Vol 4 Chapter 13: I join

It was discovered that Tesla’s trademark had been registered by Feng Yiping a long time ago. This incident once again hit Martin Eberhard. At least, Feng Yiping’s words that he had been paying attention to this field were not just talking about it.

I thought he had discovered a blue ocean, but there were already people in the ocean. He was not doing primitive fishery development, but was building an offshore platform to extract oil. Such a helpless discovery made him feel frustrated.

So, should you cooperate with Feng Yiping? In fact, there is no suspense in this meeting. What he thinks most in the past two days is how to cooperate with Feng Yiping in order to get more benefits in the future.

While he was still struggling, a Dassault Falcon 9 landed at Norman Mineta San Jose Airport. After receiving a call from his good friend Straubel, Elon Musk flew the next day Arrived in Silicon Valley.

This is a sturdy guy with a square head and a square brain. However, although it is in his prime, his back looks a little camel.

Stepping out of the cabin door, Musk saw Straubel with a young Oriental, standing in front of a convertible, the young man was smiling and nodding to himself.

That smile was not like the social smile of a successful businessman. It was sincere, pure, and free of impurities. It looked as warm and clear as the California sunshine.

Musk had great expectations for this meeting for no apparent reason.

He also smiled a few steps and stepped down the gangway, "Hello," he first embraced his old friend who had a common language, and before Straw introduced him, he reached out to Feng Yiping, "You must be Feng, very happy. Know you!"

"Me too, Mr. Musk!" This guy's hands are so strong.

"Please call me Elon,"

"Elon, you are welcome to rush to Silicon Valley. If there are no other arrangements, how about you and my company to see?"

"Wow, I don't have any other arrangements except to see you this time. If it weren't for the company to deal with yesterday, after listening to the introduction, I wanted to come to Silicon Valley last night."

"I'm honored, but if you say this, I'm under a lot of pressure. Let me say it first. If you find some of my opinions, it doesn't satisfy you, I hope you don't anger," Feng Yiping joked.

He didn’t know much about Musk, but after rebirth, he knew a lot about Musk because he was always thinking about Tesla. In terms of character, he was also a very self, and his temper was not much better than Jobs. people.

Externally, it means being serious. There are more sullen faces and less smiles. For example, facing Feng Yiping’s jokes at this time, he said seriously, “As far as your academic and commercial achievements are concerned, There are many places worth discussing,"

According to domestic terms, Feng Yiping immediately labeled him a "speaking upright" label.

"How is the company?" Straw asked.

"It's just the beginning together, there are many things,"

He founded SpaceX last year and invested 100 million US dollars for this. That is, the after-tax income of about 180 million US dollars from the sale of PayPal to eBay last year cost more than half of it all at once.

For a young man who had only made achievements in the Internet field before, he entered such a world of physics, and still concentrated many cutting-edge technologies in the world. The world is generally not optimistic about his decision, which is extremely incredible. And irrational.

But in the face of these criticisms, he instead proposed that his company’s goal is to reduce the rocket launch cost to 1/10 of the current commercial space launch market price as soon as possible, and proposed that in the next century, he will use the rocket developed by his company to reach Mars. Immigration.

Well, he always talks big things, for example, about electric vehicles, he has said on different occasions many times, at the latest in 14 years, his own super battery will support Tesla to produce affordable electric vehicles.

However, before Feng Yiping was reborn, the cheap electric cars he promised were still missing.

However, as the first person to eat crabs, he really needs a sense of arrogance and unwillingness to admit defeat. Otherwise, irrelevant pressure from the outside world will crush you. Feng Yiping also appreciates his point.

Optimism is optimism, and confidence is confidence, but how can the pressure be low? This is why Musk named his company's future spacecraft after the mythical "dragon" from the beginning.

"Elon, I believe you will succeed," Feng Yiping said.

Of course, in front of such a guy, he will definitely not say some unnutritious compliments, "I have to say, this is not a pioneering industry, there have been many successful experiences, and I absolutely believe that you lead Commercial companies in China will definitely be more efficient and innovative than those with state funding. Apart from government agencies, the first individual with space launch capabilities in the world must be you."

"Thank you, Feng," Musk's thanks were very sincere. Even Iron Man actually needs encouragement and affirmation from others.

Feng Yiping didn't take them to visit his company, he took them to his office and told the secretary, "Don't let anyone disturb us,"

After only taking a sip of coffee, Musk couldn't wait to ask, "You are preparing to build an electric company, then how do you position the electric car to be produced?"

"Combining existing conditions, and then predicting future development, I think that in the short term, for example, within ten years from now, the production cost of pure electric vehicles should always be relatively high, and certainly not too big. reduce,"

"And such environmentally friendly high-tech products are more in line with the life philosophy of some high-income people. Therefore, the pure electric vehicles I am planning, at least initially, are not aimed at the middle class who are price-sensitive, but do not care about prices, but pursue The concept of environmentally friendly life is more for high-income people who want to use the latest technology."

Even if he didn't understand Tesla's development plan, he would naturally have a scientific and reasonable plan after considering the market positioning of the product after so long.

Musk nodded, and then felt that his question seemed a bit redundant. Since people like Feng Yiping have planned to set up a company, how could there be no answer to the most basic question.

"So, what do you think is the biggest problem to be solved?" He continued to ask.

"The most critical issue is that our products must dispel consumers' anxiety about mileage. This is the biggest difference between electric vehicles and traditional fuel vehicles."

"The most important thing is battery technology," Musk also agreed with this point.

"Battery technology should also include charging technology," Feng Yiping added.

"Yes, this is very important." Musk had designed an electric transportation system when he was at the University of Pennsylvania. However, the battery technology at the time made his idea seem very unrealistic.

"When do you expect to launch your product at the latest?"

"I don't have a timetable for this," Feng Yiping put his hands together, "About this company, I want to be like your space exploration technology company. Everything is researched from scratch, and the foundation is laid."

“Use our own parts as much as possible instead of outsourcing, and apply our own developed patents as much as possible instead of using others’ technologies. Specifically, from the chassis to the interior to the body manufacturing, we have everything Research from scratch,"

Musk disagrees with this point. "I heard that you, as a shareholder of ACP, have already made very successful attempts. Why not use the existing platform and technology to develop on the basis of Tzero? Seeing benefits soon?"

"ACP does have some research results in electric vehicle technology, but to be honest, I am not satisfied with Tzero. This is not the ideal electric vehicle in my mind. From platform to technology, there is a lot of room for improvement. "

"Of course, we can learn from many of ACP's current technologies. However, I still hope that we can develop our own set instead."

"For example, Tzero now uses a Lotus chassis. Not only is the supply limited, when we install a lot of lithium batteries, the chassis must be re-tuned in order to balance the load. It is better to develop a more suitable one by ourselves,"

"Also, Tzero is still equipped with a deceleration system. I hope that we can replace this system with a motor with a high conversion rate on our electric cars, and use as few components as possible on traditional cars."

"The design of the car body also hopes to use more lightweight materials, such as aluminum, on the premise of ensuring safety, which in turn will increase the vehicle's cruising range."

To be honest, Feng Yiping didn’t catch a cold on the Roadster sports car launched by Tesla in 2007. It was actually a very compromised product. It’s just that Tesla and Musk at the time were still in very bad financial situation and needed urgently. A product to increase confidence and attract attention.

After the launch of the Roadster, it was really unpopular. Many professionals criticized this as the worst technology product of the year. Musk and Tesla had to announce that this car is only sold in a limited edition of 2500 units worldwide.

If it is really popular and can bring a lot of cash flow and profit to the company, will the only product be restricted for sale?

"If you do this, the time and money invested will be greatly increased," Straw also heard Feng Yiping's plan for the first time.

"We have a Chinese saying that you are not afraid of late when you have a good meal, and you don't accidentally sharpen your knife and chop wood."

"Elon, I think this arrangement is definitely the most scientific in the long run,"

"I also agree with first principles,"

This first principle is the first principle Musk mentioned on many occasions later. This principle comes from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. He stated in the book, "In the exploration of each system, The existence of first principles is a most basic proposition or hypothesis, which cannot be omitted or deleted, nor can it be violated."

We can simply understand that this first principle is roughly equivalent to an axiom in mathematics.

Musk admired this principle very much and applied it extensively to daily management. Feng Yiping mentioned the concept he very much agrees with. Of course, he was very happy and smiled again on his face.

"We should use first-principles thinking instead of comparative thinking to think about problems," he said.

"Yes, I agree very much," Feng Yiping said. "Follow others to get the best results. It can only produce small iterative developments. This is not my vision for the expected electric vehicle. I look forward to producing it. The electric car of China is an epoch-making product that can be moved, at least shake the entire automobile industry, and change the pattern of this industry today."

This should be the most bold words Feng Yiping has said so far.

"So, I also insist on looking at this issue from a first-principle perspective, that is, peeling off the appearance of things layer by layer, looking at the essence inside, and then going up from the essence layer by layer."

Seeing Feng Yiping talking about the application of first principles in front of him, Musk felt like meeting a bosom friend. However, he is a very sensible person and does not use emotions. "Specifically?"

Feng Yiping doesn't blame him for these questions that sound like a school exam, which just shows that he is interested in cooperating with himself.

"For a simple analogy, battery packs will always account for a large part of the high cost of electric vehicles. From the current point of view, the market price of these batteries is at least more than 1,000 US dollars per kilowatt hour," because they produce lithium batteries. Feng Yiping had such data at his fingertips.

"If we think from a first-principles point of view, what kind of material is the battery pack made of? What is the market price of these materials? You will find that the composition of the battery includes carbon, nickel, aluminum and some polymers, including nanoscale. If we buy these raw materials from the metal exchange and produce them, you’ll find, my God, it may only cost less than US$120 per kilowatt-hour.”

"So, according to my plan, the initial investment costs will be greatly increased, but in the end, this is actually the most cost-effective option."

"Furthermore, regarding the manufacturing of electric vehicles, not to mention the technology, in the selection of various accessories, we want to use the ready-made ones without the opportunity, and I do not want to produce a compromised product in order to use the ready-made accessories. , It’s not as good as starting everything by yourself,"

Musk listened to Feng Yiping's detailed explanation, his eyes brightened. This is a genius, he thought.

In essence, the electric car Feng Yiping wants to build is almost the same as the rocket he is planning to build now. Many accessories are not available that he really wants to use.

So his plan for SpaceX is actually starting from the beginning. He hopes it will end up like this: at this end of the workshop, a large number of raw materials such as steel are transported, and finally, from the other end, the rocket has been assembled.

…………

After a cup of coffee and another cup~www.wuxiaspot.com~ the three people talked more and more speculatively, and even as the sky darkened, the secretary quietly came in and turned on the lights, but they did not notice.

After a few hours of explanation, Feng Yiping successfully allowed the other two to accept his plans for the future of the electric car company. Regarding the use of ACP's existing achievements and the use of Lotus's chassis to produce a car as soon as possible, he never again Mentioned.

Musk, who was still relatively indifferent when he joined the company, had brighter eyes, more vivid expressions on his face, and more and more words. At the end of the discussion with Feng Yiping, he became more energetic, so he was It's no different to talk to others about your space vision.

Finally, when Feng Yiping's stomach screamed indecently for the third time, the three people stopped still intently, "Sorry, my digestive ability is very strong," Feng Yiping smiled.

"Hehe, because Feng you are the youngest," Musk also laughed. The next moment, he held Feng Yiping's hand, "I'll join!"

Straw also smiled, and also reached out a hand to come up, "I will join too!" (To be continued.)