What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 423 Xiao Ning
On the second-to-last day of September, CATL's senior vice president arrived in Lingang again, bringing with him the friendly attitude of the company's leader.

Incidentally, we'll also make a final effort.

If possible, based on CATL's interests, we still hope that Silicon Carbon Group will focus on the advantages of ternary lithium.

As a company whose main revenue currently comes from lithium iron phosphate, Dou Xinghuai, with his genuine production and usage experience, explained the pros and cons to Yu Xing in person.

Besides the significant energy density difference compared to ternary lithium batteries, there are also very real problems such as poor performance consistency, poor low-temperature performance affecting regional markets, and reduced cycle life.

Out of respect for his partner, Yu Xing gave Dou Xinghuai time to finish speaking, but he was still somewhat distracted.

He was certainly aware of these issues long ago.

For example, the poor consistency of lithium iron phosphate batteries is a problem with the material itself. The divalent ferrous ions in iron phosphate are chemically active and are easily reduced to elemental iron or oxidized to trivalent iron during high-temperature sintering. This leads to disordered crystal structure, which can cause cell capacity decay and internal resistance differences.

In layman's terms, a car battery is like a group of horses pulling a cart. Some horses are strong, and some are weak, which will affect the overall performance, resulting in problems with actual range, charging time, and lifespan.

"Xiao Zhang, pour tea for President Dou."

Yu Xing snapped out of his daze and saw that Dou Xinghuai was already parched. After instructing his secretary, he smiled and said, "Mr. Dou, I think you may have misunderstood my attitude. I don't necessarily want to choose lithium iron phosphate. It's just that we'll see which of the two batteries is more suitable for our products. Which one performs better in our carbon silicon group's safety tests, then we'll give priority to that one."

Dou Xinghuai immediately replied, "President Yu, our batteries are absolutely capable of passing industry standard tests!"

“Of course, of course, but…” Yu Xing agreed, then added, “However, the industry is developing very quickly, and we still hope that our silicon carbon group’s standards will be higher than the industry standards. We need to raise them a bit. Do you understand what I mean?”

Dou Xinghuai could certainly understand.

Yu Xing then added, "Moreover, I understand Ningde's position and considerations, and I also understand your motivation for coming here twice in a row, President Dou. You believe I can understand you, right?"

Dou Xinghuai met Yu Zong's calm gaze, and although he didn't elaborate, he inexplicably felt that the other party truly understood.

He nodded silently.

“That’s fine then. You see, we need to let the products speak for themselves. The two different types of batteries also need to let their performance speak for itself. There shouldn’t be any point in arguing about this. If it meets the standards, we’ll proceed; if it doesn’t, we won’t.” Yu Xing said earnestly. “I don’t think CATL needs to waste any more energy trying to convince me on this issue. If CATL really doesn’t want to continue investing in R&D for lithium iron phosphate, I’m still grateful for our cooperation over this period of time.”

Dou Xinghuai couldn't help but say, "President Yu, you've changed."

Yu Xing chuckled, "President Dou, what do you mean by that?"

Dou Xinghuai said resentfully, "President Yu, your attitude changed after BYD came to Lingang last time. The battery performance that BYD said may not be true, and we don't know how long it will take before mass production."

“Alright, Mr. Dou, come on, I’ll take you to see our latest prototype.” Yu Xing was both amused and exasperated, and stood up to invite him, “I’m still the same Yu Xing, nothing has changed.”

Soon, Yu Xing led Dou Xinghuai to sit in the prototype vehicle of "Jiuzhou No. 6".

Before starting the car, he explained, "This is the final frame we wanted, and the rear floor was completed through a one-piece die casting."

Dou Xinghuai looked back in surprise, his gaze seemingly penetrating the material, and asked, "President Yu, is integrated die casting really feasible? Have you secured the die casting machine from Lijing?"

"Not yet. Neither the die-casting machine nor the aluminum alloy has reached the performance target, let alone the yield rate. But we can die-cast it out first so we can make a prototype to test." Yu Xing was quite happy with the presentation of this prototype. "It just came out and hasn't been tested yet. I guess it's pretty tough."

Dou Xinghuai nodded and brought up the discussion at the previous meeting of CATL, saying, "President Yu, in the field of new energy in China, although BAIC and Changan are also involved, we think that Carbon Silicon Group is stronger than them."

Yu Xingchong smiled at President Dou and said in a serious tone, "Now that President Dou has said that, I feel more confident. I'll film you saying that on a short video and post it online."

Dou Xinghuai knew it was a joke, but he was still startled and quickly tried to stop him: "No, no, no, Mr. Yu, you can joke, but please don't take any pictures!"

"President Dou, look at you, what's the rush? I'm not stupid. Hmm, the driving feel of this prototype is already quite stiff. The difference between the stiffness and softness of the suspension tuning is really obvious." Yu Xing drove the car, carefully experiencing the driving feel. "Driving it like this, it is indeed more driver-friendly with a stiffer ride."

He led Dou Xinghuai around several times before getting out of the car.

Then, Yu Xing patted the car door and said to Dou Xinghuai with a smile, "The battery in this car is BYD's lithium iron phosphate battery."

Dou Xinghuai was about to share his feelings about riding in the prototype No. 6 vehicle when the smile on his face froze because of his words.

Yu Xing continued, "This is their latest battery with a single-cell energy density of 160Wh/kg. Our actual test results show that the overall performance is indeed close to 130Wh/kg. It seems that Mr. Wang was not exaggerating."

Dou Xinghuai: "Uh..."

"Of course, these are batteries from the lab. I just had BYD send them over for testing," Yu Xing said with a smile. "We don't know how long it will take before mass production."

Dou Xinghuai heard what he had just said.

“However, based on our actual test results, this standard of performance is sufficient for the current stage. We have more confidence in actual testing. We tested it with car number six and Tesla cars as well,” Yu Xing said. “After such actual testing, we have a general idea of ​​what to expect.”

Dou Xinghuai paused for a moment, then asked, "Does Silicon Carbon Group intend to include BYD in its supply chain?"

“BYD doesn’t sell to external customers. This time, we’re curious about the installation, and we also have a basis for mutual licensing of battery safety patents. We need to strengthen our cooperation in this area,” Yu Xing said earnestly. “President Dou, I absolutely support CATL. The question now is whether CATL will support us or not.”

“Mr. Yu, I’m not here to insist that Silicon Carbon Group adopt ternary lithium batteries.” Dou Xinghuai finally revealed his true intentions. “We are here according to the customer’s needs. If Silicon Carbon Group believes that lithium iron phosphate is more suitable for your products, then we can certainly provide batteries that are above the industry standard.”

Yu Xing nodded in satisfaction and smiled, "We don't have a particular preference for either ternary lithium or lithium iron phosphate. We sell products externally, and the technology serves the products. As long as they meet the standards, we can use either one."

Dou Xinghuai changed the subject and brought up another matter, saying carefully, "President Yu, CATL also absolutely supports Silicon Carbon Group. Moreover, we are considering how to better support you. The investment promotion policies in Lingang are very good. I see that some suppliers have already settled around Silicon Carbon Group. We can also carry out joint venture cooperation similar to yours with L.K. Group."

He presented a joint venture with a new model of cooperation between the two sides, which was undoubtedly a plea for money.

According to CATL's internal discussions, this shouldn't be a problem. The Silicon Carbon Group has already conducted many similar collaborations, especially in the joint research and development of key technologies. Yu Xing smiled slightly and did not refuse, but pointed to the prototype vehicle No. 6 in front of him: "No problem, as long as CATL can provide lithium iron phosphate batteries of the same level, we will discuss the next step of the joint venture."

Just because you want money doesn't mean I have to give it to you.

Seeing that Dou Xinghuai still wanted to speak, he smiled and said, "There's no need to discuss this anymore. Just tell President Zeng what you said."

Dou Xinghuai sighed softly and indeed did not continue the conversation.

BYD's batteries are being installed in vehicles right in front of us. Although they are not mass-produced versions, there is still a lot of pressure involved.

Looking at Dou Xinghuai's solemn expression, Yu Xing also sighed, "You have to push them a bit, otherwise they really won't put in that much effort."

Fortunately, it wasn't Prince Ning in front of me, but just Little Ning.

Dou Xinghuai returned to Ningde in a hurry without even having dinner, and then there was no further news.

Nothing makes a company feel more threatened than technological backwardness.

Although the products in the laboratory are non-standard and their specific performance is unclear, and CATL's laboratory has also made progress, BYD's ability to acquire the silicon carbon group suggests that it may indeed have a fighting chance.

Yu Xing later spoke with Zeng Yuqun by phone, without mentioning the specific battery situation recently, but discussing the potential joint venture without setting a timeframe, mainly expressing his support and optimism for each other.

Zeng Yuqun mentioned his observations during his visit to car companies and fully affirmed the investment and progress of the Silicon Carbon Group.

Yu Xing expressed his optimism more directly, mentioning again that Red Falcon Capital could provide financing support.

Both sides agreed on the phone, but we'll have to see how they actually perform next.

However, although Yu Xing still felt that the Silicon Carbon Group had a lot of room for improvement in electric vehicle development, Zeng Yuqun believed that Lingang had made great progress. Prototype vehicles were being unveiled one after another, key suppliers were cooperating stably, patent research and development alliances were emerging, investors were providing active support, and there would definitely be policy support. Compared to the previous two years, this already showed the outline of a solid foundation.

During the National Day holiday in October, Yu Xing seemed to disappear for several days.

Zhong Zhiling and Lü Haiying both thought the boss had gone home for the holidays. In reality, he and Liu Wanying spent their days in the testing workshop, personally testing a batch of newly arrived Volkswagen and Renault diesel models.

The fraud by these two companies can actually be clearly seen with real road tests, but this is not a good way to test mountain peaks. If the test is handed over to an overseas testing agency, it is easy for the news to leak out.

Therefore, while Liu Wanying was looking for foreign engineers to modify the test control software to change it to a non-standard operating procedure, she and Yu Xing still witnessed the falsification of emissions firsthand.

After this round of testing, they all felt more at ease. The data showed a difference of at least 2 times and up to 10 times, which was truly conclusive evidence.

An earthquake in the automotive industry is inevitable.

On the last day of the National Day holiday, Yu Xing posted a video of himself watching the sea on Weishi and discovered that he had unknowingly gained over 50 followers there.

It's not a lot, but considering there wasn't much streaming before, this performance is still pretty good.

He acted like a normal user, even answering some questions in the comments section, including some about his competition with Tencent.

"Mr. Yu, didn't you say you didn't have a good opinion of Weishi? Why are you still using it?"

Yu Xing replied: "The market is changing, Tencent is changing, Weishi is changing, and my thinking is changing too. I only use it if I experience the changes."

He then answered another question, commenting on the current state of Weishi: "It feels pretty good to use now. Tencent does have the problems of a large company, but this software is quite adaptable to the market."

Such words coming from a former competitor are almost a high compliment.

Although neither Tencent nor Weishi had a serious internal discussion about Yu Xing's evaluation, Tencent's portal did publish a brief report with an interesting tone, suggesting that Yu Xing, who had previously been pessimistic about Weishi, had been won over by the product.

As soon as the National Day holiday ended, Weishi released its latest impressive data.

Three months after its launch, the app has already entered the top three of the Apple Store's free social networking app chart, and its overall ranking has reached 24th. The total number of users has exceeded 15 million, and even more impressively, Weishi's daily active users have exceeded 8 million.

These data are so good, with more than half of the daily active users being active... it almost makes one suspect that the data is fabricated.

Is short video the new direction of mobile internet?

As soon as Tencent's data was released, leading internet companies immediately increased their attention. Sina Weibo, which was already developing Miaopai, was mainly evaluating its competitive performance, while other companies naturally considered the possibility of entering the market.

Even Alibaba, which is busy preparing for its IPO, is internally discussing the prospects of this new direction, and the performance of its products both domestically and internationally is on the table.

The progress of Weishi has attracted attention, which naturally gives it more say in acquiring more internal resources.

As the person in charge, Xing Hongyu also posted a short video update, expressing his satisfaction and stating that he would continue to make the software meet user needs and bring everyone a better user and creation experience.

The video was posted in the afternoon, and he saw Mr. Yu appear in the comments section that evening.

Yu Xing: How can we bring a better creative experience to everyone?
Xing Hongyu didn't think this kind of question was particularly sensitive. He replied to his WeChat pen pal: "We will lower the barrier to entry for users to create content, making Weishi a UGC platform and maintaining its competitive vitality."

UGC is an abbreviation for User-Generated Content.

Soon, he saw President Yu's reply. This time, the other party didn't send any text, only an emoji.

Yu Xing gave a thumbs up.

(End of this chapter)