What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 683 Breakthrough Direction (4k)

Xia Yan found it difficult to refuse Mr. Yu, who represented silicon carbide, in person, and also lacked the confidence to argue with Mr. Zeng from CATL about battery technology.

He could only communicate the gradually forming facts with the other two members of the trio, seeking to build consensus and continue to push XPeng forward.

Yang Chunlei and He Tao both fell into a long silence.

The chairman's attitude is already very firm, and the potential investors who follow Lingang's will are clearly on He Xiaopeng's side. Even the institutions that have already invested will probably lean towards the opinion of Carbon Silicon, which is already the leader in the new energy sector.

Xia Yan looked at the two people who came out of GAC together, sighed, and said, "Perhaps our consideration of the G3 was indeed biased. The criticism at this stage is actually a good thing, as it allows us to re-examine the car that will be launched in the future. Let's go for a drink together tonight."

Yang Chunlei hesitated for a moment before nodding.

He Tao remained silent.

When Xia Yan invited him again, he suddenly became agitated and said, "Without us, could this company have gotten to where it is now? It's pointless. I quit. Do whatever you want!"

He Tao got up and left, deciding to go out and find another way to make a living.

Yang Chunlei reached out to stop her but failed, and turned to look at Xia Yan.

Xia Yan frowned deeply: "Let him calm down on his own."

He knew that He Tao was arrogant, and that the company's main work since its inception had been done by his side. If He Xiaopeng were truly experienced, that would be one thing, but he came from the internet industry.

However, regardless of the circumstances, at this stage, the chairman wants to take more specific responsibility for the work, and he has also spent a lot of money on it. From another perspective, this is only natural.

Xia Yan was filled with helplessness and worry, and did not want to escalate the conflict at the higher levels.

That evening, he and Yang Chunlei attended a banquet in Lingang. They saw many familiar industry figures. Even if their faces were unfamiliar, they could immediately recall which company's boss or executive they were just by hearing their names.

Xia Yan and Yang Chunlei held their wine glasses, feeling the lively atmosphere in the hall and watching the groups of industry professionals communicating. Suddenly, they looked at each other in bewilderment. The impact of seeing the "industry alliance" in person was far greater than the words themselves.

"Hey, Mr. Xia, are you planning to equip your company with a silicon-based system?" Wei Ya, the deputy general manager of Joyson Electronics, was about to pass by when he suddenly recognized Xia Yan, whom he had dealt with before, and asked with interest.

Xia Yan was unsure of her boss's final decision, and being in a situation like Lingang, she could only vaguely say, "We haven't made a complete decision yet, but right now the silicon carbon system seems pretty good."

He had previously visited Joyson Electronics, hoping that XPeng Motors could cooperate with them on thermal management technology.

Joyson Electronics previously acquired Preh in Germany and has a strong foundation in battery management systems (BMS). However, it refused XPeng Motors' request for joint development and was only willing to sell its BMS solution.

"Yes, it's great." Wei Ya nodded with a smile and said with emotion, "With this industry alliance for carbon and silicon in China, the future market will be much easier to navigate."

He clinked glasses with Xia Yan and said casually, "President Xia, let's get to know each other better, learn from each other's strengths, and see if we can also get a share of the market."

Xia Yan quickly toasted President Wei and then directly arranged a time for their next meeting to discuss the matter.

This time, Wei Ya was much more decisive in setting a time, clearly indicating his willingness to discuss the cooperation plan that had been mentioned before.

Watching this scene from the side, Yang Chunlei felt much less awkward and said in surprise, "President Wei is really quite fickle."

Xia Yan shook her head and pondered, "It's not that he's fickle, it's..."

He changed his previous feelings about President Yu. The other party was not only an investor, but now also a leader in the new energy industry. And those gathered here now were stakeholders who were dancing together with the Carbon Silicon Group in the domestic car market.

Xia Yan's gaze fell on President Yu, who was listening to others speak, and for a moment, her intense dissatisfaction with being interfered with seemed to disappear.

He looked around the banquet hall again and felt a sense of vitality.

"Let He Tao come back. We can make the company better. Don't act impulsively," Xia Yan said to Yang Chunlei after taking a couple of sips of her drink.

Yang Chunlei gave a wry smile: "He just sent me a text message saying that he has already told General Manager He about his resignation, and he has made up his mind to leave."

Xia Yan frowned, just then spotting her boss, and said, "I'm going to talk to President He."

He walked straight to He Xiaopeng, who was about to approach President Yu. Although he knew that He Xiaopeng had already received He Tao's text message, he still told him what had happened.

After a while, Xia Yan returned to her seat.

Yang Chunlei asked with concern, "What did General Manager He say?"

Xia Yan shook her head: "President He just said 'I understand,' this matter... never mind, let's just focus on our own work."

He believes that there is already a rift between them, one of the main reasons being that He Tao is in charge of the supply chain, and the unusual price quote will inevitably raise suspicions. In addition, if joint procurement is really carried out, the power structure within the company will inevitably be restructured.

Given this situation, coupled with his temper, it's probably impossible to persuade him otherwise.

He glanced at President He, who was already chatting and laughing next to President Yu, and decided to look to the future.

"Mr. He, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Wu, the chief scientist of CATL. He is here to give me a lecture on behalf of Mr. Zeng." Yu Xing introduced He Xiaopeng with a smile, and then said to Wu Kai of CATL, "Mr. Wu, you are going into too much depth for me to understand."

Wu Kai shook hands with He Xiaopeng and said to President Yu, "President Yu, in short, the battery technology we are working on can further improve the system energy density of ternary lithium batteries. I can talk to you for three days and three nights and answer any of your questions, but I'm afraid you won't want to understand."

Seeing that President Yu only smiled and didn't speak, He Xiaopeng waited a few seconds and then asked in surprise, "Is there another breakthrough in the energy density of ternary lithium battery cells?"

Wu Kai glanced at He Xiaopeng but did not answer.

Yu Xing smiled and said, "It's not about energy density, it's about using large modules to simplify the structural redundancy of the battery pack and increase the system's energy density."

In layman's terms, a battery pack is made up of individual small batteries. What CATL is doing is not increasing the density of individual small batteries, but increasing the energy density of the entire battery pack.

He Xiaopeng didn't understand at first.

Wu Kai said with a hint of helplessness, "President Yu, you said you didn't understand, but now you do! Besides, we are also actively developing better materials and heat dissipation for battery safety. You always think that silicon carbide is the most concerned about battery safety, but do you think we battery sellers are worse than you?"

"Furthermore, the key issue for pure electric vehicles lies in redesigning the battery pack to maximize the driving range." He accompanied Zeng Yuqun on this trip to once again lobby the Silicon Carbon Group.

CATL is also quite helpless. Silicon carbon is too dazzling in the domestic market and is also a major customer of CATL, but it insists on using lithium iron phosphate. As long as silicon carbon is willing to switch to ternary lithium, the effect will be quickly reflected in the market.

Zeng Yuqun and Wu Kai both knew that Silicon Carbon Group would be launching a new version of Kyushu in the second half of the year, and that it also had two other models under design. They were both very optimistic about Silicon Carbon's future performance in the automotive market.

Yu Xing stopped joking and asked a serious question: "President Wu, since that's the case, and you're going to redesign the battery pack structure, replacing the small modules with large ones, can this structure also be used to install lithium iron phosphate batteries? We do need a higher range when developing pure electric vehicles."

The success of pure electric vehicles made of silicon carbide largely depends on advancements in battery technology.

“Mr. Yu, the CTP technology we’re researching can perfectly address the issues of poor thermal stability and high risk of thermal runaway in ternary lithium batteries. By simplifying the structure, we can redesign the thermal management and heat insulation pressure relief, thus improving the overall safety performance of the battery pack.” Wu Kai was equally serious. “It has both higher energy density and solves the safety issues that everyone is concerned about. It is most suitable for ternary lithium batteries.”

Yu Xing remained unmoved: "So, lithium iron phosphate isn't unsuitable, it's just not the 'best' option. We'll improve it as much as we can."

Wu Kai sighed deeply, "President Yu, you're too stubborn."

Yu Xing said, "President Wu, I have a lot to learn. Since you've come all this way, could you please give the factory some guidance?"

Wu Kai reluctantly agreed. As the technical head of CATL, he was theoretically responsible for the joint venture battery plant in Lingang, not to mention that there were a group of colleagues there as well.

Although He Xiaopeng, who had been listening attentively, did not fully understand the technology the two were discussing, he did hear Mr. Wu's point about achieving both performance and safety, which deeply moved him.

After Mr. Wu and the others left, He Xiaopeng took the opportunity to ask Mr. Yu about the CTP technology they had just discussed.

“The batteries in the car now have a three-tiered structure: cells, modules, and battery packs. The metal casing, fasteners, wiring harnesses, and cooling pipes of the modules take up 40% of the space in the battery pack, plus the extra weight,” Yu Xing explained frankly. “Therefore, the utilization rate of the batteries we use now is only about 4% of the volume.”

"The CTP technology that CATL is working on simplifies the structure and may increase the volume utilization rate from 40% to 55%, which means more cells can be installed. The overall energy density of the battery will naturally be higher, and the range will also be longer."

He Xiaopeng suddenly realized and asked, "If that's the case, why not use carbon silicon?"

"Seeing is believing. Lithium iron phosphate has a higher safety redundancy," Yu Xing said bluntly. "Moreover, this structural improvement is not limited to ternary lithium batteries; it's just that lithium iron phosphate hasn't made as many progress."

He Xiaopeng nodded in understanding.

However, he was unaware that it was far more complex than simply "that's it".

The silicon carbon group is developing pure electric vehicles, and the requirements for battery energy density need to be further improved. According to the current improvement in energy density of CATL's CTP technology, the theoretically resulting range is not satisfactory to the company.

In other words, silicon carbon still wants higher energy density.

A ready-made solution is available: switch to ternary lithium batteries, and possibly even use CATL's CTP technology which is currently under development.

As the head of the Silicon Carbon Group, Yu Xing's attitude determines the direction of many things, but on a technical level, he must also respect reality, the laws of physics, and the technical team within the company.

He could only say that he hoped everyone would further discuss the potential of CATL's CTP technology to improve lithium iron phosphate.

Dig deeper, dig some more, and you'll find there's still a lot of potential.

The Silicon Carbon Technology Day continued, with the following day featuring Silicon Carbon Data's presentation on Douyin's commercialization, attracting internet industry professionals and media.

Yu Xing did not go on stage, but only showed up from below the stage to show his support. However, he did not stay on stage for long. After listening to Lü Haiying's speech, he quietly returned to the Carbon Silicon Group, listening to Wu Kai and others' research on new technologies.

As the technology leader of CATL, Wu Kai has a high level of authority. When he talked about the advantages of CTP and the perfect combination of ternary lithium, it naturally made the team, including those at the Silicon Carbon Group's battery laboratory, think.

Yu Xing once said that he did not necessarily have to use lithium iron phosphate; as long as ternary lithium met the internal standards, it could be used as well.

According to Wu Kai, this might be an opportunity.

Range-extended electric vehicles are relatively better off, as range is practically the lifeline of pure electric vehicles. Another disadvantage of lithium iron phosphate batteries is that achieving the same energy density results in a heavier overall weight.

With the same range, lithium iron phosphate batteries are significantly heavier, which means the entire vehicle model needs further optimization and adaptive design.

Yu Xing remained almost entirely silent during the technical discussion meeting, which is a common occurrence for him.

Everyone knows that Mr. Yu is not good at technology, but he does like to listen in on things. This may increase his general knowledge and understanding of technology, but it cannot increase his authority to speak on advanced technologies.

The discussion ended close to noon.

Zeng Yuqun and Wu Kai chatted and laughed for a while, and were quite satisfied with the response from the silicon carbon side. They felt that this lobbying would really make Lingang waver on the battery route.

"Mr. Yu, why don't you go eat at your cafeteria?" Zeng Yuqun patted Mr. Yu on the shoulder and teased, "So? Did you get it? Any constructive suggestions?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Kai smiled and looked at President Yu, not minding responding with his professional technical knowledge.

Yu Xing didn't laugh. Instead, he thought for a moment and then asked, "I actually have a question for you, Mr. Zeng. You're doing this CTP technology and using large modules, right? It's to sell batteries better, isn't it?"

Zeng Yuqun felt puzzled and laughed, "Of course, President Yu, we want to better serve customers across the industry."

“Yes, so your CTP direction is to supply all car manufacturers in the industry, and to take into account both versatility and performance,” Yu Xing said slowly. “But our silicon carbon batteries only need to serve one company.”

Before Wu Kai could react, Zeng Yuqun's expression changed slightly.

Yu Xing continued to organize his words: "The structural design of CTP must compromise on universality. If we only design for our own car models, can we expand the volume utilization rate and increase the energy density of the battery?"

Wu Kai understood, and his expression changed. If that was the case, it meant that the carbon silicon version of the CTP structure design could be more aggressive and could achieve better improvements based on the characteristics of lithium iron phosphate.

Ultimately, CATL is a battery manufacturer whose designs are intended to be sold to more car companies, while Silicon Carbon Group is an OEM whose battery designs are only intended to serve its own customers.

CATL needs to be open, compatible with different designs, and willing to compromise on structure, but not on silicon carbide. It can focus on perfecting its own cars first.

This is not a technological breakthrough, but a logical shift.

(End of this chapter)