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

Chapter 106: Star Ring Headlights, Refrigerator, Color TV, and Large Sofa
"Dual-gun charging is exactly what it sounds like. Most new energy vehicles use a single DC charging port for charging, but our vehicle can use two charging guns simultaneously..."

Sun Pengfei stated succinctly.

Yu Nian: "???"

His eyes widened slightly, utterly astonished: "New energy vehicles on the market—don't they only have one charging port? How come there are two guns plugged in??"

Sun Pengfei shook his head: "That's a competitor's car. Our own car has a DC fast charging port on the left and another fast charging port on the right. That way, we can plug in two chargers at the same time, right?"
—That makes perfect sense, doesn't it!

Yu Nian's lips twitched: "..."

reasonable.

Very Beaver.

But why does it sound so abstract?
...

"According to our investigation, although the current coverage of charging piles is not that large, they are actually idle most of the time."

Needless to say, the charging efficiency of a single 60kW gun is extremely low; it would take at least an hour and a half to fully charge.

Our dual-gun charging technology can utilize two 60kW charging stations simultaneously.

When combined, the result is a supercharging speed of 120kW!

With our self-built 120kW native supercharging stations, users only need to use a single charging gun to achieve the 120kW charging speed.

Ultimately, the charging efficiency is such that a full charge takes less than an hour.

If the battery is between 10% and 80%, it only takes 38 minutes!

Even assuming there aren't any 120kW supercharging stations, there aren't many charging stations either.

Our dynamic boost technology ensures that users get their devices charged first when they need power most!

Sun Pengfei spoke with absolute certainty.

This is the advantage of developing the three-electric system architecture from the ground up.

They have thoroughly researched and understood everything, including the battery pack, BMS, and charging protocol.

It can optimize from the most basic and detailed levels, giving it an absolute advantage that other new energy vehicle companies do not have.

"What if a user charges two 120kW charging stations at the same time? Wouldn't that allow them to step on both charging stations and directly reach a power output of 240kW?"

Wouldn't that mean... it could be fully charged from zero in just half an hour?!

...

Then someone else asked.

They were very curious about this question.

240kW... With that power, it'd be flying high, taking off in no time!!
……

"Unfortunately, it is theoretically feasible, but the actual maximum capacity is only 120kw."

It's not that the technology can't do it, but the cost is a bit too high. Mr. Xu asked us to hold off until the cost of mass production for the next generation comes down.

Sun Pengfei's tone was one of regret.

They actually did it!

It's nothing more than multiple modules, stacked on top of each other!

It involves voltage and current control, and heat dissipation optimization.

With its powerful charging capabilities, the brick flies away, and its charging power exceeds 200kW, making charging no longer a limitation.

However, Xu Yi quickly stopped this loading plan.

joke.

A complete set of dual-gun charging ICs and heat dissipation modules costs nearly 20,000 yuan.

Damn it—you guys want to go up to 240kw for dual guns?

Have you considered my feelings as the boss?

There's no cost to doing tech!
The charging module alone costs 30,000 to 40,000 yuan for a new energy vehicle. Add to that the large battery pack, and it's simply unsustainable!
"That's good. With this technology, we can maximize the efficiency of energy replenishment in the offline stage, which is enough for us to open up a large range of private and taxi markets."

Of course, we can't advertise that we mainly sell taxis; that would be very inappropriate.

We'll focus on perfecting every aspect of the car, and then let users discover its potential—that's enough.

Xu Yi shrugged and said very bluntly.

In his view, terms like "taxi brand" and "commonplace" are not necessarily derogatory.

When your sales reach several thousand, people will look down on you.

When your sales reach tens of thousands, people will talk about you.

When your annual sales reach tens or hundreds of thousands, your competitors will look at you with nothing but admiration!

When you stand at an absolute high position, what you feel is a loneliness as pure as snow.

At that time, they'll only wish the criticism were even louder.

……

Moreover.

It's impossible for him to actively promote the idea that the cars he manufactures are positioned as taxis.

After its launch, various operating markets, including individual car owners, suddenly discovered that this car is particularly suitable as a taxi in many aspects, almost a perfect fit, and the charging experience is unbeatable, full of huge economic benefits.

Even more so, if buying a car can help you switch careers and make money, then naturally everyone will be scrambling to buy it!
Whether in first-tier or second- or third-tier cities, the coverage rate of new energy taxis will eventually reach 70%, or even 100%. This is a policy requirement and an inevitable trend.

Did I advertise that we manufacture taxis? No, I didn't!
Did I force them to buy it? No, they wanted to buy it themselves! They practically fought over it!
In business, supply and demand are key; if there are buyers, there will naturally be sellers!
What does this have to do with stars?

Given its spacious and comfortable positioning, this car is very suitable for families and can also make a significant impact on the market for new energy family sedans.

We'll manage both tracks simultaneously, focusing on the "I want them all" principle!
……

"Regarding the overall vehicle design, I asked my colleagues in the design department to produce a drawing according to the requirements, which you can take a look at first."

An enlarged cross-sectional view of the exterior appeared on the large screen.

These are the front design, side profile, overall height, and rear design of the vehicle.

When the design analysis diagram came out, Song Guoqiang from the design department had a look of bewilderment.

Working in design at Xingchen Automotive is definitely a bittersweet experience.

What's easy and pleasant is that for every new car and its interior and exterior design, the company's CEO can come up with a very clear direction, and sometimes he even produces concept sketches.

The painful part is that Xu Yi's drawings are extremely abstract, yet he requires them to design the exterior of the actual car, demanding an obsessive level of detail and refinement.

This can't be blamed on Xu Yi, since he's not a painting major and can only make demands on the design department according to his own ideas.

It's important to know that besides research and development technology, Xu Yi values ​​appearance the most.

Again.

Even if a car has terrible features, there will still be consumers who will try it out just because of its beautiful design.

Even years later, when reminiscing about the history of automobile development, people can't help but slap their thighs and exclaim: This car was absolutely amazing back then, it was just that XX was a little bit lacking!
The curves of the entire vehicle, the headlights, the angles of the body surfaces, and even the details of the door handles have all undergone more than a dozen revisions and optimizations.

The bad news is that Xu Yi's attention to detail and obsession with the appearance is almost to an obsessive degree, which often causes the design department to hit a bottleneck. Refining the design details requires a lot of inspiration and brainpower.

The good news is that, according to Xu Yi's observation, when the system encountered a bottleneck or setback, it perfectly triggered a system buff, which just made up for the slow progress of the overall vehicle design.

then.

Ultimately, a relatively perfect appearance design was achieved.

...

When everyone present saw the 3D rendering of the new car, they couldn't help but be stunned!
I admired it in my heart
—The first impression of this car is stunning! The front face is long and thin, with triangular LED light strips extending from both sides of the front to the middle, with the ends slightly raised, which is quite futuristic and highly recognizable when lit.

The lower half is a matrix-style high and low beam headlight assembly, embedded in the "black hole" style air intakes on both sides of the front bumper.

The headlight housing features a dual-layer design of "smoked black + chrome plating" with a small logo inside, giving it a refined look.

Then there's the entire car body, which can only be described as having smooth lines and captivating details, despite its fastback design.

However, this kind of fastback design is not the low fastback of a sports coupe, but a "large fastback" design.

Because it takes into account the headroom of the rear passengers, and the overall vehicle length reaches 4880mm, with a wheelbase of 2998mm.

The overall interior space is actually very spacious, making it extremely suitable for family use and long-distance passenger transport.

The frameless doors, semi-concealed door handles (like those on the Xiaomi SU7 and Porsche Taycan), and double waistline design all demonstrate the great care the design department has put into this project.

……

"Let me explain. The most distinctive feature of the front is the daytime running lights, which I would call the star ring headlights. They were designed according to Mr. Xu's requirements. When the lights are on, they have a very high level of technology and are highly recognizable. Just like the Star Mini, you can tell it's a Star Mini as soon as you see it..."

Moreover, the appearance of the star ring headlights can be considered as a brand new family design language for us in the future!

When Mr. Xu proposed the concept of the Star Ring Headlights and combined it with our brand name concept, I was absolutely impressed!

Not only is it highly recognizable, but it's also extremely fitting!
Therefore, we have specially added some crystal diamond designs to the LED headlight assembly below. From a distance, the lights look like they contain countless tiny diamonds, and when the headlights are turned on, they look like a luminous sea of ​​stars when viewed up close.

This is the origin of our design language for the "Star Ring Daytime Running Lights" + "Starry Sea Light Set".

......"

Next.

Song Guoqiang then introduced the other design details one by one.

This level of design is absolutely unparalleled even today.

From the perspective of appearance—

It is a combination of the "front face of XPeng P7" and the "body outline of BYD Han Qianshan Cui".

However, at present, the design plans for these two cars may not even have been approved, let alone the appearance patents.

After Xingchen completes the final polishing of the new car's exterior and rolls off the production line with the prototype, they will apply for an exterior patent as soon as possible, leading the design trend of new energy vehicles!

"nice!"

"The front face is distinctive and caters to a youthful aesthetic, but the overall size and curves of the body are on the more conservative side, not as exaggerated as a coupe, and the passenger space is fully considered... It's like a perfect blend of two different styles!"

"With that appearance, how could it not be a killer?!"

...

It's clear that everyone likes the design of this exterior.

Those who particularly like the coupe style have nothing but praise for this front design.

"Okay, it's settled then. From now on, the comfort sedan family series will be named with the code name 'S'. We'll tentatively name it Starry Sky S7."

"This car is equipped with our core Polestar battery and supercharging technology. Other configurations won't be too different from the market average. In addition, we want to create a prototype of our own in-vehicle infotainment system. It doesn't need to be too complicated, but it needs to be smooth and simple, supporting remote control, daily music playback, Gaode navigation, and reversing camera requirements..."

The Starry Sky S7 is currently the first car that their company plans to develop and roll off the production line.

Besides waiting for the technology to be implemented, there are other issues to be resolved.

This includes aspects of intelligence.

Currently, the mainstream new energy vehicle infotainment systems on the market are still in their early stages and are not much different from those in gasoline vehicles.

The main chips used in the infotainment systems of mid-to-low-end cars are Rockchip RK3288 and Allwinner A83T.

A small number of high-end cars use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 automotive-grade chip.

Xu Yi planned to take this opportunity to create a prototype of a self-developed in-vehicle infotainment system.

The system is based on the AOSP 5.1 kernel (currently the most stable Android version).
The early vehicle infotainment systems had limited functionality, and there were complete software and hardware solutions available on the market, which was sufficient for them to conduct in-depth independent research and development and improvement.

In short.

Work on the complete vehicle has only just begun. As the first car officially launched to the market, and positioned as a mid-range sedan, the development workload is far greater than that of the Star Mini.

Fortunately, the company's internal R&D capabilities are quite strong.

Xu Yi plans to expand the software department and establish a separate in-vehicle infotainment R&D department.

But before that.

There's one more thing he wants to announce in advance.

"Now that we've discussed the project initiation for the first sedan, let's talk about the preliminary planning for the second large SUV..."

The words just fell.

Yu Nian's eyes lit up. Large SUVs were his favorite, and the phrase "bigger is better" just came from his mouth.

"SUV? Does that mean we're developing both simultaneously?!"

"Great, great! Large SUVs are the market with the highest sales volume!"

Is there any special reason behind the initiation of this SUV project?

...

Some people seemed to have already sensed something unusual.

Xu Yi nodded slightly, revealing a mysterious smile:

"This SUV will feature the same star-ring headlights as our family, be 5.05 meters long, and have a six-seat layout. Its core features are a six-seat layout, high intelligence, high configuration, and L2 lane-level assisted driving from the start."

It is named after the 'L' series.

Besides.

Most importantly—it needs to be spacious, have a large screen, large and soft seats, a large in-car refrigerator, and external power outlets…

We need to develop a separate range extender system that is the quietest, most stable, and most fuel-efficient on the market.

In short, the R&D cycle will be quite long, and the price will be over 300,000.

I would call it—Middle-aged bliss!!!

……

The words are divided into two parts.

Zheng Guozhao is feeling very lost lately.

Since joining Xingchen's direct sales system and becoming one of the largest distributors under the hybrid model, everything seems to be on the right track.

In Shanghai, a first-tier city and a key area of ​​focus, he, as the "city manager," has now invested in and participated in a total of eleven directly operated and authorized stores.

how to say.

It's very stable.

Because the Star Mini has already made a name for itself in the market, with monthly sales reaching more than 10,000 units.

Moreover, in cities with license plate restrictions, acceptance is increasing, and the number of vehicles on the streets is also rising.

So there was no big deal.

It makes one feel a sense of boredom.

……

(End of this chapter)