Technological power starts with upgrading lenses

After the meeting, Kang Chi invited a group of senior executives to have lunch in the canteen of Datang Heavy Industries.

Although having dinner together in the canteen sounds a bit low, in fact, the canteen of Datang Heavy Industry also has private rooms for entertaining guests. The chefs are all hotel-level chefs. The food is healthier and more delicious than what is eaten outside. Kang Chi comes here from time to time. At least 30% of the reasons why Datang Heavy Industries travels around are to enjoy a big meal.

Of course, the aunt he hired at home is actually quite good at cooking, but if she eats too much home-cooked food, she will inevitably get a little tired of it, so she wants to cook 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 distributed by Kangchi and began to discuss specific implementation plans.

By the next day, all the subsidiaries of the entire group began to adjust their directions and started operating quickly.

Among them, the sodium battery commercial operation plan and feasibility analysis, which Zhang Qing is responsible for, is undoubtedly the top priority.

However, in the past six months or so, Zhang Qing has initially formed a group think tank. In most cases, she only needs to convey Kang Chi's wishes, let the think tank put forward detailed plans, and then choose the ones she thinks are more feasible. Just let Kang Chi make the final decision.

This not only reduced Zhang Qing's work pressure, but also speeded up the formulation of project plans. In just two days, a report was submitted to Kang Chi.

Kang Chi read it carefully, and after confirming that the overall idea and direction were correct, he nodded and said: "Just follow this plan and move forward quickly."

"It's just that the time point can be faster. For example, once the general layout of the charging station is finalized, it is almost ready to start. The venue has been negotiated first. There is no need to wait until the design of the charging station is completed before starting to find the venue. At other time points, if you think you can compress it, just compress it."

Zhang Qing nodded, and then couldn't help but ask: "Do you think there will be a breakthrough in sodium battery technology soon?"

"Two months at most." Kang Chi said bluntly.

"Two months?!!"

Zhang Qing's eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

Since joining Datang Heavy Industries, she has also gained a lot of knowledge in science and technology.

For example, the research and development of photolithography machines is actually mainly precision equipment manufacturing technology, while batteries, like photoresist, are chemical material technologies.

As we all know, materials science is a very metaphysical science among all scientific categories.

The research and development of new materials usually involves extremely high uncertainties.

Maybe you clearly wanted to develop a rigid material, but somehow you ended up with a flexible material.

When you think this thing may be useless,

But it may suddenly play a huge role in areas you didn't expect...

Lithium cobalt oxide is the most typical example of the cathode material in lithium batteries. This material was first prepared by the Westinghouse Laboratory in M ​​country 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 impact of the relative contents of Co2+ and Co3+ on the magnetic field.

It was not until more than 20 years later that LI xTi 2 was discovered that it could be used as a cathode material for rechargeable batteries. Lithium cobalt oxide, which was somewhat similar to it, was not remembered, and then it became brilliant in the manufacturing of lithium batteries.

"Do you have any black technology in computational materials science?"

"Computational materials science?" Kang Chi couldn't help but asked in surprise, "You actually know this stuff?"

"Of course, if you join a technology company, you still need to catch up on the necessary technological knowledge."

"Well, not bad, not bad." Kang Chi looked her up and down, "I saw you right at first."

Being looked at by Kang Chi like this, Zhang Qing's cheeks couldn't help but turn a little red. She glared at him fiercely and said, "Anyway, if I move too fast and your technology can't keep up, the capital turnover will be The pressure will be greater, and you’d better consider this risk carefully.”

"Don't worry, the reason why I set aside such a long time is mainly because I need to build a high-yield production line as a blueprint. Otherwise, if it is just done in the laboratory, half a month will be more than enough."

"As long as you know what's going on, I'll go and get busy if there's nothing else to do."

"Well, thank you for your hard work."

——

Just when Kangchi is preparing to make great progress and enter the field of new energy batteries, in fact, on the other side of the stock market, the situation in the lithium battery industry is very pessimistic.

On the three trading days this week, CATL’s stock price remained green for three consecutive days.

This stock, issued at 14.66 yuan per share, once rose to 382 yuan. The 26 times of earnings and a market value of over one trillion directly made them the well-deserved stock king.

But soon, they ushered in a period of decline.

In the past three months, CATL’s stock has fallen by more than 35%, and its market value has evaporated by more than 360 billion!

For this lithium-ion battery leader who is in the spotlight and has almost one out of every three new energy vehicles built in the world, it is undoubtedly a basin of cold water with icy residue.

In fact, except for CATL, the situation of other leading lithium battery listed companies is similar. The stock prices of Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Yiwei Lithium Energy have also fallen by 27% and 34% respectively in the past three months, and BYD has also directly discounted 30%.

The decline in stock prices fully reflects the capital market's unfavorable view of the lithium battery industry.

The main reason is the increasingly obvious problem of overcapacity.

According to predictions, the power battery production capacity China will need in 2025 is 1,000-1,200 GWh, but the current lithium battery industry production capacity plan has reached 4,800 GWh.

For lithium battery manufacturers, this means more intense market competition and a potential decline in profitability.

Especially the once glorious Ningde era can be said to be plagued by 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 will still be affected and restricted by prices.

For example, the price of lithium carbonate 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 Auto's gross profit on a 250,000 car is only 10%, which is 25,000. As a result, the price of the battery has directly increased by 20,000. It will either make a profit or have to increase its price.

Therefore, people often say that although new energy saves fuel, it does not save money at all.

In addition to the very high intensity of car use, such as online car-hailing users, the extra money that ordinary people have to buy electric cars can be used to fill up the gas for several years, not to mention that the battery still has a service life, and it will decay to a certain level after five or six years of use. To a certain extent, replacing the battery is a huge expense.

Under such circumstances, how can the pure electric vehicle market take off?

They have planned so much production capacity that they will not be able to sell it when they are built.

BYD also experienced a surge in sales after changing its strategy and focusing on gasoline-electric hybrid range extension technology.

Anyway, one after another, the limitations of raw materials ultimately reflect that pure electric vehicles are not cost-effective, and the promotion of new energy strategies is hindered.