Chapter 227 Big Shuffle
Chapter 227 Big Shuffle
Seeing that everyone who was supposed to come had arrived, Liu Shanhe, general manager of Nanfang Power Group, one of the leaders of the press conference, was the first to go on stage to speak.
“Dear guests, dear colleagues, dear journalists, welcome to take time out of your busy schedule to attend this press conference. On behalf of Nandian Group and other partner companies, I would like to clarify some matters to you.”
Those in the audience who were not quite aware of the inside story quickly listened attentively.
"The first thing is about the newly established joint venture... The above companies will jointly invest to establish the Southern Power Storage Company... The above companies will jointly invest to establish the Northern Power Storage Company..."
"The second thing is about the business planning of the two power storage companies. In the future, the two companies will engage in battery replacement services, power storage scheduling, and consumption of abandoned electricity..."
"The third thing is about the cooperation agreement between the two power storage companies and Hailufeng Company. In the next year, the two power storage companies will purchase 20 cubic meters of battery cells from Hailufeng Company to build a power storage system with a storage capacity of 9000 million kWh. The system can regulate electricity up to 2.16 million kWh per day and 788.4 billion kWh per year."
The journalists below were rapidly typing away on their laptop keyboards, all with a hint of shock in their eyes.
However, the bosses or executives of the new energy power generation companies were excited at this time. They felt that wind power and photovoltaic power could be saved this time.
Not only the wind power and photovoltaic companies were delighted, the management of the thermal power companies or companies with thermal power projects also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
These difficult-to-dispatch new energy waste electricity are finally no longer used to build their thermal power plants.
As industry insiders, the management of thermal power companies all hate renewable energy power generation. It’s not that they hate wind power and photovoltaic power plants that have taken away their power generation business, but they hate the losses caused by these wind power and photovoltaic power plants.
This loss is not caused by the reduction of power generation business, but in order to dispatch electricity and absorb the electricity generated by new energy, they have to sacrifice their stable thermal power generation mode.
During the power generation process of a thermal power plant, if the power generation capacity is adjusted frequently, it is not only a waste of resources, but also a huge harm to the gas turbine.
Faced with this situation, if there were no mandatory tasks, the thermal power plant would have stopped operating long ago. After all, which company would be willing to do something that harms itself and benefits others?
Now they see hope. In the future, the proportion of new energy such as wind power and photovoltaic power that requires thermal power regulation will definitely be greatly reduced. They finally don’t have to worry all day long.
As for whether photovoltaic and wind power will completely replace thermal power.
The answer is impossible.
At least not at this stage.
Because even with a large-scale power storage system, the temporal and spatial instability of photovoltaic and wind power is still very obvious.
Photovoltaics have daily fluctuations of day and night, seasonal fluctuations of the four seasons of the year, and weather fluctuations of sunny and cloudy days.
Wind power also has seasonal fluctuations.
Although the sponge battery is in the storage state, if the electricity is stored in the battery for a year, the power loss is about 0.2∽0.5% per month, and the power loss is 2∽5% per year, which seems to be much better than the lithium battery.
However, this ultra-low frequency of use of electricity for a year will lead to rising costs. Although the battery life is not affected, the management costs will continue to accumulate. Therefore, it is best to store and use sponge batteries quickly to avoid accumulating too much management costs.
Storing it for several months is a huge waste.
Therefore, at this stage, the bottom-line status of domestic thermal power plants is still unshakable, and seasonal fluctuations must be adjusted through thermal power plants.
However, this kind of scheduling on a monthly basis is barely acceptable to thermal power plants. At least compared to constantly adjusting power generation every day, they think it is not bad.
If power generation companies are all in high spirits.
As for the automobile companies, there are both joy and sorrow.
Automobile companies that do not have the ability to produce automobile batteries may consider the battery swap model.
Li Bin, CEO of Future Auto, was very happy at this time, because he knew that the opportunity for Future Auto had come.
The group with the worst mood at the scene was definitely the management of battery companies. They knew that they were powerless to turn the tide in the field of power storage, and that automotive batteries were also likely to be in danger. At best, they could only maintain a market for batteries for mobile phones and electric devices.
"Fourth, our power grid plans to gradually cancel the tiered electricity price in the next five years. At the same time, we will gradually eliminate the price difference between industrial and commercial electricity and residential electricity, and achieve a unified electricity price."
Hearing the news from Liu Shanhe.
Although everyone was surprised, they felt it was within an acceptable range.
After all, as the power regulation capacity of the domestic power system improves, continuing to implement tiered electricity prices and industrial and commercial electricity prices will suppress electricity demand and be unfavorable to the increase in electricity consumption.
“The fifth thing is that in the future, the power grid will continue to build other types of energy storage systems as a supplement to the sponge battery storage system.”
Upon hearing the news, some corporate managers engaged in pumped storage, gravity energy storage, air energy storage, and flywheel energy storage also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, their worries are unnecessary.
Neither the power grid nor the government will rely on one tree. Betting solely on sponge batteries is obviously not in line with safety considerations.
Since the domestic economy has improved, it no longer gambles on a single technology route, but chooses multiple parallel lines.
In the end, no matter which technical route is successful, it will not affect the overall situation.
Although lithium batteries cannot beat sponge batteries in terms of cost at this stage, solid-state battery technology is immature and more expensive, the government will not give up investment in this area.
After Liu Shanhe announced the news, it was Hailufeng Company's turn to speak.
The person who came to the stage to speak on behalf of Hailufeng Company was Liu Haitao, the manager of the battery business unit. He said slowly: "Dear guests, good morning, everyone. On behalf of the company, I will make the following speech..."
"The first point is about the performance of the sponge battery..."
While Liu Haitao was speaking, employees of Hailufeng Company handed out performance test reports to those present.
As soon as they received the battery performance test report, everyone read it carefully.
Although many people have obtained a small part of the performance parameters of sponge batteries through various channels, it is not an official report issued by Hailufeng Company after all, so there must be some data that has not been obtained.
This test report is 32 pages long and records in detail the various performance parameters, test methods, and details of different environments and usage modes.
On the stage, Liu Haitao spoke slowly and leisurely.
In the audience, everyone was listening and watching.
Although the performance of sponge batteries had been overestimated, many battery industry practitioners present at the time were still shocked by the performance of sponge batteries.
Li Pin, the vice president of Hecheng Times, looked serious: "Although the volume is a bit large, its energy density is very high. Each cubic meter of battery can store 450 degrees of electricity, and the discharge can reach more than 400 degrees..."
Wang Guoxin, one of the technical leaders of their company, also had a serious expression on his face, but he focused on another point: "Mr. Li, there is another key point, which is that the exhaustion coefficient within the number of cycles is almost only 1%..."
"1%..." Li Pin knew what this data represented.
That is to say, within the number of cycles, the battery storage and discharge power will only deteriorate by about 1% over time.
This is one of the characteristics of sponge batteries, that is, within the number of cycles, the storage and discharge power of the sponge battery will not decrease significantly, but once the number of cycles is exceeded, you have to be careful, because the entire battery cell will suddenly be scrapped, and the storage and discharge performance will drop drastically.
This is different from lithium iron phosphate batteries. Even if the number of cycles reaches 2500∽3000 or more, the performance of lithium iron phosphate will decline. However, the performance decline of lithium iron phosphate is slow and will not fall to the bottom all at once.
Wang Guoxin reminded quietly: "Another point that needs attention is the low temperature characteristics, which is on page 21."
Li Pin turned to page 21 of the test report. After reading it for a while, he smiled bitterly: "This thing is too scary."
Wang Guoxin had to admit the power of sponge batteries: "Yes! Sponge batteries generate heat while discharging. In winter, you only need to add a heat-insulating shell to keep the power the same as in summer. What's even more terrifying is that in the low temperature of winter, the power of this thing is almost not lost."
Nowadays, automotive lithium batteries face the problem of reduced power in the winter in the north.
The North includes Northeast China, North China, and Northwest China, especially the densely populated North China. Such a huge consumer market will have a huge impact.
Wang Guoxin continued in a low voice: "But fortunately, sponge batteries are not perfect."
"What are the shortcomings of this thing?" Li Pin asked quickly.
"Miniaturization." "Miniaturization? Is there no way to make this thing smaller?"
"From the data in the test report, the sponge battery is relatively large, and soybean oil is used as the battery fluid. If it is to be miniaturized, it is necessary to ensure that the battery fluid inside does not leak, which requires a larger protective layer. Nowadays, mobile phones and the like are all pursuing miniaturization."
Wang Guoxin then added: "Moreover, the heat generation characteristics of sponge batteries are slightly higher than those of lithium batteries. If the protective layer is increased, it will cause serious heat accumulation inside."
“It seems that the market for mobile phone batteries and some home appliance batteries can be maintained.” Li Pin scratched his head.
"Mr. Li, you don't have to worry too much. At least we won't lose the overseas battery market."
"Why?" Li Pin was unable to react for a moment, but suddenly he came to his senses: "You are right, we don't have to worry about the foreign market for the time being."
Anyone who can become a senior executive must have good IQ. After careful analysis, he understood what Wang Guoxin meant.
The performance of sponge batteries is indeed amazing, but this battery has a fatal problem, that is, its cycle life is only 600∽900 times.
If it is used domestically, according to Li Pin's internal information, he knows that in addition to Hailufeng Company, Beijing Energy International and State Power Investment Corporation will also produce sponge batteries, so there will be no battery supply problems.
But foreign companies need to consider other risks, such as sudden supply cuts.
This is definitely a risk that needs to be considered.
Once the sponge battery is suddenly cut off.
而海绵电池本身只能循环600∽900次，用在频繁使用的汽车上，估计就3∽4年的使用寿命；如果是用在电力调度上，估计寿命只有1∽2年左右。
Although this type of battery is cheap, once the supply is cut off, the consequences will be extremely serious, which means that the company must find another battery supplier to replace all the batteries in a short period of time.
Unless Hailufeng Company licenses technology to foreign companies.
But Li Pin has learned about Hailufeng Company in the past few days. The relationship between this company and European and American capital is very ordinary, and can even be described as an enemy.
In addition, the international situation has been severe in recent years, and the official export restrictions on core technologies have become more and more frequent. As sponge batteries are a technology unique to China, it is highly likely that the export of technology will not be allowed.
They can only purchase batteries but cannot obtain battery technology. Considering the risks, European and American companies will definitely not purchase sponge batteries. No matter how cheap the sponge batteries are, they dare not buy them.
Although according to the test report, sponge batteries are very environmentally friendly. After the battery is scrapped, the battery fluid can be used to refine biodiesel, and the battery core can be crushed and used as organic fertilizer.
But the issues that European and American companies need to consider are not just environmental protection, but also policy risks.
Wang Guoxin smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Li, this is actually not a bad thing. At least sponge batteries will not appear in the international market. Moreover, as sponge batteries squeeze the domestic power battery and storage battery markets, the overcapacity of lithium batteries will inevitably lead to a sharp drop in the market prices of various rare elements."
"I hope so!" Li Pin nodded slightly.
However, no matter how low the cost of lithium batteries is, they cannot beat sponge batteries.
As practitioners, Wang Guoxin and Li Pin are well aware that the various raw materials of sponge batteries are common. If the R&D costs and processing technology are not taken into account, and the recyclable and reusable characteristics of sponge batteries, the cost of raw materials is estimated to be only a few tenths of that of lithium batteries.
At this cost, no matter how low the cost of lithium batteries is, they cannot beat sponge batteries.
Unless they invent a new battery with very low cost and performance comparable to sponge batteries, it will be difficult to regain the market.
The solid-state batteries that are hyped up by major battery manufacturers probably have no hope of defeating sponge batteries.
Perhaps solid-state batteries can beat sponge batteries in terms of power storage and discharge performance, but the problem is that solid-state batteries are very expensive.
For large ships and power stations, the cost-effectiveness of batteries is king.
How can we recover the cost of developing a set of expensive solid-state batteries?
We can't always expect the government to provide subsidies, right?
Everyone present had seen enough.
Liu Haitao slowly started talking about the next topic: "The second point is about the pricing of sponge batteries. Our company uniformly adopts a leasing model. The rental fee for each cubic meter of battery cell over its entire life is 1 yuan, and the deposit is 1 yuan."
Some people already know about this situation.
And those who didn't know yet also knew it now.
"lease?"
"1 yuan per cubic meter?"
The discussion at the scene started again.
Liu Haitao continued: "For the leasing management of automotive batteries, our company plans to authorize two or three companies in the future to form a dedicated battery replacement network, which is also to facilitate unified battery recycling."
Many people present immediately became agitated by this.
Clearly they have seen a huge business opportunity.
As long as they can obtain the automobile battery replacement authorization qualification from Hailufeng Company, it means they can get a large piece of the market.
Future cars that have already planned to use battery swapping, as well as some other related companies, are all eager to take action.
Of course, to obtain the authorization for vehicle battery swapping, it is likely that automobile companies will be the main players, because they are the purchasers of the batteries. If they are unwilling to improve their cars to match the layout of sponge batteries, they can only rely on future car companies that are willing to promote battery swapping to slowly seize the market.
However, unless these car companies have their brains filled with water, they will not give up the battery swap model.
After all, no matter how fast charging is, it is definitely not as good as battery replacement. Especially for truck owners who are in a hurry, battery replacement will definitely be the first choice.
Moreover, large trucks are used very frequently. Unlike private cars, a large number of private cars are used very infrequently, which results in a small number of battery cycles. Therefore, even after five or six years, the battery failure is still not serious.
However, vehicles such as trucks and buses are different. These vehicles are used very frequently and their batteries are very large. Once the battery life is reached, it is a considerable cost to replace a new set of batteries.
Therefore, owners of electric vehicles that are used frequently will give priority to electric vehicles with battery swapping modes.
The CEO of NIO was already quickly calculating in his mind. He was very shocked by Hailufeng's leasing offer, but another idea also came to his mind.
His idea is very simple.
That is to make money by replacing batteries, but only selling cars and not batteries.
If the battery of an electric car is free, the cost of the electric car can be reduced by 40-60%.
Because the battery cost often accounts for 40-60% of the total vehicle cost of an electric vehicle, the more advanced the electric vehicle, the higher the battery cost.
Now that the leasing model is adopted, the batteries no longer belong to the car manufacturers and car owners, but to Hailufeng Company.
In this case, the battery cost naturally cannot be calculated into the total vehicle cost.
For example, the fireflies in future cars use Xinwanda's lithium iron phosphate batteries, with a purchase price of 3.25 yuan, a battery weight of 250 kilograms, a storage capacity of 50 degrees, and a battery energy density of 0.2 kilowatt-hours per kilogram.
If the lithium iron phosphate battery is removed, the cost will drop by 3.25 yuan. After the battery is replaced with a sponge battery, the available power of a 250-kilogram sponge battery is 55.5 degrees.
The price of the Firefly, which originally cost 14.88 yuan, can be reduced to 11.63 yuan.
The power storage performance has been improved.
The driving experience is better.
User purchase costs are reduced.
Of course, there are even cheaper electric cars. If we consider the ultimate cost-effectiveness, after removing the power battery, the cost of a micro car is reduced to less than 20,000 yuan.
Future Auto CEOs are very clear that domestically produced cars will enter a new round of price cuts, and mid-range models will be compressed to the range of 8 to 12 yuan.
A major reshuffle of the industry is coming.
(End of this chapter)