From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 208 Transition
"Safety features should be advertised in a practical and unexaggerated way, but it is not wrong to follow the arms race mentality behind the scenes. Our Xingchen Auto has walked on thin ice to get to where we are today, and in addition to product strength and positioning, it is precisely because of better safety."

This reminded Xu Yi of an interesting incident.

—"A CEO of 360 tested the anti-pinch function of a car door and ended up with his finger pinched and swollen."

The difference is that one is hard on the hands, and the other is hard on the body.

If you achieve an 80-point level, you should only promote it as a 75-point level at most.

Knowing when to leave room for maneuver is a form of wisdom.

Using conventional internet marketing methods for security might increase consumer confidence in the short term, but in the long run, it could be a recipe for disaster.

After testing the progress of the intelligent driving function, Wu Xinzhou saw that his boss was still very interested, so he simply put a "temporary license plate for test vehicle" on the engineering vehicle and the two of them started a test on the ring expressway.

In terms of experience, it is quite stable, and the ramp recognition is very accurate. During the driving process, the instrument panel will automatically display the simulated driving route and the recognition of lanes, vehicles and road signs on the highway, and draw the camera visual point cloud into a whole intelligent driving simulation map for reference.

It already has some of the characteristics of panoramic intelligent driving from Xu Yi's previous life.

Today's high-speed NOA (Noise, Arrival, and Assistance) is like a toddler learning to walk, not very skilled in acceleration, deceleration, and decision-making.

But as the first automaker to implement high-speed NOA, that alone is something to be proud of.

At the end of last year, the "Intelligent Connected Vehicle Subcommittee" was officially established and launched research on the standard for "L2+" from "L1/L2". In addition to relevant units such as the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and China Automotive Technology and Research Center, participating units also include a series of domestic car companies, of which Xingchen Automotive is one.

Because the high-speed navigation function includes features such as "changing lanes with turn signals" and "entering and exiting ramps".

In addition, Xingchen's self-developed "unmanned parking" and "parking lot memory parking" functions are beyond the current national L2 level standards and cannot be declared according to the simple "GB/T 20608" ACC standard customized in 2006.

Xingchen Automotive needs to provide separate explanations for these functions, as well as safety mechanisms and third-party testing reports from CATARC (China Automotive Technology and Research Center), and submit a special application to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Further data collection and optimization will be conducted, along with feedback and data experience on the experimental process, to form the basis for drafting new legislation for the domestic automotive industry.

……

Xingchen is quietly developing its system.

The industry is still immersed in an atmosphere of rapid development.

If the "verbal battle between Xingchen Motors and Toyota, which led to negative repercussions for hydrogen energy and caused Toyota to suffer a loss of billions in stock price" was just the beginning.

Then in July...

The pace of the second half of the year seems to have set off a fuse, thus setting the stage for industry developments.

First, there's the big news that's shaking up the internet and automotive industries.

Since 14, the official announcement of LeEco founder Jia Yueting and his CEO has been made that they flew from Kyoto to Los Angeles under the pretext of "focusing on Faraday Future (FF) financing in the United States".

LeEco was thus plunged into a severe operational crisis and debt predicament. LeSports and its mobile phone divisions were subsequently in grave danger, causing numerous shareholders and investors to suffer heavy losses and express their anger online.

Despite Jia Yueting's repeated emphasis that his trip to the United States was to better focus on car manufacturing and to create a better "Faraday Future FF" for the world.

But at this critical juncture, it looks like a cash-out and escape.

At the same time, an insider revealed that LeEco's Nevada factory, which it had planned to invest $10 billion in, had been halted. Despite officially announcing that it had been building cars for two and a half years, the factory had only completed its foundation.

Countless novices on the internet who firmly believed in the "first domestically produced supercar" and the "first domestically produced new energy vehicle" were completely dumbfounded!
They were shocked.

My illusions were shattered.

For the first time, the term "PPT car manufacturing" appeared on the trending search list.

the other side.

The upstream industry of new energy has experienced a surge.

宁德时代高调发布“NCM811电池”（镍钴锰比例 8:1:1），能量密度高达260Wh/kg，成为行业“高能量密度”标杆。

For a while.

CATL's reputation in the industry has soared, and it has been hailed as a shining example of domestic technology that broke the monopoly of Panasonic and LG Chem.

It should be noted that there has never been such a high density of mass-produced power battery cells in China before.

Some people have compared the "811 ternary lithium battery cell" with Polestar batteries, which have a similarly large installed base in China.

Some industry insiders insist that "the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries at 160Wh/kg is already close to the physical limit and its decline is obvious. If you want to pursue a pure electric range of more than 500 kilometers, ternary lithium batteries will be the first choice for high-end new energy vehicles in the future, and also the only mainstream choice for long range."

His praise and criticism were readily apparent, sparking considerable discussion within the industry.

Xingchen Motors, which is at the center of the storm, has not responded to this.

end of July.

Tesla announced the first delivery of its Model 3 at its Gigafactory in Fremont, California.

The first batch of Model 3 deliveries consisted of 30 vehicles, with a starting price of $3.5, which attracted significant attention.

It is worth mentioning that.

Under the spotlight of international media, Musk performed an impromptu dance and, after delivering a "heartwarming" speech at the car delivery ceremony, personally opened the car door for the first batch of Tesla Model 3 owners, resulting in a classic photo being captured by the media.

The video was sent back to China.

Netizens who had already been shocked by the "billionaire CEO opening car door" incident were stunned when they saw this scene.

I'm shocked!
"Why does this scene seem so familiar?"

"Hiss—this moment is just like that moment back then?"

"Damn, this old guy must have watched Xingchen Motors' launch event, otherwise he could never have imitated the movements so well."

"So alike! Absolutely so!!"

"What do you mean by imitation? It's normal for big companies to hold a ceremony to open the car door for users when they launch a new product. And you're saying they're imitating China? Does Musk have that much free time? Look at the press conferences in China. Tesla is the driving force behind the new energy vehicle industry all over the world."

If Tesla hadn't made its electric vehicle business free and open-source in 14, could China's electric vehicle industry have developed so rapidly? Would we have the companies like Xingchen Motors, NIO, and XPeng Motors we have today?
NIO's battery swapping system is copied from Tesla's discarded technology. XPeng's intelligent driving engineers were poached from Tesla's headquarters. Who knows if Xingchen Motors, which rose to prominence 15 years later, copied Tesla's patents? How could the timing of its rise be so coincidental?

"Just because it happened to coincide with a car delivery ceremony doesn't mean it's imitation, but what about using someone else's open-source patent?"

"Oh right, right, right, all of them are open sourced by Tesla. All the patents in the world are open sourced by Ma Sheng. Without Tesla, China would be finished! I suggest you buy an imported Model S right away to support your Ma Sheng."

A new round of verbal battles has begun.

It also subtly linked Tesla with Star Auto, making them the center of the controversy.

It's unclear whether this was fueled by external forces or an undercurrent of activity.

At the same time, the news that Tesla's factory would be built in China by the end of the year also spread widely with this wave of public opinion, and more and more people came into contact with the name directly or indirectly.

……

7 month 25 day.

Ten o'clock in the morning.

The first batch of mobile phone battery cells produced at the Xingchen factory has officially rolled off the production line.

They also collaborated with vivo to officially begin installation testing and batch quality inspection.

Shen Wei, accompanied by Zhen Zhiqiang, the head of the supply chain, visited Xingchen Technology's headquarters again. This time, the two were in a more pleasant mood than the last time.

Because the batch testing report has been released, the quality of Polestar's first batch of mass-produced batteries is even higher than that of previous samples, and they performed exceptionally well after installation and testing.

Shen Wei described the collaboration as excellent value for money.

According to actual testing, even after prolonged charging and discharging, the internal resistance is far lower than that of previous flagship battery cells.

Well known.

New batteries often have very low internal resistance, but as the number of cycles increases, the internal resistance gradually increases. For example, after 500 cycles, the internal resistance may double or even more.

Therefore, when the internal resistance increases to a certain level, the battery's charging and discharging efficiency decreases, the battery life becomes shorter, and it will get hot to the touch when charging.

This problem exists in all regular mobile phones.

If you add a chip that's good at generating heat, then it'll be a real "fire dragon".

However, even though Polestar batteries have passed 500 cycles in testing, their internal resistance remains good and their heat generation is lower than that of cells from other suppliers.

It is worth mentioning that the 30W fast charging solution jointly developed by the two parties has shown very stable performance in terms of both heat generation rate and current control.

Not only that, but its charging internal resistance remains excellent even in low-temperature environments.

This is not just a difference in energy density, it's a complete leap forward.

At first, he also thought it was expensive.

They had also considered that Xingchen, as a car manufacturer, was manufacturing mobile phone battery cells for the first time. Even if the capacity met the requirements, there might be other problems or performance differences. That's why they included many risk clauses in the cooperation negotiations. Now, Xingchen has impressed them with its strength; it's a trustworthy manufacturer!
"Mr. Xu, your suggestions last time were excellent. After internal discussions, we decided to make a bold attempt and add the latest wireless charging solution to the back of the phone."

Shen Wei said with a smile, and handed a brand-new flagship prototype to Xu Yi.

In terms of appearance, this vivo X20 Plus is no different from the original version.

However, it already contains a Polestar battery and a wireless charging module.

vivo has wireless charging technology in development, but it wasn't originally planned to be released this year.

According to their plan, it will have to wait until at least next year or the year after.

They don't see wireless charging as necessary, or even a bit of a gimmick; only Samsung in the industry uses it.

If Samsung hadn't had its scandals, perhaps a few Android companies would have been willing to follow suit. But now that Samsung has messed up, why bother imitating them?

Is this just adding unnecessary costs?
Another reason is that for current flagship curved screen phones, thinness and lightness are the biggest key points. The internal space is already extremely cramped, so it is impossible to carve out space for a useless function.

But the emergence of Polaris batteries disrupted their plans.

Polestar batteries are thinner and have a higher energy density than the original ATL cells, so much so that there is still some space left in the cell area according to their original mold design.

At this point, Xu Yi suggested that they could add a wireless charging magnetic coil.

"Mr. Shen, although wireless charging is not very practical at present, it still gives users more options and enriches the product ecosystem. Just like your under-display fingerprint sensor, part of the definition of a flagship phone is to have exploratory significance."

Considering the development in the next two to three years, for example, our next generation of models will also include wireless charging as standard in the cup holder's phone compartment. Although this feature is not currently available on many models, as a car manufacturer, we need to consider the user experience of car owners three or even five or six years from now.

I believe that the market reputation you gain from making this decision will not disappoint you.

Xu Yi played with the X20 flagship phone in his hand, feeling the texture of the yet-to-be-released flagship model, and said with a smile in his eyes.

He didn't want to speak too openly.

Wireless charging is indeed not a product offered by any domestic Android manufacturer in this year's market.

However, once Apple releases its new iPhones in September, and with the explosive popularity of the iPhone X, this technology will become a standard feature in flagship models, and many Android flagships will follow suit.

Whether buying an Apple phone or an Android flagship phone, a significant proportion of consumers are high-net-worth individuals.

In order to attract these high-net-worth users, car manufacturers have also launched wireless charging modules for mobile phones.

In fact, this feature is more practical in cars than wireless fast charging on a desktop.

It truly achieves seamless charging of your phone by simply putting it down. Once you reach your destination while driving, your phone will already be fully charged, saving you the hassle of plugging it in through the cigarette lighter or USB port.

"I hope so."

Shen Wei sighed inwardly and nodded.

The industry is becoming increasingly competitive. Vivo doesn't actually have much of an advantage in chips and systems. What it can be praised for is its offline channels and after-sales reputation. If its flagship phones want to break through, it can only try more in other directions. Differentiation is also a solution.

"By the way, we've also made a new power bank. If you like it, Mr. Shen, consider it a personal gift from me."

Xu Yi pulled out a power bank; its gray aluminum alloy frosted shell and ultra-thin size immediately caught the attention of the vivo team.

"This power bank has a very exquisite design. Mr. Xu, your company is also planning to enter the mobile phone accessories industry..."

Upon closer inspection, Shen Wei took the power bank and was immediately impressed by its design.

The sensation and weight he felt surprised him.

For today's mobile phone manufacturers, e-commerce has become one of their main businesses.

Selling phones is just about making friends; selling accessories is where the real money is made!

With the precedent of AirPods' extremely high profit margins, various companies are actively developing wireless headphone solutions. For example, Vivo's dual-engine flash charger, wired headphones, and protective cases are all high-profit accessories.

Achieving a gross profit margin of 50% is not a problem.

However, they haven't really ventured into the power bank market yet.

"No, our car store will offer some items that car owners need. For example, when car owners go out outdoors, power banks are often an essential item. It is worth mentioning that the battery cells in this power bank are from the first batch of sample cells from our Polestar batteries. Their performance and safety are on par with other products, and they also support up to 15W wireless charging."

After Xu Yi's introduction, the wireless charging icon on the power bank finally caught Shen Wei's attention.

"Power bank...supports wireless charging?!"

He was stunned.

Place the already powered-on demo unit against the power bank and attach it.

really.

With a click, the wireless charging was activated!

Shen Wei was shocked. The ultra-thin wireless power bank was pressed tightly against their flagship phone, as if they had found their home, fitting together perfectly.

Most importantly, this power bank is incredibly thin and light!

Even when holding both items in one hand, they don't feel heavy.

The only drawback is that it's not fixed in place.

The wireless charging bank disconnects as soon as you let go of it.

"This is truly an innovative design, but simply clipping it on like this seems a bit inconvenient?"

“We also have another design for this.”

Xu Yi smiled slightly, took out the internally designed magnetic ring, and attached it to the back of the phone.

A chemical effect occurred.

With the help of the magnetic ring, wireless charging between the phone and the power bank becomes unobstructed. The two automatically attract each other when they come close and stick very firmly. They won't fall off even if you hold the phone. Most importantly, there is no need to calibrate the position of the wireless charging.

Zhen Zhiqiang and several vivo executives behind him couldn't help but widen their eyes in surprise.

"A brilliant idea!!"

Shen Wei was surprised!

The product in front of him sparked a burst of inspiration!
I've suddenly discovered another solution for wireless charging products!
Because the flagship phone has added wireless charging, vivo has also developed a separate 15W wireless charger for this purpose.

But after the design was completed.

Shen Wei also tried it out.

Specific experiences.

how to say.

I feel like something's missing.

When working, you place your phone on it, and sometimes you need to align it properly to achieve wireless charging.

Someone immediately suggested making the wireless charging base vertical, because their current wireless charging base is a horizontal circle that can only be placed on a flat surface.

However, this plan will have to wait until the next generation, and the current development and production schedule is already somewhat too late.

The appearance of this magnetic ring in front of him really gave him a little shock.

If they sold the magnetic ring as an accessory, wouldn't that perfectly solve the manual calibration problem of wireless charging?
"Mr. Xu, could you sell the patent for this magnetic ring accessory to Vivo?"

Shen Wei couldn't help but ask.

"Mr. Shen, you're too kind. This thing is just a clever idea. Since the space can't be integrated into the phone, we simply made it into an external accessory. If you're interested, you can take it and use it directly. Whether it's produced separately or made into a phone case, I think it can solve some of the current problems with wireless charging."

Wireless charging without magnets is soulless.

The emergence of this magnetic ring is just a clever solution, and it will soon become widespread. Theoretically, it would be better to integrate it into a phone case, and the patent design is also easy to circumvent. Therefore, Xu Yi did not intend to treat it as a monopolistic patent.

Shen Wei's eyes showed gratitude, and this trip made him feel that it had been worthwhile.

The way Starry Sky approaches charging and batteries is truly outrageously unconventional!
He had long heard of the "Dual Gun Fast Charger".

But I never expected that the other party could come up with so many "tricks" when it comes to wireless charging for mobile phones.

They're even more capable than their in-house team that specializes in making mobile phones.

"If Mr. Xu doesn't mind, we can do a joint promotion during the press conference to help you promote the industry's first magnetic power bank."

The idea of ​​reciprocating kindness now arises.

……

(End of this chapter)