Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

In Li Weidong's memory, the technical difficulties of electric vehicles mainly focus on batteries, and those large international car companies have also made great efforts in battery research and development.

The only companies that can supply battery cells in the world are CATL, LG, Panasonic, BYD and other companies.

But for car companies, the battery pack casing, cell layout, battery control system, etc. are all developed by themselves.

In other words, the battery technology of electric vehicles not only relies on battery cell supply companies to provide high-performance batteries, but also depends on the car companies' control and matching of the entire battery system.

So when Fukang Agricultural Machinery wanted to develop an electric tricycle, Li Weidong's first thought was whether he could overcome the difficulties in battery technology.

Unexpectedly, what Yue Ping An first proposed was not the battery technology, but the motor technology.

So Li Weidong asked: "Are there any difficulties in motor technology?

Yue Ping An immediately explained; "First of all, there is the problem of power. The current motor power is seriously insufficient... It can run if installed on a bicycle, but it will definitely not work if installed on an agricultural tricycle.

An ordinary bicycle, even if it carries two people, can weigh up to 300 kilograms at most, but an agricultural tricycle is mainly used to transport goods. It often has to pull two or three tons of things, and the motor cannot carry it at all. "

"What about using a larger motor? Should the power be larger?" Li Weidong asked.

"But larger motors are also larger in size, which will occupy a larger space, and the space for transporting goods needs to be sacrificed." Yue Ping An explained.

Li Weidong thought for a moment and then said; "Motorized tricycles were not able to carry two tons of cargo at the beginning. The original motorized tricycles could only carry four to five hundred kilograms!"

The research and development of electric tricycles can also be carried out step by step. We start with low-load electric tricycles. It doesn’t matter if they carry less cargo. We first make the product, and then gradually improve it, and finally reach the cargo-carrying level of a motorized tricycle. "

"I understand, but in addition to power, the life of the motor is also a big issue!" Yue Ping'an said.

"Is the service life of the motor very short?" Li Weidong asked immediately.

"It's very short. Our domestic motors are prone to wear and tear of parts. If they are used frequently, they can last for three months. Imported motors are in better condition, but they can only last half a year."

Yue Ping An then explained: "Unless it's the kind of touring car motor, its service life is relatively long, but the price is too expensive. The price of a motor is comparable to that of a car. If we use that for agricultural tricycles, If you plant something, you won’t even be able to leave your pants!”

"Are today's motors so bad?" Li Weidong muttered to himself.

At this time, Li Weidong finally understood why the problem limiting the development of electric vehicles was not the battery, but the motor.

Because the service life of motors in this era is really too short!

Although the battery at this time is also very bad, it can run more than 20 kilometers after being fully charged, and can be charged more than 200 times back and forth. Even if it is charged once a day, it can be used for more than half a year.

However, the motor can only be used for three months, which means that the motor will be scrapped before the battery has reached its service life!

Therefore, the main factor restricting the development of electric vehicles has changed from batteries to motors.

The situation is similar to that of domestic engines. The poor performance of domestic motors is mainly due to material problems. Insufficient materials and processes lead to poor quality, low service life and high failure rate of domestic motors.

The advantage of imported motors is materials. The materials and processes of developed countries such as Europe, the United States and Japan are better, and the quality of the motors produced is also better. Of course, they use better materials, and the price of the motors is also more expensive.

The gap in this area will have to wait until permanent magnet brushless motors are widely used before China can catch up with developed countries.

The key to the performance of a permanent magnet brushless motor is the performance of the strong magnetic materials used, and the best strong magnetic materials are rare earth permanent magnet materials.

In terms of rare earth permanent magnets, China's technology is top-notch in the world. It is precisely because this technology is good enough that China's motors can develop and become the largest producer, consumer and exporter of electric vehicles.

However, there was no permanent magnet motor or rare earth permanent magnet material at this time, so Li Weidong could only get stuck in the motor.

Yue Pangan, who was next to him, said, "There are two ways to solve the problem of motors. One is to conduct research and development ourselves, set up a special motor research and development department, and recruit corresponding scientific researchers.

It's just that this will be more time-consuming. After all, everything needs to be started from scratch, and scientific research takes time. As for when the results will be achieved, it is hard to say. In addition, if you do this, the capital investment will be relatively large.

The second way is to cooperate with other companies. There are also many motor companies in our country, especially those with state-owned enterprises. Although their technology is not as good as that of developed countries, they still have R\u0026D capabilities.

If there is such a company that is willing to cooperate with us, we will provide the funds and they will provide the people and technology. In this way, the progress of research and development will definitely be much faster and the cost will be much lower. "

Li Weidong pondered for a moment and then said; "Electric vehicles are the future development trend. In terms of core technologies, we must master some of them. Of the four major components of electric vehicles, we must master two core technologies, at least one of them must be mastered." The core technology is in hand, so you don’t have to worry too much about the cost, but the core technology must be obtained.

For example, this motor needs to be researched and developed even if it costs a lot of money. Once you master the core technology, you can recover the cost just by selling motors in the future. When I was making the rear axle assembly for agricultural tricycles, wasn't it the same thing? "

"Chairman, what do you mean, we set up a scientific research team and do research and development ourselves." Yue Ping'an asked, with a trace of doubt in his tone, obviously not agreeing with Li Weidong's idea.

Li Weidong said: "You are right what you just said, setting up a new scientific research team is not an optimal choice because it takes time, effort and money.

But if we cooperate with other companies, our research and development will be suppressed by other companies, and we may get stuck. In terms of key technologies, you must not be stuck! "

"What good ideas does the chairman have?" Yue Ping'an asked.

"I have an immature idea." Li Weidong paused and then said, "I want to directly acquire a motor manufacturing company and then develop and produce one-stop services."

"Merger and acquisition? I have never thought of this method." Yue Ping'an paused and then said: "Is it cost-effective to acquire a company just for a motor?"

"Absolutely cost-effective!" Li Weidong said categorically: "Didn't I just say that electric vehicles are the future, and we must hold the relevant core technologies in our hands.

As for the funding, you don’t have to worry. Not only will Fukang Agricultural Machinery provide this money, Fukang Engineering will also provide part of it, and I will provide part of it myself to acquire a small and medium-sized motor company. There should be no problem.

Mr. Yue, you have worked in the Machinery Department before, so you should know something about domestic motor companies, right? Recently, I have been asking for help to see if there are any suitable companies that are not too big in scale but have good foundations, which are suitable for our mergers and acquisitions! "

After leaving Fukang Agricultural Machinery, Li Weidong went to Fukang Engineering next door to inspect the work.

Unlike the hard times in the agricultural machinery industry, life in the construction machinery industry is still very good.

Domestic infrastructure projects continue, and the demand for construction machinery is also increasing day by day.

Moreover, the heavy machinery factory has ceased production, Fukang Engineering's biggest competitor has collapsed, and it can dominate the market in the nearby area, so business is naturally very good.

From the scientific research department of Fukang Engineering, Chen Yonghua is introducing the latest scientific research results to Li Weidong.

"Chairman, this is the reach-type storage forklift we specially developed for Qinghe's wholesale mall. This forklift has a designed carrying capacity of 1.5 tons and a designed height of 1.6 meters. The length, width, and height of the forklift are 3.07 meters and 1.05 meters respectively. meters and 2.10 meters, the minimum height of the fork is 35 mm, the fork leg length is 1.07 meters, the fork leg width is 0.67 meters, and the turning radius of the forklift is 2.2 meters." Chen Yonghua reported a series of figures.

Qinghe City will vigorously build wholesale shopping malls, so there will definitely be a relatively large demand for storage forklifts. As the so-called buildings near the water come first served, Beverly Engineering will naturally develop storage forklifts to seize this market.

What Chen Yonghua is developing now is exactly one type of storage forklift, a reach-type storage forklift.

This kind of forklift is small in size, flexible and easy to operate. It is mainly used for stacking and picking up operations in the warehouse. It is very suitable for small and medium-sized wholesale of goods.

As a wholesaler, if you have one of these vehicles in your warehouse, you can move goods whenever you want. It is more convenient and faster than hiring a porter, and the cost is also lower than that of a porter.

After all, porters cannot be on call in the warehouse 24 hours a day, but if you buy a storage forklift, even if the goods arrive in the middle of the night, the boss can handle it by driving the forklift alone.

"Teacher Chen, when will the development of this forklift be completed and enter the mass production stage?" Li Weidong asked.

Chen Yonghua explained: "The design of the forklift has been completed and the control system has been completed. What we need to solve are mainly two problems, one is the battery problem and the other is the motor problem.

Regarding the battery, we plan to use car batteries directly. I have calculated that an ordinary car battery, which costs 12 to 16 yuan, should be enough for a forklift.

But the problem of the motor is difficult for us to solve at the moment. Our domestically produced motors are generally not powerful enough to carry a load of 1.5 tons. Although foreign motors have such high power, the price is too high for us to afford. "

This kind of lightweight storage forklift is powered by electricity. Because a small forklift with a turning radius of only two meters can hardly fit a high-power internal combustion engine and fuel tank.

In comparison, a motor plus sixteen batteries will be much smaller in size. It can be completely inserted into the chassis of a storage forklift.

It's just that this power solution for electric forklifts cannot be used on electric tricycles.

No matter how small the electric forklift is, it is still a big thing of 3 meters by 1 meter by 2 meters. Even if the fork legs are removed, it has a body length of two meters, which is larger than the engine compartment of an ordinary car.

It is impossible for an electric tricycle to have such a large space to place the motor and battery, so it can only use the power solution of an electric bicycle.

Even if more than a dozen batteries can be installed in an electric forklift and a large motor can be installed, the power required by the electric forklift is stronger, and domestic motors cannot meet the needs of electric forklifts.

"My neck is stuck by this motor again!" Li Weidong sighed helplessly.

In later generations, motors are not a problem at all. Many domestic construction machinery companies have developed electric loaders and excavators. At that time, electric motors were even more useful than internal combustion engines and could provide more powerful power.

Of course, the difficulty with later generations of electric construction machinery still lies in the battery. Generally speaking, it consumes too much power and the battery power is somewhat insufficient.

Later generations of electric construction machinery no longer need to add counterweights. The problem of counterweights can be solved by relying solely on the weight of the battery. But the battery is still not enough, especially when working for a long time, the charging time is a problem.

The battery capacity of electric construction machinery is several times that of electric vehicles, and the charging time is also several times that of electric vehicles.

When Chinese people do projects, many of them rush to meet deadlines and work day and night. At this time, electric construction machinery needs to be charged for a long time, and its practicality will be greatly reduced.

Internal combustion engines don't have this trouble. It takes a few minutes to fill up the oil and then you can continue working.

Therefore, before there is another breakthrough in battery technology, electric construction machinery may only be suitable for small forklifts, small excavators, and small forklifts.

The electric tricycle and the storage forklift both had their necks stuck by the motors, which made Li Weidong very irritated.

Fortunately, news came quickly from Yue Ping An and found a suitable company.

After all, Yue Ping An had worked in the Machinery Department and had many contacts in this area. He used his contacts and found a company called New Oriental Motor Co., Ltd.

"Chairman, the scale of this New Oriental Motor company is not large, with less than 300 employees, and the company's assets are not large. I estimate that we can win this company within 20 million." Yue Ping'an said.

"With less than three hundred people, it's still a small enterprise!" Li Weidong said.

Yue An'an went on to introduce: "This New Oriental Motor Company was originally the motor workshop of a large state-owned enterprise. Later, it became independent during the process of corporate reform and became the tertiary industry of that large enterprise.

Later, that large enterprise was transformed into a state-owned holding enterprise, and Dongfang Electric also carried out joint-stock reform and became a joint-stock company, which was wholly owned by that large enterprise.

Although Dongfang Electric is not large in scale, it has a long history as a state-owned enterprise. Regardless of the quality of workers, technical level, or scientific research capabilities, they are all very good!

It's just that the parent company of New Oriental Motor is, after all, one of the largest large-scale enterprises in the country. It is very strong and has no shortage of 20 million yuan in funds. People may not be willing to sell it! "

"No matter whether they are willing to sell or not, we always have to inquire about the price!" Li Weidong then asked: "Who is this big company you are talking about?"

"Huanghai Petrochemical Group!" Yue Ping'an replied.

"The Yellow Sea is petrified!" Li Weidong smiled slightly, and then said: "I really met an old acquaintance!"

No pop-ups, timely updates!