Chapter 373 Pioneer

Chapter 373 Pioneer

Chapter 373 Pioneer
On Monday, August 8, Li Yifan arrived in Lingang again to deal with some procedural matters of the lidar company.

After discussing with Sun Kai and Xiang Shaoqing, the company decided to use "Ling Gang" to replace the original "Hesai".

Hesai is the homonym of an American city, and Linggang is the homonym and accent of... Lingang. Li Yifan got inspiration from Xiang Shaoqing's accent and used these two words.

Carbon Silicon Group happened to have a meeting on Monday, so Yu Xing simply asked Li Yifan, who was not in a hurry to adjust to the jet lag, to attend the meeting.

He introduced the "Lidar" project that Li Yifan was in charge of, which made everyone confused and surprised for a moment. It was hard to imagine a commercial scenario for this project that sounded more like something that should be done in the laboratory.

As the vice president who has been taking on more and more of his boss's work recently, Cui Zhiyu calmed down and gave a compliment: "Linggang is a good name. Ling means wisdom. I heard that Google's driverless car uses laser radar. The word Gang... well, laser is like the invisible energy emitted by a martial arts master. Linggang, Linggang, wonderful!"

Yu Xing and Li Yifan looked at each other. Is this what you mean?

Li Yifan's throat slid. After being interpreted in this way, he was too embarrassed to talk about the homophonic thing. He nodded slightly and praised: "Boss Cui is really... a kind-hearted person."

Cui Zhiyu: “Ah?”

"Mr. Li has been abroad for a long time, so his words may not be precise enough. OK, LiDAR will be a powerful tool for our development in the second half of the year. I am confident that LiDAR will make great strides in the next few years." Yu Xing brought the topic back to the meeting. "Just like what I said to those leaders before, and it is also Mr. Zhuang's opinion, the electrification transformation of new energy vehicles is not a breakthrough in a single technology, but the result of the coordinated development of four major technology clusters: electronic architecture, energy management, wire control technology and intelligent driving."

Coordinated development of electronic architecture, energy management, drive-by-wire technology and intelligent driving.

In addition, the implementation path of these four major technology clusters is electronicization, integration and software.

Some people were present when Yu Xing gave his presentation to the leaders before, but this time it clarified on a larger scale the exploration and thinking of Carbon Silicon Group on the future route of new energy from its establishment to the present.

Not only did he talk, Zhuang Guanlin, who is responsible for the development of electrification, also used the products of various companies as annotations to his opinions in detail.

BMW's pure electric i3 is a good example. The Bosch wire-controlled brake system it is equipped with is very forward-looking. Similar advances in wire-controlled steering, wire-controlled suspension, etc. still rely on the joint progress of motors, batteries and software.

The key advances that come from the synergy of these basic advances will undoubtedly reconstruct the underlying logic of automobiles.

Yu Xing was a little distracted as he listened. In fact, brands like BMW have been exploring the development of new energy earlier than he thought. At the Beijing Auto Show at the beginning of the year, they exhibited hybrid models, and the i3 equipped with Bosch's iBooster system is said to be on the market next year.

Whether it is BMW choosing Ningde as its battery supplier, or its expansionary attempt to use Bosch's iBooster system which has not yet been mass-produced, or its plan to launch an online direct sales model for i3 that breaks the traditional 4S store system...

Even the i3 is an independent platform, not an oil-to-electric conversion.

Not to mention, the direction of exploration is really good, and it’s only 2012 now.

This positive forward-looking exploration is undoubtedly in stark contrast to the subsequent sluggishness.

Yu Xing had extremely strong feelings that no one else had, so he couldn't help but wonder where the problem lay.

If he were asked to evaluate, compared with Mercedes-Benz and Audi, the technological exploration reflected in BMW's i3 is the best among BBA, but... after much thought, he still attributed it to the internal strategic wavering of putting the interests of oil vehicles first.

The point that best reflects the wavering is undoubtedly that BMW later switched from making electric cars to converting them from oil to electricity, which means that it did not continue to invest resources in independent platforms.

If the strategy is wrong, you won’t be able to stick to the tactical direction even if it is correct.

"Mr. Yu, do you think the BMW i3 will be successful next year?" Hu Zhengnan chatted with them about electrification for a while and noticed that his boss was obviously thinking, so he asked a question.

"It's a bit difficult." Yu Xing shook his head. "The price won't be cheap. Bosch said they have some carbon fiber products. The cost will definitely be high, but the range will not be long enough, and the design is quite... radical."

The data obtained by Carbon Silicon Group is that the pure electric i3 has a range of about 170 kilometers, which is undoubtedly not enough. It is estimated that it will be discounted in actual use. According to BMW's pricing tone, 30 is a low price. The price of this forward-looking exploration is likely to start at 40.

As for the design, the i3 has double doors. The overall look and feel is a matter of opinion, and it’s okay to euphemistically call it radical.

Hu Zhengnan nodded and said objectively: "I feel that BMW's idea is to reduce weight to increase battery life, rather than actively seeking battery development. If this is the way to improve battery life next year, users' range anxiety will be the most difficult problem to solve."

The Model S's range starts at 400 kilometers, and the collaboration with Panasonic has demonstrated progress in batteries to the industry.

"What does Bangle think?" Yu Xing did not talk about battery life. The answer was that Silicon Carbon Group's choice to make extended-range vehicles was the answer. Instead, he asked Bangle, who was previously a BMW designer.

Bangor had only one simple comment: "Fuck Richard!"

Richard is the chief designer of the i3.

Yu Xing listened to the laughter in the conference room and shrugged his shoulders. Bangor maintained his style of focusing only on the design field and made a radical comment on the radical design of the BMW i3.

The meeting attended by Li Yifan was a long one, with the main topic being the industry's development of automotive electrification. Tesla is undoubtedly the best, but BMW's development of the i3 is also worth learning.

Carbon Silicon Group will make corrections if there are any problems, and encourage others if there are none. Li Yifan felt that it was both novel and rewarding. Although Mr. Yu supported the laser radar project with actions, he did not expect that Carbon Silicon Group would also clearly define "intelligent driving" as the exploration direction of the technology cluster.

After the meeting, he asked Mr. Yu with some emotion: "Mr. Yu, is it because of the LiDAR project that Carbon Silicon Group lists intelligent driving as its future direction?"

Seeing that he asked bluntly, Yu Xing smiled and answered bluntly: "Mr. Li, you... got it wrong. We attach importance to LiDAR because we want to make intelligent driving the future direction."

Li Yifan let out a "huh" sound. The continuous support did make him feel a little proud.

"We will first accumulate technology and collect data. As we said at the meeting, this is the focus of our second half." Yu Xing said with a smile, "Take a break. When you are ready, you can start working."

Li Yifan asked the last question: "Mr. Yu, what model did you refer to for the chassis of this tram?"

He didn't hear about that at the meeting.

"We have studied the Highlander and Volvo XC90, both of which have seven-seater models," Yu Xing replied. "But the redesign is more based on the battery. This is also a lesson learned from Tesla's experience of buying chassis from Lotus sports cars and doing design."

Yu Xing chatted with him for a few more words, and seeing that he was still full of energy, he casually invited him to go to the Shanghai Auto Show together tomorrow.

The three major auto shows are coming: Beijing at the beginning of the year, Shanghai in the middle of the year, and Guangzhou at the end of the year. Naturally, you have to take a look at them.

Li Yifan agreed without hesitation, thinking that he could use this opportunity to quickly finalize the R&D funding. Since he was already back, there shouldn't be any unexpected changes...

The next day was also the first day of the Shanghai Auto Show.

As the auto show is close to home, Yu Xing, the founder of Carbon Silicon Group, was invited twice to talk about new energy vehicles, but he refused twice and was unwilling to talk more at such a stage.

However, the media in Shanghai got the hint and immediately noticed the appearance of Mr. Yu and others, and they couldn't wait to surround them for interviews.

Yu Xing just talked briefly about the development of new energy and then continued his visit.

"Mr. Yu, Mr. Yu, what do you think of the models at this year's auto show?" the reporter asked routine questions.

"They are all very good. The F chassis of the BMW 3 Series of this generation feels great, the demon eye of the Mercedes-Benz CLS is really good-looking, and I just sat in the Audi A6L of this generation, which has a good sense of technology." Yu Xing was full of praise, "The new Passat has exceeded 15 sales in less than a year since its launch, which is amazing..."

The reporter felt that Mr. Yu was a bit perfunctory, and his manuscript was not complete. After thinking for two seconds, he asked: "Mr. Yu, what do you think of the new energy vehicles unveiled at the auto show today?"

Yu Xing groaned: "Well..."

The reporter finally felt something different and immediately asked with a more specific model: "Mr. Yu, it's like BMW's ActiveE, what do you think of it?"

The BMW ActiveE is a pure electric model based on the 1 Series Coupe.

"I just noticed that BMW is on the right track in testing electric vehicles, but its range is only 160 kilometers. I think this is a problem that needs to be solved urgently." Yu Xing said, "This is a range that will make car owners feel insecure. In addition, daily use of air conditioning for cooling and heating will inevitably reduce the range."

He said seriously: "Cruise range is one of the most important issues for new energy vehicles. If it is not solved, new energy vehicles will not be easy to sell well. For example, the entry-level Model S produced by Tesla this year has a range of 400 kilometers. In comparison, the pure electric vehicles on the auto show today are inferior."

At this time, a person passing by who had listened to the conversation out of curiosity smiled and interrupted, "Mr. Yu, we are BMW."

Yu Xing tilted his head: "?"

"I'm Lu Yi from BMW China." The man introduced himself.

Seeing that he had no intention of shaking hands and not knowing what position he held at BMW, Yu Xing discussed the issue with him, saying, "Mr. Lu, if the problem of battery life is not solved, it will be difficult for new energy vehicles to gain real user recognition. The battery life of this ActiveE seems to be similar to that of your i3. Why don't you work on the battery to alleviate this problem?"

This was indeed what puzzled him.

Lu Yi smiled slightly: "Mr. Yu, this is just Blue Sky and White Clouds' exploration of the future. We are committed to attracting pioneering users who care about environmental protection."

Yu Xing was now confused and shocked.

He looked at the person in front of him who was not joking and asked, "Don't Pioneer users have to solve the anxiety of battery life?"

Lu Yi replied: "Mr. Yu, our customer base will recognize our exploration of environmental protection."

Yu Xing was speechless. Suddenly he felt like he didn't know how to communicate with the person in front of him. The problem was that Pioneer users could adapt to their own needs, right?

He was silent for three seconds, then faced the reporter's microphone and gave a simple and intuitive comment: "BMW's ActiveE is doomed to fail."

The reporter's eyes lit up. Look, look, it has to be a professional like Lu Xianfeng who comes to talk!
(End of this chapter)