Chapter 199 I really didn’t misjudge you at the beginning
Chapter 199 I really didn’t misjudge you at the beginning
After the meeting, Kang Chi invited a group of executives to have lunch in the cafeteria of Datang Heavy Industry.
Although having a meal in the cafeteria sounds a bit low, in fact, the cafeteria of Datang Heavy Industry also has private rooms for entertaining guests, and the chefs in charge are all chefs of the level of big hotels. The food is healthier and more delicious than outside. Kang Chi comes to Datang Heavy Industry from time to time, and at least 30% of the reasons are to eat a big meal.
Of course, the aunt he invited to his family is actually a good cook, but after eating too much home-cooked food, it is inevitable that she will be a little tired, so she wants to come out and eat meat…
After eating and drinking, everyone went their separate ways in the afternoon, returned to their posts, and held a meeting to convey the tasks assigned by Kang Chi this time and began to discuss specific implementation plans.
On the second day, all subsidiaries under the entire group began to adjust their directions and operate quickly.
Among them, the sodium battery commercial operation plan and feasibility analysis, which Zhang Qing is responsible for, are undoubtedly the top priority.
However, in the past six months, Zhang Qing has initially formed a group think tank. In most cases, she only needs to convey Kang Chi’s intentions, let the think tank propose detailed plans, and then choose the ones she thinks are more feasible and give them to Kang Chi to make the final decision.
This not only reduces Zhang Qing’s work pressure, but also speeds up the formulation of project plans. In just two days, a report was submitted to Kang Chi.
Kang Chi read it carefully and confirmed that there was no deviation in the overall idea and direction, so he nodded and said, “Just follow this plan and move forward quickly.”
”It’s just that the time nodes can be faster. For example, once the general layout of the charging station is finalized, it’s almost time to start. Let’s negotiate the site first. There is no need to wait until the design of the charging station is completed before starting to look for a site. You can compress other time nodes if you think you can.”
Zhang Qing nodded, and then couldn’t help asking, “From what you said, sodium battery technology will soon be able to break through?”
”Two months at most.” Kang Chi said bluntly.
”Two months?!!”
Zhang Qing’s eyes widened in surprise.
Since joining Datang Heavy Industry, she has also made up for a lot of common sense in science and technology.
For example, the research and development of photolithography machines is actually mainly precision equipment manufacturing technology, and batteries, like photoresists, belong to chemical materials technology.
As we all know, materials science is a very metaphysical science among all scientific categories.
The research and development of new materials usually has a strong uncertainty. You may want to develop a rigid material, but you inexplicably develop a flexible material. When you think that this thing may be useless, it may suddenly play a huge role in an unexpected field…
The most typical example of positive electrode material in lithium batteries is lithium cobalt oxide. This material was first prepared by the Westinghouse Laboratory in the United States in the 1950s.
But the purpose of making it at that time was not to make batteries at all, but to explore the crystal structure and chemical composition of lithium cobalt oxide materials, and to study the influence of the relative content of Co2+ and Co3+ on the magnetic field.
It was not until more than 20 years later that LI xTi 2 was found to be used as a positive electrode material for rechargeable batteries, and lithium cobalt oxide, which is somewhat similar to it, was remembered and then shined in lithium battery manufacturing.
“Do you have any computational materials science?”
”Computational materials science?” Kang Chi couldn’t help but be a little surprised, “You actually know this thing?”
”Of course, after entering a technology company, you still have to make up for the necessary scientific and technological knowledge.”
”Well, not bad.” Kang Chi looked her up and down, “I really didn’t misjudge you at the beginning.”
Zhang Qing’s cheeks couldn’t help but blush slightly after being looked at by Kang Chi. She glared at him fiercely and said, “Anyway, if I act too fast and your technology can’t keep up, the pressure on capital turnover will be greater. You’d better consider this risk carefully.”
”Don’t worry, the reason why I reserved so much time is mainly because I want to build a high-yield production line as a blueprint. Otherwise, it would take more than half a month for the laboratory to make it.”
”Just as you know the plan, I’ll go and get busy if there’s nothing else.”
”Well, thank you for your hard work.” – Just as Kang Chi was preparing to make great progress, when entering the new energy battery field, in fact, the situation of the lithium battery industry in the stock market on the other side was very bleak.
In the three trading days of this week, the stock price of CATL was green for three consecutive days.
This stock, which was issued at 14.66 yuan per share, once rose to 382 yuan. The 26-fold return and the market value of trillions of yuan directly made them the well-deserved stock king.
But soon, they ushered in a period of sharp decline.
In the past three months, the stock of CATL has fallen by more than 35% cumulatively, and the market value has directly evaporated more than 360 billion!
For this well-deserved lithium battery giant in the world, which is in the limelight and almost one of the batteries of every three new energy vehicles produced in the world comes from them, it is undoubtedly a basin of cold water with ice chips.
In fact, except for CATL, the situation of other leading lithium battery listed companies is similar. The stock prices of Guoxuan High-tech and Yiwei Lithium Energy have fallen by 27% and 34% respectively in the past three months, and BYD has also directly discounted by 30%.
The decline in stock prices fully reflects the capital market’s pessimism about the lithium battery industry.
The main reason is that the problem of overcapacity is becoming increasingly obvious.
According to forecasts, China’s power battery production capacity required in 2025 is 1000-1200 GWh, but the current industry capacity planning for lithium batteries has reached 4800GWh.
For lithium battery manufacturers, this means more intense market competition and a potential decline in profitability.
Especially CATL, which was once in great glory, can be said to be facing internal and external troubles.
First of all, the most important raw materials for making lithium batteries are basically concentrated in South America. Although CATL has completed its layout early and won many lithium mines, it is still affected and restricted by prices.
For example, the price of lithium carbonate once rose to 500,000 yuan per ton last year, which not only put great pressure on battery manufacturers, but also on new energy vehicle companies.
Xiaopeng Automobile’s gross profit of a 250,000 yuan car is only 10%, that is, 25,000 yuan. As a result, the battery price directly increased by 20,000 yuan. It either makes a profit or has to increase the price.
So people often say that although new energy is fuel-efficient, it does not save money at all.
Except for users with very high vehicle intensity, such as online car-hailing users, the extra money that ordinary people spend on buying electric cars can be used to add fuel for several years, not to mention that the battery has a service life. After five or six years of use, it will decay to a certain extent, and replacing the battery will be a huge expense.
Under this situation, how can the pure electric vehicle market take off? They have planned so much production capacity, and they can’t sell it at all when they are produced.
BYD also ushered in a surge in sales after changing its strategy and focusing on hybrid range-extending technology.
Anyway, one thing leads to another, and the limitation of raw materials ultimately means that pure electric vehicles are not cost-effective, and the promotion of new energy strategies is hindered.
(End of this chapter)