Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 610 An Amazing Base on the Moon

A brief interview with Xu Shenxue directly caused dramatic fluctuations in the stock prices of hundreds of large and medium-sized listed companies. This not only proves Xu Shenxue's enormous influence in the relevant industries, but also demonstrates the importance of solid-state batteries.

Solid-state batteries have three major advantages that traditional liquid lithium batteries (semi-solid lithium batteries are also a type of liquid lithium battery) cannot have: extreme safety, low-temperature power decay, and ultra-high energy density.

The 'Poseidon Battery System' developed by Hailan Battery is an oxide polymer solid-state battery that uses a brand-new type of positive and negative electrode materials. In fact, it does not contain any lithium metal material... As we all know, the reason why lithium batteries are dangerous is because lithium metal has great instability. No matter how lithium batteries are made, the physical properties of lithium metal cannot be changed, and it will always be dangerous!

This results in extreme safety; theoretically, it is almost impossible for it to spontaneously combust, and even if ignited externally, it would require a very high temperature to burn.

In addition, the Poseidon battery system has an ultra-high energy density, exceeding 700 watt-hours per kilogram, which is enough to allow electric vehicles using Poseidon batteries to easily achieve a longer range... If Hailan Auto's own semi-solid lithium battery electric vehicle can achieve a range of 700 kilometers, then the same model with the same battery weight can achieve a range of more than 1,300 kilometers using solid-state batteries.

Another advantage is the low-temperature energy decay, which is also a core technological advantage of Poseidon Battery. Even if liquid lithium batteries reach the level of semi-solid batteries like Hailan Battery, their low-temperature energy decay is still quite serious, which is why the sales of electric vehicles in northern regions have been low for a long time.

The range reduction is too severe in winter. Early versions of the Hailan car used lithium iron phosphate batteries, and the combined range was only 65% ​​at -20 degrees Celsius. Later, when semi-solid-state lithium batteries were used, the combined range could reach 75% at -20 degrees Celsius…

This 75% is already the best that can be achieved in the traditional lithium battery field at present... At least there is no lithium battery on the market that is better than the semi-solid-state lithium battery under Hailan Battery.

However, the Poseidon battery system's oxide polymer solid-state battery can still maintain 90% of its overall battery life at minus 20 degrees Celsius...

Extreme safety, high energy density, low energy decay at low temperatures... Finally, there is an even more crucial advantage: the cost per kilogram of the Poseidon battery system is only about twice that of a semi-solid-state battery... Considering the energy density issue, the cost per kilowatt-hour is actually about the same.

In short, for the same 700km range, the cost of the power battery for the Hailan car is about the same, whether it uses a semi-solid-state battery or a solid-state battery.

This is also one of the core reasons why Hailan Auto uses solid-state batteries on a large scale to replace semi-solid-state batteries.

Similarly, the aforementioned advantages are also the reason why Hailan Auto's sales of models using solid-state batteries have increased significantly since last year.

Now... Xu Shenxue says that in the next few years, solid-state batteries will also be supplied to external manufacturers, allowing other automakers to use them. This will undoubtedly have a strong impact on the current automotive and battery industries.

And this was immediately reflected in the stock market... The stock prices of lithium battery manufacturers, including Ningdai Battery, generally fell.

The situation among car manufacturers is volatile. Some car manufacturers that focus on electric vehicles are favored by investors, while those that cling to gasoline cars are seeing their stock prices further decline.

Needless to say, once Hailan Battery opens up the sale of solid-state batteries, most power battery manufacturers will see their business plummet and will eventually have to resort to the low-end market... It must be noted that the cost per watt-hour of Haishen solid-state batteries is comparable to that of semi-solid-state batteries.

However, semi-solid batteries are not cheap these days. The semi-solid batteries produced by Hailan Battery and those from Ningdai, which have obtained technology licenses, are not cheap. They are more expensive than traditional ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, and by a significant amount.

Currently, the mainstream application of semi-solid batteries is still in vehicles priced above 200,000 yuan. At most, a small number of vehicles priced at 170,000 to 180,000 yuan use semi-solid batteries, but their range is generally not high.

In the vast majority of mainstream electric vehicles priced over 100,000 yuan, including pure electric, plug-in hybrid, and range-extended models, the batteries used are still traditional ternary lithium batteries or lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Hailan Auto's sub-brand Aila and China's second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, are both representative manufacturers using lithium iron phosphate batteries... The reason is simple: one is that they are cheaper than ternary lithium batteries, and the other is that they are safer than ternary lithium batteries. Of course, there are also some drawbacks, such as low energy density, limited range, and severe power loss in cold weather.

Therefore, even if Hailan Automotive Group opens up the supply of solid-state batteries in the future, the market it will replace is actually the mid-to-high-end semi-solid-state battery and ternary lithium battery market. Lithium iron phosphate batteries, relying on their low-cost advantage, will still be able to gain a certain competitive advantage in the low-end market.

For the next few years, it's unlikely that automakers will equip models priced at 70,000 to 80,000 yuan with expensive solid-state batteries. It's highly probable that they will continue to use lithium iron phosphate batteries... Especially since the lithium iron phosphate batteries that Hailan Auto developed back then were quite good. Although the energy density was a bit lower, it was still 200 kWh per kilogram... which was enough for low-end models.

The safety is passable, at least it doesn't burn out as easily as ternary lithium batteries. In addition, after years of production, the early R&D costs and production line costs have long been diluted to a very low level, so its manufacturing cost and selling price are very cheap.

For many years to come, this type of battery will still have a large market... just not much profit.

This is similar to the fact that lead-acid batteries still have a huge market for applications today... They are cheap enough and have good safety. Although their energy density is a bit low, it is still tens or hundreds of kilowatt-hours per kilogram, which is sufficient for many fields, such as two-wheeled or three-wheeled electric vehicles.

However, in the future, solid-state batteries will most likely be gradually used in mainstream electric vehicle models priced above 100,000 yuan... Initially, Hailan Battery's production capacity will be able to keep up.

These mainstream models priced over 100,000 yuan that use solid-state batteries will severely squeeze the market share of existing gasoline-powered vehicles!
This is also the core reason why investors continue to be optimistic about electric vehicle manufacturers but not about gasoline vehicle manufacturers in the short term, leading to sharp fluctuations in the stock prices of automakers.

Xu Shenxue paid little attention to the outside world's discussions, especially the turmoil in the stock market. He had anticipated this situation even before formally answering reporters' questions...

After answering the reporter's questions, Xu Shenxue went directly to see the next generation of lunar probes.

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Nanmen Aerospace, as a comprehensive aerospace enterprise, is involved in many fields, not just rockets!
In addition to rockets and their associated space shuttles and manned spacecraft, Nanmen Space is also involved in various types of satellites, space stations, and other types of spacecraft.

Basically, it does everything related to space, some independently and some in partnership with other companies, and it has a large number of partners!
In addition to cooperation with aerospace agencies, it also has in-depth cooperation with Zhiyun Satellite, Weiku Industry, and Hailan Auto.

Nanmen Aerospace is involved in many fields. In addition to rocket factories and rocket engine factories, it also has several other factories to manufacture various types of spacecraft, including space or landing probes for various purposes.

The factory that Xu Shenxue is currently working at specializes in manufacturing various types of detectors.

Once inside, Xu Shenxue didn't see any bustling scene... On the contrary, it was very quiet, and there weren't even many people.

But even through the glass, you can see a large number of automated devices running inside!

The factory manager explained, "Chairman Xu, what we see now is the automated metal processing workshop. The entire workshop has more than 100 different types of automated high-precision equipment used to process various high-precision metal materials. From feeding materials to producing parts, the whole process is automated and requires no human intervention!"

"These machined metal parts will be used in satellites or lunar probes!"

Xu Shenxue stopped and looked around. To be honest, there wasn't much to see. He had seen many similar automated production lines at Weiku Industry, where the automated production lines were larger in scale and more technologically advanced.

When it comes to operating a "lights-out factory," Vcool Industry is the real expert. Not only is it the industry leader in China, but it is also the most technologically advanced and largest in the world.

Vcool Industrial has been able to manufacture most of the advanced consumer electronics products for Zhiyun Group for a long time, especially high-tech products such as robots and virtual devices, and its technical level in the manufacturing field is beyond question.

Today, VKU Industrial is no longer just a labor-intensive OEM manufacturer; strictly speaking, it is a "supplier of advanced product mass production solutions".

It is a contract manufacturer capable of designing and manufacturing various high-precision equipment and assembling advanced production lines, including automated and unmanned production lines, to meet customer product manufacturing requirements, thereby producing a variety of high-tech products. This is a very technologically advanced OEM company in the field of intelligent manufacturing…

Weiku Industry is both a labor-intensive enterprise and a high-tech enterprise. Only by combining the two can it be able to manufacture a large number of high-tech products for Zhiyun Group.

Therefore, Weiku Industrial is also a strategic partner of Nanmen Aerospace. Nanmen Aerospace's lunar base project... Weiku Industrial is an important supplier. In the future, Weiku Industrial will be responsible for the entire system solution for the base or factory needed to mine helium-3 on the moon.

In short, Nanmen Aerospace outsourced the helium-3 mining and refining plant for its lunar base project to Weiku Industrial for contract manufacturing...

After all, when it comes to this kind of automated, unmanned production, VKU Industrial is the real expert... whether it's on Earth or on the Moon!

Xu Shenxue walked forward while looking around, and along the way he saw many more automated production lines for parts!

Upon arriving at the latter part of the final assembly workshop, one could see a number of workers busily at work.

The factory manager said, "We currently have six assembly workshops, each responsible for assembling different types of probes. This workshop is currently assembling the K9 wheeled lunar probe. Our K9 probe production line can currently manufacture eighty K9 probes per month."

Then, Xu Shenxue saw the K9 detector from the side.

At this point, the head of the probe division of the lunar base project stepped forward to introduce the project:
"Chairman Xu, this K9 probe is a probe we developed specifically for exploring Helium-3 on the moon. It adopts an eight-wheel structure, with each wheel having an independent drive system and a jettisonable design. If a drive wheel malfunctions and jams, affecting the overall operation, that drive wheel can be jettisoned, allowing the probe to continue operating!"

"The tires are designed with wide wheels and a rougher surface to enhance maneuverability on the lunar surface and avoid getting stuck in the soft lunar soil."

"The tires use a new type of carbon fiber material and a new type of foam material, along with a special titanium alloy metal frame, which greatly extends the tires' lifespan in the extreme environment of the lunar surface where the temperature difference is extremely large. Compared with the previous generation of M6 wheeled probes, the tires' lifespan has been increased by more than three times!"

"For the vehicle system, we have adopted the basic structure of the previous generation M6 wheeled detector, but we have used a new type of solid-state battery as the power source and a new generation of solar panels for regular energy replenishment."

"In order to obtain more solar energy, our solar panels are relatively large and are foldable, so they can be unfolded when necessary to obtain a larger solar panel area and obtain more energy."

"The K9 probe has two robotic arms that can collect soil or small minerals from the lunar surface!"

"The detector has a built-in helium-3 analyzer, which can perform preliminary analysis of the helium-3 reserve density in the sample to make a preliminary judgment on the local helium-3 reserves!"

"In addition, the K9 detector is also equipped with communication equipment and other detection equipment, such as cameras, infrared detectors, and spectral analysis equipment!"

"The K9 probe has now become our new generation of main probes for lunar exploration. We have already launched more than one hundred to the moon, and we will further increase the number of K9 probes in the future. Our initial plan is to explore the entire near side of the moon in order to find areas with higher helium-3 reserves and lower mining difficulty!"

Xu Shenxue looked at the probe. Actually, the probe wasn't very big. If you didn't count the solar panels, the vehicle body was only 1.5 meters long and 70 centimeters wide when unfolded, and the overall weight was also relatively light... After all, it was going to be transported from Earth. Although Nanmen Aerospace's transportation costs were relatively low, the weight still needed to be strictly controlled.

Besides looking at the K9 wheeled lunar probe, Xu Shenxue also took a look at several other types of probes.

This includes a relatively large lunar orbiting satellite probe, on which scientists have integrated a number of detection devices to explore the lunar surface, transmit data back for analysis, and speculate on which areas have large reserves of helium-3.

Based on satellite detection data, Nanmen Space will deploy probes similar to the K9 wheeled lunar lander to potential target areas.

If the K9 wheeled probe finds a potentially valuable mining area after obtaining preliminary results, Nanmen Aerospace will deploy more large-scale exploration equipment to the area, or even set up a small base, to conduct in-depth exploration.

In the past six months, Nanmen Aerospace has already built three such small bases on the moon. Each of these small bases can actually serve as the starting point for a future lunar base. And these small bases have a very noticeable feature: they have very large solar panels!
This is to provide power to a large number of devices in the small base, while also charging various detectors operating in the surrounding area.

However, these small bases are currently located on the far side of the moon, so they cannot be observed from Earth...

Because the moon always faces the Earth while orbiting, its far side is constantly exposed to the solar wind, theoretically it should have a higher helium-3 reserve. Therefore, Nanmen Space's lunar exploration has mainly focused on the far side of the moon... Subsequent analysis of Nanmen Space's exploration of the near and far sides of the moon has supported this argument.

Fun fact: Although the far side of the moon is not visible from Earth (the moon always faces Earth as it orbits), the light it receives is the same... There's no need to worry about the solar panels being unusable after a probe goes to the far side of the moon.

Currently, only lunar orbiters have been able to observe the Nanmen Space small base on the far side of the moon, and only American probes have been able to do so... This has given the Americans quite a fright, as they thought Nanmen Space had discovered aliens on the far side of the moon.

Over the past six months, they have frequently released information about Nanmen Aerospace's several small bases on the far side of the moon, keeping a close eye on the situation and making announcements... So now the whole world knows that Nanmen Aerospace is building small bases on the moon.

They just don't understand Nanmen Aerospace's purpose in setting up these small bases... They just think Xu Shenxue has gone mad!

It's enough to conduct exploration on the moon; why build a base there if there's nothing else to do?
Do you have too much money to burn?
The purpose of these small bases at Nanmen Aerospace is actually quite simple: to further assess the local helium-3 reserves, and at the same time, to assess the technical difficulties and feasibility of mining helium-3 locally.

Mining helium-3 on the moon, especially under current technological conditions, is technically very difficult and extremely costly. To avoid mistakes that could lead to a huge investment going down the drain, Nanmen Aerospace needs to conduct preliminary investigations and repeated analyses before selecting a target and proceeding with large-scale construction.

Therefore, the early lunar exploration missions are very important... This is why Nanmen Aerospace has sent hundreds of all sorts of lunar probes to the moon and launched a large number of satellite probes into lunar orbit.

These days, only Nanmen Aerospace can do this... because their launch costs are so low, and they also have the Yutu interplanetary spacecraft, a bug-like Earth-Moon transport vehicle. The cost for Nanmen Aerospace to transport various probes and equipment to the Moon is actually very low.

This low cost is something that space agencies in other countries are drooling over!
For other countries, sending a probe to the moon is extremely difficult and costly... But Nanmen Space, by leveraging the advantages of the Long March 7 rocket, the Long March 2 space shuttle, the Centaur space station, the Sirius space station, and the Yutu-1 interplanetary spacecraft, can send various probes to the moon at a very low cost.

This advantage is something that other aerospace companies or organizations dream of, but find difficult to achieve!
This is due to the combination of more advanced technology and large-scale industrial applications, which has significantly reduced costs. Currently, apart from Nanmen Aerospace, no other company can achieve this!
Even if the other party possessed top-tier advanced technology similar to that of Nanmen Aerospace, it would be impossible to achieve such large-scale application and thus reduce costs...

Because they don't need to mine helium-3 on the moon or build a lunar helium-3 mining base, and without such a massive project as a lunar base, costs such as rocket launch costs and average probe costs cannot be reduced.

The level of average cost does not affect the high total cost, especially the initial R&D investment and production line investment. Whether you make one or ten thousand, these initial costs are the same.

The entire lunar base plan of Nanmen Aerospace requires an investment of several hundred billion yuan. They do not have controlled nuclear fusion technology and do not need helium-3 at present. Under such circumstances, why spend several hundred billion yuan to build a lunar base?
It can't just be for the sake of being neighbors with Southgate Space's lunar base on the moon!

Even if you have money, you can't just burn it like that!

To learn from Nanmen Aerospace and develop low-cost spaceflight, one first needs highly advanced aerospace technologies... and secondly, a mega-project is needed to drive industrialization and reduce average costs.

Further, a breakthrough in controlled nuclear fusion technology is needed for such a massive lunar base project to generate commercial benefits, namely, mining and refining helium-3 for power generation to generate economic returns, rather than treating it as a purely scientific research investment...

Meanwhile, in terms of controlled nuclear fusion technology, foreign countries are still a long way from practical application!
(End of this chapter)