Vol 4 Chapter 245: Difficulties

When Feng Yiping arrived at Tesla, there was an extra person beside him, "I'll introduce him, Mr. White Cummins, the company’s vice president of mergers and acquisitions,"

This man is just 40 years old and graduated from Yale. He has experience in companies, law firms, venture capital, and investment banks. His most recent position was a senior vice president of a well-known Wall Street investment bank.

"Hello, everyone," Cummins leaned slightly in his seat and greeted the three.

He is the first senior executive with investment banking experience in Jiasheng, and his personal style is unique. He is different from Martin Eberhard, Mark Tarpening and Straubel who are familiar with the company’s grassroots and are skilled in technology. , And more high-profile than Buchanan, who is a senior political aide.

How should I put it, merchants who play for money are always different from ordinary merchants.

Those three didn't care too much. Cummins was only in charge of the merger and acquisition business and could not take care of them. Moreover, they were not ordinary employees, but members of Tesla's board of directors.

"Well, everyone, after working hard for a few months, let me listen to the latest progress and results," Feng Yiping opened his notebook and said with a smile.

"Feng, we have to say that progress is not very smooth," Eberhard said. "At present, the only thing that has made significant progress is the power system."

Pure electric vehicles, it is roughly composed of three systems, electric drive system, power supply system and auxiliary system.

The electric drive system, as the name implies, its function is to efficiently convert the electrical energy stored in the battery into the kinetic energy of the wheels, including electronic controllers, power converters, electric motors, mechanical transmissions, wheels and other devices.

The power supply system is mainly used to provide driving power to the motor, monitor the power usage, and control the charger to charge the battery, including the power supply, energy management system and charger.

All other parts can be classified as auxiliary systems, mainly to improve the car's maneuverability, ride comfort, and safety.

To be honest, Feng Yiping was psychologically prepared for the result Eberhard said.

The original space-time Tesla, with the efforts of Eberhard and Musk, has gone through a full ten years before launching the sensational models series in the industry. He does not expect to be able to do so in just a few months. Achieve comprehensive progress. After all, technological research and development is different from commercial operations. It cannot be done without any accumulation. Satellites cannot be released without accumulation.

"The power system can make progress, we all know, mainly because of Feng you suggestion," Straw said, "We actually have nothing to create,"

"I also got inspiration from Google. It just happened." Feng Yiping still said the last time he made his proposal. Anyway, he doesn't care about the credit. He only hopes that this matter will be in the minds of these three shareholders. Establishing a professional and knowledgeable image can be regarded as eliminating some troubles in advance.

Musk is very ruthless. If Feng Yiping is just a financial investor, his future position in Tesla will not be too secure.

"What is the current level of research and development of the other two systems? How many subsystems have completed theoretical design, and how many subsystems have begun trial production?"

"The core of the drive system, the electric motor, is still undergoing various demonstrations. Musk is right. The speed must be high, the power must be high, the lifespan must be long, and the size must be small...," Al Hubbard said, shaking his head. " This is indeed our biggest blocker next,"

Feng Yiping knows very little about these specific core components. After all, when Tesla was mentioned later, everyone talked a lot about its battery management system. For traditional components like motors, little information was disclosed.

"Is it because our existing personnel are not capable enough, or is this a problem for the best motor companies in the world?" Feng Yiping asked.

"Both," Eberhard looked at the other two members of the team. "We would like to suggest to you that for cost and efficiency, can you consider cooperating with other professional companies and scientific research institutions for such components? "

"No problem," Feng Yiping said without even thinking about it.

If you want to complete such a project entirely on your own, even if it is not unrealistic, it is a very stupid and narrow behavior.

If I remember correctly, before launching models, Tesla actually cooperated with traditional car companies, such as Mercedes-Benz and GM, and the latter two also invested in Tesla.

"Of course, the premise is, to be able,"

"We must design a scientific, rigorous and professional patent protection system," Eberhard said.

"Yes," Feng Yiping glanced at him, then bowed his head for a moment. "In view of the current reality, I have some ideas regarding the distribution of work. Martin, you are solely responsible for external cooperation."

"Straw, since the power system is progressing the fastest, in order to balance the development, I hope you can put more energy on the promotion of the other two systems. I also have some specific goals, such as batteries. The system has been basically finalized. With this foundation, is it possible to design the chassis?"

Anyone who knows cars knows how important the chassis is to a car series.

"Mark, you are mainly responsible for the power system next. Although the progress is good, there are also many problems, such as charging problems and, most importantly, battery life problems."

"About this," Mark said, "Feng, do you think it is necessary to also use Panasonic's lithium batteries for comparative experiments?"

"Since the performance of our own lithium battery is comparable to that of Panasonic's lithium battery, and some data is more prominent than it, I think there is no need to find another battery supplier,"

Not to mention that Feng Yiping set up the lithium battery department. He was originally preparing for electric vehicles. Then he rushed to Tesla to build his own factory to produce batteries. He knew that the supply of this piece should be in his own hands.

You know, for a pure electric car, the battery cost accounts for at least 30% of the cost of the entire vehicle. If the purchase cost of this piece is reduced by even one point, the impact on the total cost of the company will be very huge.

"Oh, yes, I just hope to make the overall performance of the battery more prominent," Mark explained.

"Don't worry about this. Lithium battery companies have increased their R&D investment. We can guarantee that under the premise of fixed costs, our battery performance will improve every year."

"Straw, please tell the person in charge of the body design. I have a few immature plans for the exterior design."

I used so much sludge, but I still couldn't make the model in my memory.

Feng Yiping knew that he wanted to restore the design of Tesla’s two models on his own, with a feeling that it was not realistic, so he should hand over some prototypes he made and the relevant data he remembered to the relevant parties. The team, let them do the rest.

"You already have a plan in this regard?" Straw was surprised.

"Well, there are two models, but they have not been finalized. Let them see if it is necessary to complete them," Feng Yiping said modestly.

…………

During their discussion, Cummins never said anything, but looked at everyone from time to time, and then wrote something, not knowing what he was writing.

This is the first time he participated in a meeting with Feng Yiping. This meeting gave him a more three-dimensional and objective understanding of Feng Yiping. This is not just a person who has made achievements in business theory, but also seems to be involved in related technologies. .

At least today's three technical experts are convinced of him. It is because of him that the power supply part has made the current progress?

Unexpectedly, he even knew a lot about the professional knowledge of electric vehicles.

And the exterior design of the car?

"Cummins, what do you think of today's meeting?" Feng Yiping asked him on the way back to r.

This naturally also has the meaning of school examination.

"In terms of professionalism, I don't know anything about it," Cummins said. "However, for an auto company, apart from our own technology, the integration of the future supply chain is a very critical issue. In this regard, I have some opinions. ,"

"Tell me,"

"Because most of the work is only in its infancy, so I want to talk about my views on the power system that has made progress."

"The use of our group’s own lithium batteries is very good. The power supply system is the key to the development of our pure electric vehicles. However, if our own lithium battery company has a single market or only rely on future electric vehicles, then There may be a problem,"

"The price of our batteries may not be better than those of competing products, which will increase the cost of the entire vehicle and affect the sales of the entire vehicle. Of course, from the current data, the group’s lithium battery company in China is selling well. Compared with sales, there is still a gap," Cummins said.

The problem he said is very critical. Important parts are self-produced and sold. Many domestic state-owned enterprises have done this before. In analogy, an electric car factory will set up a lithium battery workshop, but ~www.wuxiaspot.com ~ Most of them failed.

The main reason is that those parts are all self-produced and sold. Because of the lack of competition, the cost is high and the quality cannot be guaranteed.

"Yes, this is a very real problem. However, our sales with Panasonic are shrinking year by year. In a short period of time, Jiasheng lithium battery has become the largest domestic lithium battery brand in China."

"Moreover, even in terms of current production and sales, compared with Panasonic, our price still has a big advantage. Of course, we are also actively expanding sales. I believe that before the end of the year, we will open up a new and large market. , So you don’t have to worry too much about costs and prices."

"I believe Feng's arrangement. What I'm talking about is another question. Since lithium batteries are so critical and the future demand is so huge, do we need to integrate related industries upwards? For example, the lithium and cobalt required for lithium batteries? "Cummins said.

Feng Yiping glanced at him, and these guys really didn't eat dry food.

Before he could make a statement, his cell phone rang, "Feng, Amazon's is here again, and they are mentioning the acquisition again," Mike said on the phone. (To be continued.)