As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 161 Lithium Metal Cathode Materials

Various battery manufacturers have already obtained specific data on the effects of Kechuang Bio's lithium metal electrodes on lithium batteries.

Kechuang Bio's only requirement is that the new lithium batteries must be supplied to Chinese automakers first, and will not be considered for supply to foreign and joint venture automakers in the first two years.

The power of technology can give you absolute voice.

The battery capacity is increased three times, the charging speed is doubled, and the safety is better than ordinary lithium batteries.

Faced with technological advantages, mainstream battery manufacturers can only accept the requirements of Kechuang Biotechnology.

They didn't sign, but some were signed by manufacturers. In the past two years, new energy sources became very popular, and many companies whose main business was not batteries also rushed to expand their battery production capacity.

There is a huge number of companies that want to take advantage of the scientific and technological innovation and biotechnology industry.

Finally, after a struggle for interests among various forces, Kechuang Bio signed a patent licensing agreement with major battery positive electrode material manufacturers and some battery manufacturers.

The authorization only includes the authorization of the lithium metal positive electrode part, including the key graphene coating. Only the graphene coating manufacturing equipment is sold, and the patent will not be authorized.

"We have already drawn the 3D rendering of Kechuang Bio's graphene coating, but the problem is how to achieve industrial production. We have no idea."

"Let alone industrial production, even replicating it in the laboratory is currently not possible. We need at least half a year."

"Then we can only buy equipment from Kechuang Biotechnology, which costs 20 billion yuan each. Add the patent licensing fees for lithium metal, and manufacturing is really not as profitable as scientific research."

"Science Biotechnology has been doing technology patent licensing for so many years, but no company has been able to replicate their technology or bypass their technical barriers. The protection fees that should be paid still need to be paid obediently.

Furthermore, the protection fee we pay to Ke Chuang Bio will ultimately pass on the price increase pressure to downstream companies, which will then pass it on to consumers.

Just to double the battery life, it’s not excessive to increase the price of new energy vehicles by 100,000 yuan, right?
In recent years, the price of lithium carbonate in the upstream has increased. In the end, hasn’t it been passed on to consumers? "

It is not certain whether the price increase of upstream raw materials can be passed on to consumers.

Companies with bargaining power can take the initiative to raise prices. For example, when lithium ore prices increased before, Tesla had a certain bargaining power and was able to raise prices first.

As for some domestic new energy vehicle companies, their main focus is on cost-effectiveness. If they raise prices without authorization, it will have a relatively large impact on sales.

Even when Tesla raised its prices, it did so at the time when oil prices soared.

Because if the price of new energy vehicles increases too much, consumers will choose to buy gasoline vehicles, which are much more mature than new energy vehicles.

Therefore, the price increase of upstream raw materials mentioned here, which will be passed on to consumers, is a conclusion drawn from the perspective of the end of 2023, looking forward.

It's like looking for the process with the result.

“Speaking of reproducing the technology of scientific and innovative biology, it’s not that no one has succeeded. Didn’t Musk’s Neuralink succeed?”

"Do you really believe that Neuralink's brain-computer connection technology was developed by them? It was already proven that they got the technical prototype from Kechuang Biotechnology.

It was barely developed based on the technology of Ke Chuang Biotechnology, and its recognition accuracy cannot be compared with Ke Chuang Biotechnology's brain-computer interface mobile phone.

It can only rely on price advantage on Samsung’s mid-range models.”

Ke Chuang Bio's brain-computer connection technology has established a firm foothold in high-end mobile phones.

To the extent that domestic and foreign Android phone brands, when holding press conferences to release high-end models, specifically indicate that the brain-computer connection technology comes from Ke Chuang Biotechnology.

The frequency of appearance of Kechuang Bio's logo is comparable to that of Qualcomm.

After Apple and Kechuang Biotechnology cooperated to sell brain-computer connected mobile phones worldwide, the two mainstream domestic mobile phone manufacturers OV came to them.

They expressed their desire to become a strategic partner of Ke Chuang Bio, just to be a figurehead, and were willing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in naming fees each year.

It would be best if we could provide some technical support. If not, we also hope that they can print the Ke Chuang Biotechnology logo on the back of the phone for promotional purposes.

OV has taken marketing to the extreme, hanging the logo of Ke Chuang Biotechnology on the back, which can attract many digital enthusiasts.

In recent years, Ke Chuang Bio's status in the domestic digital circle is comparable to that of Apple.

Just like Hua Wei put Leica in the background back then, the publicity effect is greater than the actual effect.

For OV, hiring celebrities for marketing is also spending money, and seeking cooperation with scientific and technological innovation is also marketing.

There is no harm in allocating a portion of marketing budget each year to this end.

“In fact, there have been countless papers on graphene coatings in recent years. Everyone knows that graphene can definitely have a revolutionary effect in batteries.

Including the three-dimensional structure, everyone has guessed it.

It’s just that no one has thought about how to construct a three-dimensional graphene coating. If we only use 3D modeling, we cannot judge the effect of the graphene coating with this structure.

Inconclusive.

Only Ke Chuang Biotechnology can use this technology to bring out the real thing for everyone to see. That’s it.

As for Ke Chuang Bio's graphene coating manufacturing equipment, I guess it is some kind of higher-end 3D printing equipment. We will have to wait until it arrives to know the specific effect.

Think about it this way, Kechuang Biotechnology is really amazing, they can handle things that no one else can handle."

"Isn't that nonsense? Which of the endorphins and brain-computer connection has been figured out by others? After all, Zheng Li is a top student who published a paper in Nature in his freshman year.

I have to say that their R&D capabilities are too strong." "I'm just waiting to play with the brain-computer connection VR of Kechuang Biotechnology this year. I'm already itching to try it after watching their actual demonstration results."

"Hahaha, me too. I'm waiting for Kechuang Biotechnology to make my money. The only thing that makes me unhappy is that the partner is Tencent. It would be better if Kechuang Biotechnology could run its own business."

“Science Biotechnology is not omnipotent. After all, it also involves VR systems, and Science Biotechnology may not be good at this aspect.

Tencent has a huge influence after all. If it weren’t for Tencent, would big companies like EA, Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo cooperate in turning their most famous works into VR?”

After Kechuang Bio's lithium battery patent was authorized, these patented battery manufacturers also signed cooperation agreements with new energy vehicle companies.

The production capacity for the first two years has been locked directly, and other car companies cannot buy it even if they want to.

After obtaining samples and test data, domestic new energy vehicle companies are gearing up to seize the strategic period of these two years.

BYD has the biggest advantage. It is one of the top two battery manufacturers in the domestic market and also has its own electric vehicles.

BYD's electric vehicles account for a large share in the domestic market.

However, their price positioning has been stuck in the range of RMB 20 to RMB 30, and high-end models have not been able to break through.

A high-end car model is not high-end just because you say it is high-end; it needs to be recognized by consumers.

Even though HiPhi is much more expensive than BBA's low-end models, Chinese people do not consider HiPhi to be a high-end car brand.

Even fewer people are willing to pay for HiPhi.

The only high-end new energy brands that can truly sell well and are recognized by consumers in China are Ideal and NIO.

BYD sold too many low-end models, and when it wanted to raise the prices, the previous low-end models became a huge constraint for it.

Just like Toyota is going to create a sub-brand called Lexus to enter the high-end market.

It’s the same logic as mobile phone brands. Xiaomi launched Redmi to focus on cost-effectiveness, and then Xiaomi mainly targets the mid-to-high-end market, while the Mix series targets the high-end market.

This is just a hypothesis. Whether it will be successful or not will depend on the product strength and consumer recognition.

BYD plans to combine the positive electrode technology provided by Kechuang Biotechnology and use super batteries to build its own high-end brand.

The high-end brand is not called BYD, but a new sub-brand focusing on high-end products is created.

Battery life is their main trump card.

BYD's only concern is that their high-end brand has a range of 3000 kilometers and is priced at around 40 yuan.

As a result, the Mi car has the same range of 3000 kilometers and is priced at only 15 yuan. Then, it was compared with other competitors in various ways at the press conference and subsequent publicity.

“同样是3000公里的续航，友商的官方售价在39万8千8百元，而我们的大米汽车售价仅需14万9千9百9十8元，今天下单的还领2000元优惠券，即领即享！”

The person in charge of BYD's new energy vehicle line felt a headache when he thought about what might happen to Lei Jun at the press conference.

The first high-end model was hyped up by Xiaomi, and then compared in various ways. The price was revealed, and no one has ever played car launch conferences like they do mobile phone launch conferences.

Not only BYD is afraid of this happening, other car companies are also afraid, so much so that other car companies are trying every means to find out what the price of Lei Jun's rice car will be.

After Kechuang Bio signed the technical licensing agreement for lithium battery positive electrode materials, Zheng Li also had something to ask Lei Jun:
"Brother, when will your first model of Rice Automobile be released? I am looking forward to it."

Lei Jun was a little surprised by Zheng Li's call: "Junior brother, we are waiting for your super lithium battery technology. Now everything is ready except for the east wind.

I feel that choosing Rice Auto for my last entrepreneurial venture was the right decision.

It just so happens that Ke Chuang Biotechnology's super lithium battery technology can give us the wings to take off.

I may not have been so confident originally, but since I got the sample of super lithium battery, I am now very confident.

I asked CATL, and they said they had recently signed a patent license agreement, and that their graphene equipment is expected to be delivered in March next year, and the Rice car should be officially launched in the middle of next year."

"It would be great if we can catch up with the super lithium battery technology. If not, we will first release the regular version of the Rice Car, and then release the pro version after the super lithium battery is delivered."

Zheng Li smiled and said, "When the time comes, I will definitely order one for each of our Kechuang Biotech executives, and you must give me a discount."

Lei Jun: "No problem, you don't have to order, I'll just give you a few, it's a piece of cake."

Zheng Li didn't exchange many pleasantries and said directly, "Also, Senior Brother, I have one more thing. Do you remember why I told you before why I developed lithium battery technology?"

Lei Jun asked directly: "Because of Musk?"

Zheng Li: “That’s right, so I hope you can compete directly with Musk and compare Tesla with him at the press conference.”

Lei Jun smiled and said, "Don't worry, Tesla is the leader of new energy vehicle companies on the market. Our goal is to be the leader, and we will definitely compare it with Tesla."

Xiaomi phones previously competed with Apple, and later with Huawei. Xiaomi cars will certainly not let go of Tesla.

Although Tesla's sales in China dropped significantly after its R&D center in Singapore was hacked, more than a year has passed and American's media and public relations capabilities are too strong.

Consumers largely forgot about the incident, and Tesla's sales returned to their peak.

(End of this chapter)