Top of the big era

Come March, the flavor of the New Year is gone.

Zhou Buqi also started his global journey.

After all, compared to stable domestic business, overseas business is his greater pursuit and challenge. A few years ago, when he was in China, he enjoyed fighting BAT and the like. But at this stage, if he were asked to fight... he wouldn't have much interest in it, and he would get along with them more in a cooperative manner.

Fighting in a nest is no fun.

The global market is so big. Only by competing overseas and successfully winning can you show the style of a world-class entrepreneur.

Zhou Buqi did not hide this kind of thinking. He revealed it many times when he met many friends in the industry and government officials in China.

This has also received high praise from all parties.

He is considered to be the most well-established contemporary entrepreneur in China and represents the hope of the younger generation.

This trip to the United States to meet Musk was mainly related to Tesla and to talk to him about power batteries for new energy vehicles.

Although Tesla went public, it encountered great difficulties in operations and its production capacity simply could not keep up. Not only is the production capacity unable to keep up, but the cost of making cars is also high. The cost of making cars is even higher than the sales price.

In order to solve this problem, Musk plans to play "self-support". It is really not an analogy. He uses the word self-support.

"Self-operated?" Zhou Buqi was surprised, "Hasn't Tesla already built its own factory?"

Unlike mobile phone manufacturing, automobile manufacturing is an extremely complex and large-scale project.

Mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple, Asda, Samsung, and Xiaomi all entrust third-party OEMs to produce their mobile phones. This is actually Internet thinking.

Later, the new domestic Internet car-making forces also adopted this model at the beginning.

This is obviously unrealistic.

Cars are related to life safety, and they must be checked throughout the process to ensure they are foolproof. Entrusting them to a third party for manufacturing... Doesn't this mean that the car owner's life is entrusted to a third party?

This is too irresponsible.

Musk sighed and said helplessly: "The entire automobile industry now is built around fuel vehicles. Many accessories of fuel vehicles are not suitable for electric vehicles at all, at least they do not meet Tesla's standards. ."

Zhou Buqi knew the difficulty here, "So we have to start from scratch?"

Musk said: "It's not like starting from scratch. Many technologies and processes can be continued. It just needs to be upgraded and changed in accordance with Tesla's standards."

Zhou Buqi got a headache when he heard this, "This is difficult! The electric car industry is completely blank, and the gasoline-electric hybrid cars on the market are all based on the framework of fuel cars. You are not just asking for If you build a tram, you are creating a tram industry."

Musk's mentality has improved a lot, and he said with a smile: "Most of the engineering problems have been solved, and there are still some details in the car-making process that can be gradually improved. In terms of cost reduction, now basically only The final step has been taken.”

"Oh? Which part?"

"Battery."

"What a coincidence."

This is the purpose of Zhou Buqi's visit this time. He simply explained the situation. The country is promoting the development of the new energy automobile industry, and power batteries are a very important part of it.

He has already found relevant investment projects in China.

Musk immediately rejected it, "No! No! The cost of such a power battery is too high! In the past few years, we... yes, the supercar Tesla I gave you used outsourced ones. The power battery, that battery alone, costs US$120,000.”

"$120,000?"

Zhou Buqi was stunned and couldn't believe it.

Musk said: "I need a long range and a large battery. In the past, this kind of power battery was usually used in golf carts, so how much power is needed? Batteries are very strange. Batteries The lower the capacity, the lower the cost; as the battery capacity increases, the cost increases non-linearly."

Zhou Buqi calmed down a lot.

The domestic power battery industry has just started. If it wants to meet the standards suitable for Tesla, it may still take many years of exploration, accumulation and precipitation.

Musk smiled and said: "I am planning to go to Japan to cooperate with Panasonic."

"Cooperation? Cooperation to produce batteries?"

"Yes, there is a big misunderstanding in the industry about electric vehicle power batteries. They are all integrated batteries, and the cost is too high. In fact, there is no need at all. Tesla's approach is to purchase some cheap small batteries. It is then connected and powered by a powerful battery pack.”

Then, Musk said simply.

For example, a small battery with a power of 0.01 kilowatt-hour may cost only US$2. Then 5,000 such batteries, costing US$10,000, can reach a scale of 50 kilowatt-hours.

But if you buy a super power battery with a capacity of 50 kilowatt-hours, the cost may reach US$100,000.

As soon as Musk said it, Zhou Buqi understood.

This is Internet thinking.

The same logic as cloud computing.

Relying on a powerful server management system, some cheap servers are connected to build a powerful server cluster.

Zhou Buqi said: "It relies on a powerful battery management system to manage these small batteries and form a huge battery pack to replace the power battery."

Musk said with a smile: "That's the idea, but even so, the cost is still too high."

"Still high?"

"Well, so this time I went to Japan, mainly to negotiate with Panasonic, intending to cooperate in investing in a battery factory specifically to supply Tesla."

“How much can costs be reduced?”

"About 30%."

"This is really a big project!"

Zhou Buqi couldn't help but sigh.

Where is Tesla making cars?

If it were just to build a car, that would be easy.

As early as the advent of automobiles, trams appeared. At that time, there was a big discussion in the industry as to whether petrol vehicles or electric vehicles were better. Because oil trucks are more convenient to refuel and Mr. Ford's Ford cars became popular across the United States, oil trucks have taken the world by storm.

Things are different now.

If Musk wants to build Tesla, he must first build the electric car industry. This is not building a car, but building an industry.

Once he has built up tram-related industries and released some tram patents, other entrepreneurs in the market can follow suit and create many new energy companies.

From this point of view, this is exactly the same as Boss Ma.

In order to build Alipay, Boss Ma has to build up the entire domestic Internet financial industry, go through various ministries and commissions, sign documents one after another, and smooth the relationship with various financial institutions.

When Boss Ma has done all this, Alipay can set sail...and other industry followers can take advantage of his paving the way and build a bridge, and follow suit to compete fiercely with Alipay.

Musk seemed to be in a good mood and said with a smile: "As long as the cost of batteries is kept down, Tesla will basically be able to generate profits in the manufacturing and sales of cars, and then mass production will be possible."

Zhou Buqi asked: "Where is the location of the factory?"

Musk said: "The United States."

"The cost cannot be reduced."

Zhou Buqi shook his head.

Musk said with a smile: "The cost can be reduced, at least by 30%. As long as this is achieved, Tesla's entire vehicle can basically break even."

"But this is just breaking even. If you want to make money, you have to keep costs down. The cost of power batteries remains high. This is not a normal market phenomenon. There are rare goods to be found, and there is a very competitive market. The market is not participating.”

"Um?"

"Don't forget, made in China."