherwise, Xingchen Automobile would not be positioned as a high-end model.

"Although it is a bit strange, it is definitely true and reliable news that they are going to deal with batteries."

At this point, Lu Xiangyang felt something was wrong.

Nanshan is going to build a battery factory, but also wants BYD to help design the production line?

Is the other party stupid?

"Have they told you what type of batteries they plan to produce?"

Wang Fu thought about it and thought it would be better to confirm it clearly.

In order to avoid any misunderstanding between the two parties after calling Cao Yang directly.

For BYD, Nanshan is now an indispensable supplier, and they cannot afford to break up with Nanshan.

"Lithium-ion batteries, they invested in lithium-ion battery production lines as soon as they opened the door, so I was anxious."

Slowly I realized that it seemed a little thoughtless for me to come to Wang Fu so quickly.

Lu Faxiang's voice became slightly softer.

"Nanshan Group's business is basically developed around the automobile industry. Whether it is parts or equipment, or Xingchen Automobile, they are all in the automobile industry."

"I don't think they are investing in battery production lines because they want to enter consumer electronics batteries."

"They have always claimed to rely on technology to get orders, so they probably won't compete with us on costs."

"Besides, with our technical background, even if they want to produce batteries for consumer electronics, they can't do it at a lower cost than us."

"In this case, it is impossible for Mr. Cao to agree to the following people's mischief."

After Wang Fu analyzed this, Lu Faxiang couldn't help but nodded.

The truth is indeed this truth.

"That……"

"Mr. Wang, does Nanshan Group want to produce car batteries?"

Lu Faxiang knew that BYD had begun researching batteries for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Even BYD's semiconductor business was invested because of this demand.

"I have always admired Mr. Cao's vision."

"Although we are still in the era of fuel vehicles, I think electric vehicles will be a direction sooner or later in the future."

"Especially as China's automobile production continues to rise, its dependence on imported oil will become increasingly high."

"But these oil resources are basically in the hands of others, and we have no pricing power."

"So in order to reduce dependence on imported oil, China will definitely support the development of new energy vehicles such as electric vehicles in the future."

"From then on, the battery business will have explosive growth."

"It's very likely that Mr. Cao also realized this, so he started laying out car batteries to prepare for the future."

The more Wang Fu said this, the more he felt it should be like this.

"Didn't Mr. Cao and Mr. Wang think about it together?"

Lu Faxiang now also feels that what his boss said makes sense, "Sure enough, heroes think alike."

"But the Nanshan Group is too scary, right?"

"While traditional gasoline vehicles are developing so well, we are actually considering the future of electric vehicle business in times of peace."

Although these words may sound like flattery, they are indeed what Lu Faxiang is saying from his heart.

His own research and development of electric vehicle batteries was carried out according to Wang Fu's instructions, not on his own initiative.

Now Nanshan Group has made a similar decision to Wang Fu.

Then the possibility that this direction is correct is very high.

"These are just our guesses. I'll call Mr. Cao later and ask."

"The relationship between us cannot deteriorate because of a battery business."

Although he is very optimistic about the future of car batteries, Wang Fu also knows that he will not be able to make money in this area for at least three to five years.

If it breaks up with Nanshan Group because of this, BYD itself will suffer the biggest loss.