Technological power starts with upgrading lenses.

Chapter 198 The layout of hundreds of billions

Yan Hui's speech actually said basically everything everyone wanted to say.

And if we just focus on the essence of the problem without considering feasibility, we really can’t find anything wrong with it.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Kang Chi nodded and said, "Actually, my thoughts are similar to Dr. Yan's, but I don't think there is any need to stress the battery life."

"It's just like the size of a car's fuel tank. Although after reaching a certain level, users basically don't care much about it, but if you really want a 300-kilometer range, it's still a bit troublesome to have to refuel every now and then."

"Well, actually I'm just giving an extreme example." Yan Hui couldn't help but defend, and his aggrieved expression couldn't help but trigger a burst of laughter.

"I know, I'm not afraid that you will take the wrong direction." Kang Chi also explained with a smile, and then continued,

"In short, although at the same technical level, lithium-ion batteries are definitely more powerful than sodium-ion batteries, the raw materials of sodium ions are much more abundant and cheaper than lithium batteries."

"In addition, their technologies are very similar. I believe that if the technological breakthrough of lithium batteries reaches a certain level and the performance is excessive, everyone will definitely go back and use the same technology to develop sodium batteries in pursuit of better performance. Great value for money.”

"So we simply went straight to sodium batteries."

With that said, Kang Chi walked to the whiteboard and wrote a few big words with a whiteboard pen:

400Wh/kg.

Seeing the numbers written by Kang Chi, everyone's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.

Sodium-ion battery with 400Wh/kg energy density?

is it possible?

Although the highest energy density of lithium-ion batteries has been pushed to 700Wh/kg in foreign experiments, the condensed matter battery being developed by CATL is also known as 500Wh/kg.

But in fact, all those that can be mass-produced are liquid lithium batteries.

The theoretical limit of energy density of liquid lithium batteries is 350Wh/kg.

However, due to mass production technology and safety considerations, the current ones used in new energy vehicles are basically around 150Wh/kg.

For example, Tesla, which has better battery life, uses a ternary lithium battery with an energy density of 168Wh/kg. BYD's Han EV uses a lithium iron phosphate blade battery with an energy density of exactly 150Wh/kg.

Therefore, even if sodium-ion batteries can achieve 150Wh/kg, they are actually capable of competing with lithium batteries.

Not to mention such an exaggerated value as 400Wh/kg.

"Well, this is our goal." After Kang Chi finished writing, he turned around and asked everyone, "Next, I want everyone to imagine that if we successfully develop a 400Wh/kg sodium-ion battery, we should use What method can we use to solve the two problems Yan Hui just raised?"

Then everyone began to fall into deep thought again.

In fact, if sodium-ion batteries can achieve the energy density of lithium batteries, the price problem will basically be solved, let alone 400Wh/kg.

So the core of the problem is battery replacement.

NIO's battery swap station model sounds ideal, but there is a reason why it has not been popularized.

Its shortcomings are almost as prominent as its advantages.

The first is the cost issue.

If we want to build a battery swapping station near every gas station as Yan Hui said, then based on the current nearly 100,000 gas stations in the country, we would have to build 100,000 gas stations.

Even considering that many gas stations are too densely packed, a 7% discount is given, based on 7 gas stations.

The average cost of building a second-generation power swap station for NIO is 150 million yuan. For large-scale deployment of power swap stations, this cost alone will be 1050 billion yuan.

Subsequently, there will be maintenance fees such as staff and venue rental.

And more importantly, NIO's power station is only to serve NIO car owners, so it is relatively small and does not store many batteries.

If the power swap model really becomes popular, Weilai’s power swap station construction costs certainly cannot be used as a reference, so the cost will only be higher.

But as long as money is involved, it is not the main problem.

The most important thing is that for new energy vehicles, there is no unified battery industry standard. Everyone does what you do, and I do mine.

Except for Weilai, the batteries of other car companies cannot be replaced. Thinking of this, Zhang Qing couldn't help raising her hand and speaking:

"If we really have such advanced sodium battery technology, without the country's intervention, our technology cost advantage alone will be enough to re-establish an industry standard."

"Once we can unify the battery size standards and battery replacement methods for new energy vehicles, all the problems with the battery replacement mode will be solved!"

"In addition, I actually just thought of another issue, that is, the power swap station can actually serve as the national power grid's peak-shaving and valley-filling function."

“As far as I know, the state requires every clean energy power station such as wind power and solar power to build an energy storage station with no less than 10% of the power generation capacity. However, because the current energy storage batteries are too expensive, it is difficult to build energy storage stations. The cost of the station is more expensive than the wasted electricity bill, so they basically still use the drag-and-drop solution, and few actually build energy storage stations.”

“Suppose we build so many power swap stations, and then increase the battery reserve of each power swap station, and only charge the batteries during off-peak hours, we can take on the heavy responsibility of energy storage and maximize the use of peak-valley price differences to earn profits. This is also in line with the State Grid’s needs for peak shaving and valley filling, so we should be able to win some policy concessions and cooperation.”

Kang Chi nodded, this was the same as his general idea.

"As for the specific business model, please formulate it according to this technical standard and implement it as soon as possible. If you don't have enough money, you can get a loan."

Land as soon as possible?

Zhang Qing was suddenly a little surprised.

What if the battery swap stations are built but the batteries are not manufactured?

This is an investment of hundreds of billions!

Yan Hui couldn't help but suggest: "Mr. Kang, would it be safer to wait until we get the battery out before taking action..."

Kang Chi smiled: "Why, you don't believe me?"

"Uh... That's not really true. It's mainly because I feel a little guilty for such a big move."

"It's okay, just do what I say, otherwise it will be too slow to wait until the battery is developed, and it is impossible for you to build so many battery swap stations in a short period of time. Maybe I will build the battery, and you will not be able to do it again." Ten thousand of them haven’t been built yet.”

After Kang Chi paused, he continued, "Actually, what I am more hesitant about is whether to build a factory, acquire the battery ourselves, or license the technology patent after the battery is developed."

“One advantage of building your own is that you can directly formulate industry standards yourself. However, if you have to build factories, purchase and manufacture every technology you develop yourself, on the one hand, it will require a lot of investment, and on the other hand, it may This makes the group's size too bloated."

"So I think there are some technologies that can be patented appropriately."

"However, there is also a problem with technology patent authorization. Although you can sit back and collect money, it saves worry and the technology can be quickly promoted, but patent authorization means semi-publicity of the technology. This is obviously not a good choice when the technology is leading. , unless our strategy is to slowly squeeze out toothpaste, first produce 150Wh/kg, and then release 200Wh/kg after foreign competitors make technological breakthroughs..."

"But two problems have arisen. One is a waste of resources, and the other is that there is no direct launch of blockbuster technology. If we want so many battery manufacturers and car companies to obediently follow the new battery standards we have formulated, there will definitely be great resistance. big……"

"Especially in the battery swap mode, all batteries are actually rented to users by battery swap stations. This means that we have to buy all the batteries. The battery factory is our foundry, so patent licensing seems a bit unnecessary."

"For example, a large company like CATL will definitely not be able to accept being reduced to a foundry. Even if our technology is more advanced than theirs, it will be difficult to convince them."

"So the only choices we can really make are OEM and self-construction."

"Then let's combine it." Zhang Qing immediately suggested, "If you are so confident in creating a high-performance sodium-ion battery, then there is no problem in building a battery swap station first."

“Although it is risky to build supporting facilities in advance, it is indeed very conducive to the promotion of new standards in the industry.”

"As for battery production, I think it is not difficult to solve. In the early stage, we can acquire several small and medium-sized battery factories and make batteries ourselves. At the same time, we can find a car company to cooperate and let them help us manufacture an electric car. As an example.”

"Once they see that consumers are very receptive to our model and products, other battery manufacturers and car companies will naturally come to them, without us having to go through the thankless work of convincing them."

Kang Chi nodded.

Doing this will delay some time and increase the pressure on capital turnover, but it will indeed make the standard promotion more stable.

"Then let's end the discussion today. Zhang Qing will seize the time to come up with a feasible plan. Yan Hui will lead the R&D department to set up a sodium battery laboratory starting tomorrow."

So a new energy layout with an initial investment scale of hundreds of billions began!

For the entire group, this is definitely a big business gamble.

If you succeed, you will be directly promoted and become a member of the trillion-dollar club. If you fail, your muscles and bones will be damaged and your vitality will be severely damaged.

(End of this chapter)