The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 477 Electric Donkey

The team leader returned to the lab with Liu Hua's nodded revisions, and all the researchers around him stared expectantly at him. Someone asked, "Team leader, what did the boss say?"

"The boss fully affirmed our design," the team leader said with a smile. "Of course, our design is not perfect; it still has flaws."

"Did the boss criticize us?"

The team leader shook his head: "The boss didn't criticize us, but he gave us more than a hundred suggestions. Once I absorb and adopt all the suggestions and integrate them into the existing engine, our engine will be able to officially go into mass production."

"Over a hundred suggestions? That's a lot?"

"What's so many?" the team leader said seriously. "We've drawn over a thousand blueprints and made over a hundred suggestions. Each blueprint doesn't even equal a single suggestion, which shows that our work has been very effective."

However, these more than one hundred suggestions for modification are not so easy to resolve. It's like some programmers write a mountain of shit code; changing one point might cause another part to fail, or even cause the entire mountain of shit to collapse.

Of course, these kids don't realize how serious things are yet. When they actually start optimizing the diesel engine, they find it's a really frustrating thing, often making mistakes and messing things up in the process.

Because he had been too busy recently, Liu Hua took a two-day break at home. While drinking tea at the entrance of his courtyard house, he was suddenly startled by a series of crackling firecrackers.

Squinting at the view from a distance, Liu Hua noticed a new shop had opened at the entrance of the alley. Taking a couple of steps forward, he smiled and exclaimed, "Isn't this a coincidence?"
It turned out to be a Zongshen specialty store that only sold electric bikes, not motorcycles.

The boss was Yao Wenbing, the son of Yao Degui from the alleyway. When he saw Liu Hua, he greeted him: "Uncle Liu, you're free today, didn't you go to the company?"

"You need to find the right balance," Liu Hua said with a smile. "Electric vehicles, they're a novelty, how's business?"

"I just opened for business, but it's selling pretty well in other places." Yao Wenbing said with a smile, "This thing doesn't go very fast, only thirty or forty miles per hour, which is slower than a motorcycle, but it's enough for ordinary people to get around. Most importantly, it's cheap, only a little over four thousand yuan. It uses electricity, not gasoline, so it's inexpensive."

Is it safe to charge?

"Isn't it safe?" Yao Wenbing asked, puzzled. "I've never heard of charging being dangerous. Of course, if the wire insulation is torn, then charging would definitely be dangerous."

Liu Hua shook his head: "You know what it is but not why it is. Although lithium iron phosphate batteries are relatively safe, excessive use can cause them to bulge. If they are charged for a long time under these conditions, they are prone to catching fire. When people come to buy electric vehicles, you must make sure to explain this to them clearly, so that they don't come looking for trouble later if problems arise."

"Is that so? You didn't tell me." Yao Wenbing said gratefully, "If you weren't such a great scientist, I wouldn't know about these things. I'll definitely explain it to someone who comes to buy a car."

"If the battery of this thing catches fire, it's no small matter. If there are any flammable materials around, it can burn to ashes very quickly, which is very dangerous."

Liu Hua said with a smile, "Pick two for me, install the batteries, and push them into our yard."

"Stop joking." Yao Wenbin waved his hand: "Uncle, you're kidding me. You're always coming and going in Mercedes or BMWs, what would you need this electric scooter for?"

“It’s convenient,” Liu Hua said with a smile. “I can’t drive my BMW every time I go to the next street to eat braised pork offal. This car is so convenient, you can just turn the knob and go.”

"Uncle, you've ridden this electric scooter before, how do you know it will start moving as soon as you turn the knob?"

Liu Hua laughed heartily: "This was originally designed by our company, but we weren't interested in producing it, so we licensed the patent to Zongshen. Look at the brand of this battery, isn't it the logo of Taiyi New Energy?" "It really is! I was blind to your abilities, talking nonsense in front of you. Don't worry, Uncle, I'll push the car home for you in a bit."

Liu Hua took a look and realized that the charger was one of the old-fashioned types that couldn't automatically shut off.

These old-fashioned chargers can easily cause excessively long charging times, leading to battery swelling and eventually spontaneous combustion.

However, if I reconfigure this appliance and add a chip that automatically cuts off power when it senses that the charger is fully charged, then this charger will be much safer.

Liu Hua opened his phone and told Boss Zuo about his idea.

“Professor Liu, I’m not like you,” Boss Zuo said with difficulty. “We don’t have the talent to add chips, and chips are definitely expensive, which adds up to the cost.”

"Don't worry, this kind of chip can be produced domestically, and it's very cheap, ranging from a few yuan to ten yuan. It won't be very expensive." Liu Hua said with a smile, "My Hetu Rune can produce it, and you need to accumulate talent in this area. The chip can not only be used in chargers, but also in vehicles for electronic control. After the electronic control is done well, it can travel further with the same amount of electricity."

"A single conversation with you is worth more than ten years of study," Boss Zuo said with a smile. "If you hadn't told me, how would I have known about this? I'm just a roughneck. Could your company design this smart charger for us? We'll treat it as a commission to your company for the design, and we'll pay you a commission fee of 200,000 yuan."

"No problem. I'll not only design it for you, but I'll also have my people develop a charging technology standard for you. From now on, whoever makes electric vehicles or chargers will have to follow this standard."

“That’s great! I’ve heard that some big American tech company likes to create standards and then use them to make money,” Boss Zuo said with a smile. “I’ll enjoy the American treatment too.”

When Liu Feifei returned from the beauty salon, she saw two electric scooters parked in the courtyard.

Why did you buy two motorcycles?

"Electric vehicle."

"It uses electricity."

Liu Hua nodded: "That's right, electric cars are much cheaper than gasoline cars, and they're more convenient to travel in."

"It's great." Liu Feifei said with a smile, "The roads here are getting more and more congested, with traffic jams every day. Riding this out should prevent traffic jams, right?"

"If there are more of these cars in the future, it will probably cause traffic jams."

Liu Feifei nodded: "Why don't you buy another one? So the nanny can ride it to go grocery shopping too."

In the past two years, Liu Hua's family has also hired a nanny. Now that their family is so wealthy, it would be a bit unreasonable to still have Mrs. Liu cook herself.

"There are only these two bikes. They can be charged when the battery runs out, and anyone who wants to use them can ride them. Why bother with so many?"

(End of this chapter)