Rebirth of the Wild Age

A remote section of a national highway.

Song Weiyang, Li Sufu, and Wang Chuanfu were surrounding a sports car, and there were several engineers beside them, as well as a first-year student of Mashi Huangpu who was interested in electric sports cars.

The exterior design of this car is not bad, which foreign model did you copy? Song Weiyang asked while patting the hood.

Li Sufu explained: The Lotus 111s imitated, the chassis also uses the Lotus.

Did Lianhua agree? Song Weiyang asked.

Li Sufu said with a smile: I still have an unexpected harvest in this matter. Malaysia's Proton Motors has controlled the British Lotus sports car in 1996. Some time ago, it was further discussing the acquisition. Proton's 100% control of Lotus has become a certainty. In order to find a chassis for the electric sports car, I personally went to Malaysia to visit the boss of Proton. After a few visits, I became familiar with him, and Proton agreed to authorize us to use the Lotus chassis, and also gave me the exclusive agency right of the Lotus sports car in mainland China.”

To put it bluntly, this matter is mutual benefit. Lotus sports cars have never been sold in the mainland. At this time, 99.9% of Chinese people do not know such a brand. Proton, on the other hand, is optimistic about Geely's car sales channels, and handed over the exclusive agency rights of Lotus to Geely, simply because it wants Li Sufu to help develop the Chinese market.

And Li Sufu is not at a disadvantage, anyway, he also wants to sell Geely cars, so he can sell the Lotus sports car together. The owners of their own cars focus on the low-end market, while the Lotus sports car focuses on the high-end market, which can just fill the gap in its own market. In order to open up the mainland market, Proton's agency fees are almost zero, and all of them adopt the method of sales sharing.

The world is so wonderful. After more than ten years in another time and space, Li Sufu not only acquired 9.69% of the shares of the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, but also acquired 49.9% of the shares of Proton. The Lotus sports car is also the brand of Li Sufu. Unexpectedly, in order to make an electric sports car, Li Sufu and Proton have contacted and cooperated in advance due to accidents.

Song Weiyang asked again: I heard from you on the phone that this electric sports car still has many shortcomings?

No need for an engineer to explain, Wang Chuanfu said directly: First of all, the battery pack is too heavy, it weighs 0.52 tons, and the car is full of batteries when it is disassembled.

It's really heavy. Song Weiyang nodded.

Wang Chuanfu added: Then there is the problem of the electric motor. Let Cheng Gong talk about this.

Cheng Gong's name is Cheng Xianghuai, a mechanical and electrical engineer from a state-owned enterprise. He pointed to the car and explained in detail: At the beginning, we planned to use a 180kw AC motor and a 2-speed gearbox. But this plan has not been officially launched, so we directly chose to give up. First, the structure of the AC motor is too large. Complicated, the instantaneous overload capacity and the increase of the motor speed are very limited, long-term work will cause loss, and the maintenance cost will increase greatly. In addition, this kind of motor will cause excessive power when working for a long time, and the sparks from the internal brushes will cause the rotor to heat up , causing high-frequency electromagnetic interference, which will affect the performance of other electrical appliances in the car. Second, electric vehicles are very different from traditional fuel vehicles. The gearbox problem cannot be solved with my ability.

Song Weiyang heard that the seven orifices were connected to the six orifices, he pretended to understand and asked: Then what?

Cheng Xianghuai added: Then we chose an asynchronous motor. This kind of motor has a simple structure, low design difficulty, low production cost, and easy maintenance, but at the same time, it is also low in efficiency and poor in speed regulation. We gave up the two-stage variable speed motor. box plan, using an asynchronous motor with a single-speed gearbox. In this way, the previous problems were solved, but new problems were created. In order to achieve the expected battery life and speed, the battery pack was increased from 60kwh to 80kwh, not only the battery The weight and volume of the group has greatly increased, and because of the use of a single-speed gearbox, it is very weak at medium and high speeds. This car can only gradually accelerate in fixed gears, and cannot change gears at high speeds. It is not qualified as a sports car.

Peng Qiu, a battery expert from BYD, said: The single-speed reducer equipped with this car has better performance than traditional fuel vehicles in the medium and low speed environment. But when it comes to the medium and high speed stage, because the motor needs to maintain a very high The speed greatly increases the temperature and power consumption of the motor, thus affecting the battery life of the vehicle. We tested it and found that the car can run about 450 kilometers at medium and low speeds. But if you keep driving at medium and high speeds for a long time, The battery life drops directly below 380 kilometers. This is just the opposite of traditional fuel vehicles, the faster a fuel vehicle runs, the lower the fuel consumption.

Song Weiyang finally understood: I understand, now there are three problems. The battery pack is too heavy and too big, the speed cannot be changed at high speed, and high speed driving will reduce the cruising range.

That's right. Peng Qiu said.

Cheng Xianghuai said: There is another problem. The motor we use now is the motor of General Motors. If we buy someone else's car, disassemble the motor and install it on our car, it will not be commercially available unless we can get it. Authorization. I also took people to imitate it, but it was able to be made, but the performance was far inferior.

Song Weiyang said: Then go and get the authorization from GM.

Cheng Xianghuai said with a smile: GM's electric car has actually ceased production, but it has not been officially announced. The main reason is that GM's electric car has a poor battery life. In theory, it can only run 140 kilometers, but in reality it can't run 120 kilometers. This is also thanks to Mr. Song's whimsical idea, connecting thousands of laptop batteries together, directly increasing the battery life several times.

I'll just say it casually. You guys are still making the specific battery pack. Song Weiyang is very modest.

Cheng Xianghuai continued: The motor technology of GM's electric vehicles is actually not their own, but from a studio called ac propulsion. First, this studio produced the motor, and then there was GM's electric vehicle. The two belong to each other. An independent cooperative relationship, GM Investment holds ac propulsion studio. In order to find a suitable motor, I visited Mr. Al Coconi of acp studio. He is preparing to terminate the cooperation with GM and form acp independently electric car company.

Song Weiyang smiled and said, You mean, let me dig that Al Coconi over?

Yes, his funds are limited, and it is definitely not enough to make electric cars by himself. I estimate that 2 million US dollars can be dug together with people and technology. Cheng Xianghuai said.

Song Weiyang said: That's the way to go, just poach him, and he is acceptable within 3 million US dollars.

In fact, when Song Weiyang, Li Sufu, and Wang Chuanfu founded Tesla, they said it was a small business, investing 5 million yuan each. The money was almost used up now, and Song Weiyang later invested an additional 5 million yuan, directly becoming the company's major shareholder.

Spending another 2 million US dollars to poach American engineers and motor technology is definitely a very cost-effective thing.

This is obviously a technology and talent leak. The first GM electric car to eat crabs has only sold more than 1,000 vehicles for several years. The production workshop has been shut down for more than half a year, and there are still hundreds of vehicles in stock that have not been sold. Several foreign automakers are developing their own electric vehicle technology, but the battery life cannot be increased to more than 200 kilometers, and the charging speed is extremely slow.

As a result, people in the industry generally believe that electric vehicles have a bright future, but at this time they have entered a dead end.

At least General Motors has given up the research and development of electric vehicles, and the relevant electrical engineers have only one option to resign.

Historically, the engineer named Al Coconi did leave GM to start ACP Electric Vehicle Company by himself. But in less than half a year, it fell into a dilemma, and none of the electric vehicles it produced could be sold. Eberhard invested US$150,000 to get a lot of shares in this company.

Eberhard gave Al Coconi an idea to tie thousands of lithium batteries together for power, and immediately let the electric vehicle have a range of 480 kilometers. But Al Cocconi was disheartened and didn't want to make electric cars anymore, so Eberhard simply set up his own car company, which was Tesla.

If Song Weiyang poachs Al Coconi and his motor technology, it will be a question mark whether Father of Tesla Eberhard will make electric cars again, because many things here happen by chance of. Even if Eberhard still wanted to make electric cars, he would have to look elsewhere for the motor technology, because Song Weiyang had already bought it, and the Tesla brand was also registered by Song Weiyang.

Song Weiyang asked again: How about the battery control system?

Peng Qiu said: Zhang Jiabing is working on the electronic control system, and he didn't come over today. But he told me that there is basically no problem with the electronic control system, but further optimization is needed to reduce energy consumption, reduce the weight of the battery pack, and realize Greater power output.

I'll try driving. Song Weiyang got into the cab.

Peng Qiu hurriedly sat in the co-pilot to give instructions. This thing is a bit different from a fuel car.

Song Weiyang had driven a Tesla in his previous life, but now that he drives his own Tesla, it feels like the start is obviously slower, and the motor noise is much louder. It was okay when I first started running, but it was uncomfortable when I entered the high-speed state, because I couldn't change the speed, and people who like drag racing might not accept it. And the positioning of this car is precisely a sports car, a sports car that cannot be shifted at high speed, and has lost the charm that a sports car should have.

After driving for a few kilometers, Song Weiyang said to a few students: Go and feel it too. If you are willing to buy, I will sell it at cost price. It doesn't matter if you don't buy it. Just treat it as a novelty.

The student rich people immediately sat in and experienced it, and it turned out that they felt pretty good. Even if the motor was noisy, they thought it was very quiet to drive, at least compared with the engine sound of a fuel car, it was negligible.

I bought it, how much? asked a rich man.

Song Weiyang didn't know either, so he could only ask Li Sufu and Wang Chuanfu.

Wang Chuanfu shook his head and said, I don't know.

Li Sufu said: The chassis of the car is imported from Lotus, and most of the other materials of the body are also imported. The import tariffs on auto parts are very high. The motor is also disassembled from a new GM car. The cost cannot be calculated at all, because the disassembly After that, the original car was scrapped directly.”

Uh... Everyone was speechless for a moment.

Li Sufu thought for a while and said, You are all Lao Song's students. I'll sell it at a loss, maybe 2 million per car.

The student tycoon smiled and raised the price: Then give it an auspicious number, 2.88 million. The first electric sports car in China will be powerful enough to drive, and we will definitely not suffer.

Song Weiyang said with a smile: If there is a problem with the car, we will send it back directly. We will repair and maintain it for free, and we will replace imported spare parts for free within 5 years.

This is to treat his students as experimental products, and to replace them with online games as public beta players. The main purpose is to get feedback from customers, so that they can make subsequent improvements step by step.

Of course, it will definitely not be as easy to catch fire and explode as the original Tesla, because the batteries used are different. Although BYD's batteries have lower power, their performance is more stable and safer.

Three cars were sold at once, and Song Weiyang ordered four cars. The sales of the Song version of Tesla got off to a good start.

Wang Chuanfu stared at the sports car non-stop. He has decided to buy a car factory by himself to make BYD fuel vehicles first, and then BYD electric vehicles. The electric car he makes belongs to the mass market. It is different from Tesla's sports car, and there is no conflict between the two parties.

Li Sufu has also gained something. He has obtained a car production license under the guise of developing electric vehicles.

Historically, Li Sufu had no part in the batch of automobile production licenses just issued by the government. He found the media and turned himself into a tragic hero, which instantly attracted national attention and triggered a big discussion on the dilemma of domestic automobiles. Then Li Sufu quietly got involved again and told the heavens about the matter, and Geely finally got the reissued production license.

Now there is no need to make any fuss, Li Sufu directly got the production license. He even wants to apply for financial subsidies for new energy vehicles. Unfortunately, the country is only doing pilot research and development, and has not yet started large-scale promotion and support.

Song Weiyang said to Li Sufu and Wang Chuanfu: Before, it was just technology research and development and imitation, and now I have to start doing it seriously. I plan to invest another 10 million yuan. While continuing to make electric sports cars, I will transplant electric vehicle technology to motorcycles and create Electric bicycles for civilian use. Which one of you is willing to invest more?

That's a good idea, I'll invest another 5 million! Li Sufu's eyes lit up instantly. He himself started out as a motorcycle maker. If he can produce and sell electric bicycles, he will definitely make a lot of money.

Wang Chuanfu said: Then I will invest another 5 million.

Of course, electric bicycles cannot continue to use the Tesla brand, otherwise the price of electric sports cars will drop. The three of them chose a random name on the spot: Fengxing Tianxia, ​​or Fengxing for short.

As for Tesla Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., the shareholding structure has also become: Song Weiyang (50%), Wang Chuanfu (25%), and Li Sufu (25%).

In the future, the company will rely on electric sports cars to maintain its style and rely on electric bicycles to make money. Otherwise, it will not be able to develop sustainably. It can only survive by continuously obtaining financing like the original Tesla.

Simply making electric sports cars, don't even think about making money within ten years, it's great if you don't lose money!

As for the president of the company, Shenzhou Technology sent someone to serve as the past, and Geely and BYD also sent one to serve as the vice president, and the three presidents took care of the rest.

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