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

Chapter 329 The World's Fastest Electric Car
"Xingchen's position in the domestic new energy market seems stable, but it is actually facing many severe challenges. On the one hand, Tesla's factory in Shanghai has officially started construction. This is a pure electric brand that is truly supported by car owners around the world. Moreover, the Panasonic imported batteries used in Tesla models are more advanced than those in China, with higher energy density, and are naturally suitable for the high-end market. Xingchen's move to build supercars and move towards the high-end market seems more like a forced move out of fear of its position in China being shaken. At the same time, I also think that Xingchen has raised the price of lithium iron phosphate batteries to a level that does not match its market position and market value."

Marcus Chan, an analyst at a foreign investment bank called Morgan Stanley, then published a short article on his public platform, which included industry analysis data.

In terms of industry background and status, Morgan Stanley is one of the most influential foreign investment banks in the global new energy industry chain.

It is worth mentioning that it also has deep-rooted interests with global lithium, cobalt, and nickel mining giants, as well as foreign battery manufacturers such as Panasonic and LG.

Before the widespread sales of the Xingchen S7 and Xingchen L7, the domestic industry production capacity ratio of ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate power batteries was close to 4:6. Although lithium iron phosphate batteries accounted for a full 60%, they were mostly installed in electric buses where safety was a basic requirement. This trend was further reversed in 2016 when the government significantly revised its policies, and the scope of subsidies for rated range and energy density was further reduced. After all, ternary lithium batteries were more in line with the policy in terms of energy density and weight, and mid-to-high-end electric vehicles around the world were all using ternary lithium batteries.

The relevant supply chain and capital sources of precious metals are all ready to speculate on materials and make a fortune.

Until Xingchen appeared with Polar Star Battery, it managed to suppress the rise of the national market share of ternary lithium power batteries!
It's not that the market share of ternary lithium-ion batteries has stopped growing, but it's growing much slower than that of lithium iron phosphate batteries, and now the annual installation ratio is only 3:7.

The raw materials for lithium iron phosphate batteries are entirely controllable in China. Apart from lithium prices, there is no room for significant speculation in iron and phosphorus sources. This is a good thing for most people in the consumer electronics industry, but it also seriously hurts the interests of groups in another energy industry chain.

A reputable investment bank has made a public assessment, the influence of which can extend to the current stock price of Weineng Battery. Given its current size and market value, there are quite a few people who are bearish on it.

This caused quite a stir in the financial world.

however.

This well-known investment bank's short essay had only been widely circulated at home and abroad for less than half an hour, and before the midday market even opened, it ran into Mr. Xu's private video.

-

The car review community, the financial community, the car enthusiast community, and even countless casual onlookers were all taken aback.

can be seen.

The dashboard in the video also has a CAN bus data recorder hanging on it. Outside the car window is a professional test track with clear road surface and distinct particles. After only three seconds of counting down, with a loud thud as the accelerator is pressed down, the scenery outside the window becomes blurry at a speed visible to the naked eye and rushes backward. The speedometer goes from 1 to 99 in less than two breaths.

The final time was the absurd number "2.37"!
"!!!"

"Holy crap, what kind of speed is that?"

"???"

"I'm fucking dumbfounded, 2.37 seconds?!"

"What kind of car is that? How can it go so fast?"

"Judging from the title, isn't this the lithium iron phosphate supercar you guys were discussing?"

"Hiss! Terrifying!"

"Holy crap, it's as fast as the Tesla Model S P version? No, it's even a bit faster than Tesla, and that's after calculating the acceleration time. You know, Tesla's claims always omit the first 0.1 seconds of acceleration... This 0-100 km/h acceleration is monster..."

"I will immediately put aside all my work and dedicate the rest of my life to studying this five-second video!"

-

A group of car enthusiasts were immediately dumbfounded!
The video shows the standard 0-100 km/h test procedure for cars.

In China, racing culture and performance car enthusiasts are a small circle, but the "ghost fire youth" (a term referring to young people who are obsessed with racing and performing) is a large cultural circle.

The topic of 0-100 km/h acceleration is the most accessible and discussed area.

—Even elementary school students can chat with you for a bit when they come.

The factory-installed 3.0T engine, by starting from a standstill and flooring the brake and accelerator to activate the "launch control mode," achieves a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 5 seconds, making it a true performance beast that can get your heart racing with just one press of the accelerator.

Further up are the prestigious "4-second acceleration club" and "3-second acceleration club".

Most of the players in this "three-second club" are still at the level of 3.7 seconds or 3.8 seconds.

It's already close to the limit of mass-produced performance cars that the general public can access. The speed we're seeing now is already the speed of a mass-produced supercar... no, it's even faster than a high-powered mass-produced supercar!
The Ferrari 488 Pista, which debuted at this year's Geneva Motor Show, is equipped with a V8 engine and has an official acceleration time of only 2.85 seconds.

Jia Yueting, who is currently overseas, has been dealt a heavy blow. He stared intently at the video on Weibo, watching it repeatedly with disbelief in his eyes.

In the history of Chinese car manufacturing, the fastest 0-100 km/h acceleration model is the NIO EP9, but that thing is not for civilian use or mass-produced. It can even be said that it was forcibly converted from an F1 race car into a battery-swapping vehicle. The relevant technology and assembly process originated from foreign engineering and was acquired by simply throwing money at it.

The NIO EP9, as a two-door supercar, has an official 0-100 km/h acceleration time of just 2.7 seconds.

Today's Starry Sky U9 is a true four-door pure electric sports car with double doors, and its size and weight are completely different.

"Holy crap, how are the motors and batteries in this car made?"

Jia Yueting found that he could no longer understand it.

This time, it wasn't anger, but rather a sense of confusion.

Although the Faraday Future supercar project was just a pie in the sky, in order to deal with outside attention and facilitate financing, it assembled a half-baked technical team. However, as the person in charge, he had also studied and understood new energy technologies, which is why he was able to confidently attack Xingchen with the technical argument of "ternary lithium".

Given the current technology in the industry, this is indeed an impossible task.

But to his utter surprise, the level of electrical, electronic, and electronic technology that Xingchen possessed seemed to be somewhat different from the level of electrical, electronic, and electronic technology he understood in the industry, as if it were in another dimension!
The automotive industry has been rocked by an earthquake.

Tesla owners, represented by car reviewer Chen Zhen, can be considered among the earliest and most dedicated supporters in China.

Everyone stared blankly at the test results announced by Xingchen.

If this is true, then when this car is released, it will be the fastest production car in China in terms of 0-100 km/h acceleration, even one second faster than their iconic Model S Plus.

When everyone's mouths were no longer able to stand up, it was as if they had been slapped in the face!

……

the other side.

Zhu Xiaotong is working hard to speed up the construction of the factory, and this morning he had a meeting with suppliers to negotiate repeatedly.

In order to expedite the establishment of production lines to support mass-produced vehicles, Tesla imported a significant amount of non-standard automated equipment from its U.S. factory. At the same time, it repeatedly compressed basic construction and submitted numerous design changes within the construction period. This put enormous pressure on the construction team, and even the responsible senior executives complained bitterly.

"I only care about the results. I don't care what methods you use. The construction standards cannot be lowered. Are you going to wait until others take the market share before starting mass production if we don't work hard to meet the deadline now?"

meeting room.

Zhu Xiaotong, with a stern expression, exerted constant pressure internally, so much so that other senior executives dared not utter a word.

He made a solemn pledge to Musk.

Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory isn't just targeting the huge Chinese market; its California factory also has a large backlog of overseas orders. Once the domestic Gigafactory is completed, it can immediately export production capacity both domestically and internationally. At that time, domestically produced Model 3s can be directly exported globally. Given the efficiency and labor system of the workers at the California factory, it is far less efficient and cost-effective than the Chinese factory, a point perfectly demonstrated by Apple.

"Of course, achieving success in the domestic market is not too difficult. Gasoline car companies are too big to turn around. Xingchen Automotive is a company that takes shortcuts by extending the range. BYD's industrial chain is concentrated in the low end, which is not a reliable indicator."

Zhu Xiaotong added another sentence.

He now has only one thought in his mind: once the factory is established, Tesla will become the world's best-selling electric vehicle, and then he will slap Xu Yi in the face.

Just as he returned to his office, a message from his secretary shattered his wonderful expectations.

"Mr. Zhu, Xingchen Automotive has released a video..."

Is Xingchen Motors finally unable to hold back any longer?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xiaotong immediately put down what he was doing, eager to see how Xingchen would respond.

If the technology and performance fall slightly short of expectations, not only will the high-end image that the other party has been working so hard to create be crippled, but the status of lithium iron phosphate power batteries will also be shaken.

The video has now been viewed over eight million times.

"A steal... 2.37 seconds?!"

When Zhu Xiaotong opened it for the first time, he thought he had misread it.

"Did Xingchen remove all the seats? Or did they replace the entire car with carbon fiber?"

A thought popped into his mind.

However, the blurry reflection of the interior seats was quickly seen through the unblurred rearview mirror and the glass reflection angle, indicating that not much modification had been done.

Zhu Xiaotong gasped.

This speed is much faster than the officially announced facelifted Model Performance version, completely exceeding his expectations.

"Didn't they say lithium iron phosphate couldn't be used to make supercars?"

"Mr. Zhu, please say something!"

"The title of the world's fastest mass-produced electric car is likely to change hands."

"President Xu is ruthless and doesn't talk much, while President Zhu is ruthless and doesn't talk much."

……

Netizens enthusiastically voiced their opinions, repeatedly tagging Tesla's official Weibo account in discussion about the world's fastest mass-produced electric vehicle.

You didn't say that lithium iron phosphate can't be used to make performance cars, so what's with this acceleration?

For a long time, domestic cars have lagged behind in performance and other indicators, and the records for mass-produced cars have been firmly occupied by a bunch of imported luxury cars. However, this situation has changed with the advent of the electric era, which has excited many people.

Zhu Xiaotong was speechless.

He understands ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate, but he clearly doesn't understand the lithium iron phosphate manufactured by Xingchen.

At that moment, Musk called his office directly.

"How's the factory progressing?"

"Everything is progressing as expected. The civil engineering and compliance acceptance are three days ahead of schedule. The Lingang Management Committee has provided a green channel, and the approval process for subsequent production qualifications has been locked in, so there will be no bottlenecks."

"Okay, you did a good job."

Musk is quite satisfied with the construction progress of the factory in the country.

He rarely logged into China's internet in the past, but today he experienced firsthand what "China's efficiency" really means.

“I watched the video of StarCraft. This car may divide Models’ market influence,” Musk said. He had been following StarCraft for quite some time and originally shared the same opinion as Zhu Xiaotong, but reality has drastically overturned that view.

The speed measurement footage of the engineering vehicles released by Xingchen may seem incredibly cool and impressive to casual observers, but to industry insiders it is quite bizarre!
No.

How much R&D has been secretly invested in lithium iron phosphate?
They're really going down a dead-end road!
Judging from its actual performance, it's easy to imagine that the four motors mounted on the chassis of the Star are not small motors. Each motor's power may be comparable to the direct drive motors of other new energy vehicles on the market, while keeping the size to an extreme. The engineering difficulty involved is simply outrageous.

"This was my mistake. I originally intended to..." Zhu Xiaotong felt the pressure. His remarks in the media were ridiculed, which had a negative impact on the Tesla brand.

But Musk interrupted him directly: "Forget it, the facelifted Model S has officially rolled off the production line. Next, we'll be doing lap time verification and promotion at the Nürburgring. I don't think driving in a straight line is anything to brag about. Speed ​​on the track is what really matters!"

While the Star's straight-line acceleration is certainly thrilling, internationally, track performance and real-world performance are given more importance.

Tesla's Nürburgring test was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. In the past two years, the Model S has already conducted numerous tests and promotions on well-known racetracks to solidify its reputation as the world's fastest electric car.

On the other hand, Porsche's first all-electric sports car is about to roll off the production line. It adopts a very aggressive technological approach and is also aiming to enter the high-end all-electric market. As expected, the two sides will compete in lap times.

Whether Xingchen, which uses lithium iron phosphate batteries, has the courage to enter the Nürburgring remains to be seen.

After hearing what he said, Zhu Xiaotong felt more at ease.

Compared to straight-line acceleration, track performance is the most valuable metric!

"There's another thing: we need to accelerate the deployment of supercharging station networks in the Chinese market. We need to make the number of charging stations in first- and second-tier cities as many as Xingchen's in the shortest possible time. This is the foundation."

Musk added that, in his view, the strategic significance of the layout of charging stations is greater than track lap time, and Tesla must build a good charging network if it wants to sell well in China.

With both factory and website construction underway, dominating the Chinese market is just around the corner!
……

at the same time.

Driven by the 618 e-commerce promotion, the market share of smart wearable devices is also growing rapidly.

On the last day of June, IDC released the "China Wearable Device Market Quarterly Tracking Report". Xiaotiancai smartwatch firmly occupied the top spot in market sales with 26 units sold in a month, accounting for 30% of the market share. Apple Watch Series 3 followed closely in second place with retail sales of 18.7 units.

The third-ranked brand sold over 80,000 watches.

When public attention turned to the fourth place, which was also the most surprising one – the "Polaris Watch" smartwatch, it burst into people's view with a rapid sales volume of 73,000 units.

360 Watch and Huami Watch (Xiaomi ecosystem chain), which have always been fourth in the pack, are now firmly suppressed behind them.

The success of the Starry Sky brand in wearable devices has left everyone in the industry who saw the data in disbelief.

After all, this is a watch designed for car owners. If a car doesn't even sell 70,000 units a month, what makes you think your watch can sell 70,000 units?
It's worth noting that, apart from Xiaotiancai, the top 5 brands all rely on their mobile phone ecosystems to drive their watches. Even 360 has its own mobile phone. So how did Xingchen manage to carve out a niche for itself?
(End of this chapter)