What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 496 Weakness
Tsai Chun-hui initially thought that transitioning from traditional gasoline vehicles to new energy vehicles would be a piece of cake, but his experience with "Kyushu" made him abandon his dismissive attitude and instead adopt a more proactive learning approach to understand the outline of the carbon silicon group.

He received a thick stack of documents about "Jiuzhou," read them carefully, and then experienced the products again before visiting the silicon carbon group's factory with his new colleagues.

Features such as the three core electric components, extended range, technological configuration, and spatial layout can be directly experienced and handled, but the more basic materials used can only be seen in the factory.

Cai Junhui saw something enormous here that he had never seen before.

Previous impressions were more or less based on reference points, like screens. Audi also has them, though smaller, but these are behemoths on the production line...

"Mr. Song, how big is this?" Cai Junhui, acting as a mouthpiece for his new colleagues, exclaimed in surprise.

Song Gang answered skillfully: "It is 19.5 meters long and 5.3 meters high, which is about the weight of a fighter jet. This die-casting machine can die-cast nearly 70 parts into two components. Our cars use such a rear floor, which can increase production efficiency by 40%. In addition, with the application of high-strength steel and the cage-type body frame, 'Jiuzhou' is one of the toughest car models in the world."

Cai Junhui stared at the die-casting machine in front of him and couldn't help but ask, "Has it undergone a collision test?"

"It was conducted internally and not disclosed to the public," Song Gang said seriously. "Based on the current tests, it performed the best. If you are interested, you can ask General Manager Hu. The crash test information was not included in the documents."

Cai Junhui licked his lips. High-strength steel material, advanced body frame, and unparalleled one-piece die casting...

He said with some regret, "This... is not easy for users to perceive. Also, Mr. Song, won't the maintenance cost increase with the integrated parts?"

Song Gang didn't shy away from the topic and nodded: "Yes, if we encounter that kind of structural damage, we may have to replace the entire rear floor assembly directly. We can't do traditional local sheet metal or welding repairs. But compared to the increase in safety, we think this trade-off is worthwhile. Mr. Yu said he will make this point clear when he releases the product, so that users can weigh the pros and cons."

He went on to introduce this latest global technology.

Based on current tests, the improvement effect of integrated die casting in eliminating the stress concentration risk caused by welds and seams is still very obvious. The torsional stiffness of the "Kyushu" body is increased by 25%, and the passenger compartment intrusion in a side collision is reduced by 30% compared with the traditional steel body.

Furthermore, integrated die casting allows for the design of more complex energy-absorbing structures, which is already being studied in silicon carbide research, and more integrated designs of parts will be considered in the future.

After a concise presentation, Song Gang added, "Regarding the issue of maintenance economy, we are considering suitable solutions. In the future, if the rear floor is divided into a core structural area and a replaceable crumple zone, the maintenance cost of low-speed collisions can be greatly reduced."

Cai Junhui asked, "Since there are design options in this direction, why aren't they being used now?"

“President Cai…” Song Gang couldn’t help but chuckle, “Research and development costs money, and it also takes time. There are also processes involved from design to testing to mass production.”

Cai Junhui was somewhat disappointed. Seeing the technological innovation of such a behemoth, he suddenly forgot about the current situation of the Silicon Carbon Group: money was a problem, cost was a problem, and time was a problem.

However, the situation facing the Silicon Carbon Group since its establishment has exceeded expectations.

He couldn't help but think back to the sales targets he had heard about before. Judging from what he had seen and heard so far, the materials used were high-quality, the processes were new, and there was a lot of research and development. If the first model didn't gain market recognition, there would be big trouble later on.

Conversely... if production can increase, the silicon carbon group will quickly enter a positive cycle.

The automotive industry is a typical example of economies of scale. If the platform is mature and the supply chain is stable, generally speaking, if production increases from 5 to 20, the cost per vehicle can be reduced by 15%, and if it reaches 10, the cost can be reduced by another 10%.

换言之，如果“九州”5万辆的单车成本30万，10万辆的时候就是25.5万，20万辆就是22.95万。

Under Song Gang's guidance, Cai Junhui continued his tour of the factory. After being amazed by the integrated die casting, he was less surprised when he saw the battery safety testing and automated processes. Instead, he felt a little resentful.

The Silicon Carbon Group is doing very well in everything, except for this Mr. Yu…

How did he decide to develop a six-seater model?
How can this six-seater model gain market acceptance? How can production volume be increased to reduce costs?
Cai Junhui sighed inwardly. After much thought, he could only conclude that this differentiated competition would allow the Silicon Carbon Group to quickly enter the automotive industry and gain a foothold through policy subsidies.

Financing, subsidies, and a push for an IPO—that's not bad. "President Song, I have a question. Regarding the battery safety test we just saw, the description listed patents, and they weren't just from our Silicon Carbon Group?" Another new employee, Jia Qidong, gestured to ask.

“Yes, battery safety is also of paramount importance, because we are making range extenders and are currently using lithium iron phosphate supplied by CATL. The safety-related patents are mainly shared by silicon carbide, CATL and BYD.” Song Gang thought for a moment and then added, “We have a small patent alliance, which was set up by Mr. Yu. We have mutual patent licensing.”

Cai Junhui wasn't surprised to hear BYD's name appear, as they have a longer history of research on batteries. However, his eyes lit up when he heard the words "patent alliance," indicating that President Yu is indeed quite far-sighted.

He then had that same resentful thought again: "President Yu, how could you make the decision to give six seats?"

They must have been misled by someone back then.

The more Cai Junhui saw what the Silicon Carbon Group was revealing, the more regretful and resentful he felt. He was too late; if he had arrived earlier, he might have been able to stop the spread of rumors!

"Mr. Cai, have you discussed your salary? Do you want more stock options or something?" Jia Qidong, who was in the same cohort, asked Cai Junhui after the factory tour.

Cai Junhui was conflicted and shook his head, saying, "I need to think about it some more."

The carbon silicon group has demonstrated the vigorous vitality of new energy, but the weakness in the positioning of its models has left him unsure of what to do.

Alternatively, instead of aiming for a Rolls-Royce, you could try aiming for a motorcycle; that's not out of the question either.

……

Both Lingang Carbon and Silicon are working diligently towards their goals.

The car company needs to build its own sales system, and the internet company needs to compete head-on with giant Tencent.

Yu Xing was busy on both ends, his feet barely touching the ground.

One day, he suddenly received a phone call asking for confirmation of the final steps.

"Mr. Yu, are we going all in? Are we really going all in?" Yu Kai from the DLF Foundation sounded quite apprehensive.

It took Yu Xing a few seconds to remember what it was about, but he said without hesitation, "Of course, when you guys do research, all the money comes from this kind of operation. Go all in on Alibaba, this is a sure thing."

The DLF Foundation raised $4000 million, far short of its ambitious $1 million goal.

Yu Kai took a couple of breaths, sensing President Yu's firm judgment, and said, "Okay, let's go all in!"

Two days later, Alibaba officially went public in the United States, and the DLF Foundation invested the $1800 million it had already received to buy Alibaba shares.

Alibaba opened at $92.7 and briefly surged to $99.7, just shy of the $100 mark. However, it subsequently fell and fluctuated above $90.

Yu Xing stared at Yu Kai's number flashing frantically on his phone screen, utterly bewildered: "How could this be..."

　I recommend the book "The Senior's Suspiciousness Is a Bit Too Much".

　　This is a plagiarism-filled novel, a slice-of-life story featuring a single female protagonist who plagiarizes novels and songs.

　　It's a fairly traditional style, nothing fancy, but very smooth. Check it out if you're interested.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)