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

Chapter 93 Even if you keep going, you can't charge your batteries as fast as I can. What are you going to use to fight me?!

It is worth mentioning that.

The two-way integration of the battery R&D department has brought Xingchen Automotive not only a group of core R&D personnel for battery bodies, but also a group of three-electric talents with experience in "BMS (Battery Management System)" and "fast charging module".

Combined with Xingchen's own R&D department for electric drive, battery, and motor systems.

Another research and development project can also be promoted in a logical manner.

That is "reverse engineering fast charging modules".

Xu Yi had wanted to do this for a long time.

If the battery pack is the core technology...

Fast charging module technology is another core component.

Take a chestnut.

The batteries in the mobile phone industry have evolved from the initial hundreds of milliamps to large batteries of several thousand milliamps.

Charging speed has also gradually increased from 15W to 50W, and even 80W.

There is no limit to people's demands for the performance of electronic products.

……

The same applies to the new energy vehicle industry.

If you only excel in battery cell technology but lack your own fast charging technology, the procurement costs for this component will become increasingly expensive in the future.

As things stand at the moment.

The installation cost of the 30kW DC fast charging module on the Star Mini has reached 3,000 yuan.

This is quite extravagant for a car that costs 40,000 to 50,000 yuan.

If this part of the cost can be reduced, the profit margin for the whole vehicle can be increased by at least a few percentage points.

Moreover, mastering your own fast charging technology has another advantage.

That means that in the future, whether it's building a large number of charging stations under their own brand or launching the industry's top-level fast charging power, it will be an extremely eye-catching and dominant thing!

Take a chestnut.

When other brands' cars typically have a charging power of 120kW, it takes an hour and a half to fully charge.

And you—launched a groundbreaking 240kW DC charging pile and a vehicle compatible with a high-voltage fast charging platform!
It only takes half an hour to fully charge!
...

Other brands, having finally managed to use high-voltage platforms that commonly range from 250kW to 400kW.

You inadvertently launched another groundbreaking 800kW liquid-cooled fast charging technology.

Five minutes of charging provides a 500-kilometer range!

This scene can only be described as far ahead!

……

Even more amazing—megawatt flash charging!! (1000kW)

By the time.

Charging is faster than refueling; it's no joke.

And Xu Yi can then legitimately say: I really don't have time to waste on your outdated gasoline car companies' nonsense!
Your gas tank can't even charge as fast as mine, how can you compete with me?!
but.

There is still a long way to go to achieve this goal, including solving problems related to energy and grid load.

At that time, each breakthrough above a certain level could represent raising the upper limit of the entire industry, and even driving the industrial development of the entire country.

……

"Mr. Xu, we have conducted detailed reverse engineering of the current in-vehicle OBC fast charging module..."

Sun Pengfei let out a breath, recalling the recent research and development process, and couldn't help but feel a sense of unreality.

"How to say?"

Going back to reality.

Xu Yi showed a concerned expression.

They've started cutting back on the costs of developing their own technologies.

1000kW megawatt flash charging technology, though its potential is vast.

But right now, it's more important to get started with the self-developed 30kW fast charging module and reduce costs.

There's a saying: "Put on your clothes before you put on your shoes, and be a grandson before you become a grandfather."

Technology is accumulated step by step.

"very smooth."

Sun Pengfei nodded.

"After the R&D team was integrated, there were colleagues who already had experience in power electronics and BMS-related R&D, so... well, basically we didn't encounter any difficulties..."

We disassembled and analyzed the original module, cracked the LLC parameters and BMS protocol, and then performed reverse engineering and prototype creation. We've now mastered the relevant technologies. Furthermore, we've made some improvements, and testing and optimization are already underway.

……

If I had to describe the process of this reverse engineering,

Sun Pengfei's actions can only be described as "brainless advancement."

Our competitors' module technology... is that all?
And this is what they had to spend nearly three thousand yuan to purchase?
It was originally expected that the reverse engineering process would take several months.

It only took one month.

This is also a result of the increasingly diversified R&D team at Xingchen Automotive.

The team includes those responsible for developing the self-developed motors, those working on the high-voltage architecture of the three core electric components (battery, motor, and electronic control system), those working on battery packs and BMS system control, plus those originally from automotive engineering...

Describe it in one sentence.

That's the foundation of their R&D team; they lack nothing now!
True.

Such a large R&D team is quite an achievement for a startup car company.

That's a bit abstract.

It's several times the size of other startup car companies.

The salaries of R&D personnel, project bonuses, and R&D expenses alone account for an exaggerated proportion.

However, strong sales and breakthroughs in self-developed technology have brought about a significant cost reduction effect, which has effectively compensated for this shortcoming.

"We replaced some of the high-cost core power components with domestically produced components. For example, we replaced Infineon with domestically produced Silan Microelectronics for IGBT components, and replaced imported farad capacitors with domestically produced farad capacitors."

The EMC filtering circuit has been simplified further...

According to the current self-developed plan, mass production of PCBs and structural components is expected to reduce the cost from 3000 yuan to a self-production cost of 1500 yuan, thus increasing the gross profit per vehicle by 1500 yuan.

Sun Pengfei rattled off his recent research and development achievements and the mass production plan for his self-developed fast charging module.

Strictly speaking, it's not difficult.

However, there aren't many companies in China that are deeply involved in this field.

This is what led to the high cost and purchase price of fast charging modules.

If the scale of new energy vehicles increases several times over, and there are more mature solutions in the related industrial chain, the price will probably be driven down very quickly.

of course.

By then, the production cost of their company's self-developed modules will be significantly lower than the industry average.

The Star Mini is currently selling 12,000 units per month. Even if we calculate that the cost savings per vehicle is 1500 yuan, that's still quite impressive.

"Great, very energetic!!"

Xu Yi nodded in satisfaction.

In this way, Xingchen Motors has filled the last gap in its three-electric technology.

"Now that the fast charging module has been developed, it's time to start a project to develop our own supercharging stations for Xingchen Motors."

Xu Yi's next sentence.

Sun Pengfei was completely stunned!

"Ah... a supercharging station?!"

Xu Yi: "That's right. Since we're going to take the new energy route, we should have our own charging pile network. Whether it's first-, second-, or third-tier cities, or even outlying cities and counties, we should make sure our charging piles cover the whole country. Even if we don't lay them out now, we should at least build up the technology first."

The new national standard for charging ports was released before the Lunar New Year.

However, the number of public supercharging stations in China is currently less than 300,000.

Most of them are built by the State Grid Corporation of China, with a small number of third parties involved. They are located in first-, second-, and third-tier cities, but there are fewer in county towns and rural areas.

This is a huge blue ocean market.

As a capital investment, despite substantial government subsidies, the initial investment is bound to result in losses.

However, once a unique charging network effect is formed, it will transform into an automatic money-printing machine. As the sales of new energy vehicles increase, the profits of the charging pile business will continue to rise.

Why did many people who invested in charging stations fail to make money?

The reduction in government subsidies is one of the reasons.

Another very important reason is that prime locations for charging networks have long been occupied by major automakers and savvy third parties. Those who plan ahead will see a much higher return on their investment in the future.

Especially in big cities, charging stations, parking lots at the entrances and exits of popular commercial districts, and public areas with high pedestrian traffic are all prime locations with extremely high utilization rates.

It not only has a profit-making effect, but also a huge advertising effect.

"We don't have experience in developing supercharging stations yet, but there are already mature solutions on the market. We can reverse engineer our competitors' products without much trouble!"

Upon hearing his boss's request, Sun Pengfei blurted out the answer instinctively.

(End of this chapter)