Chapter 626: Another old acquaintance

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

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

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

That is to say, the battery technology of electric vehicles depends not only on the supply of high-performance batteries by battery cell supply companies, but also on the control and matching of the entire battery system by car companies.

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

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

So Li Weidong asked: Is there any difficulty in motor technology?

Yue An explained immediately; The first is the problem of power. The current motor power is seriously insufficient. If it is installed on a bicycle, it can still run, but it will definitely not work if it is installed on an agricultural tricycle.

Ordinary bicycles, even with two people, are at most three hundred pounds, but agricultural tricycles are mainly used to transport goods, and they often pull two or three tons of things, and the motor can't carry them at all.

What about using a larger motor? Is the power larger? Li Weidong asked.

But larger motors are also larger in size, which will occupy a larger space and need to sacrifice the space for transporting goods. Yue An explained.

Li Weidong thought for a moment, then said, Motor tricycles are not capable of carrying two tons of goods from the beginning, and the original motor tricycles can only pull four or five hundred pounds!

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 the cargo is less. We will make the products first, and then gradually improve them, and finally reach the cargo level of motor tricycles.

I understand, but in addition to power, the life of the motor is also a big problem! Yue Anan 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 the frequency of use is relatively high, it will be good for three months. The imported motors are better, but they can last for half a year.

Yue An went on to explain: Unless it is the kind of motor for a tour bus, the service life is relatively long.

But the price is too expensive. The price of a motor is comparable to a car. If we use that kind of thing for agricultural tricycles, we won't even have any shorts left!

Is the current motor so bad! Li Weidong muttered to himself.

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

Because the motor of this era, the service life is too short!

Although the battery at this time is also very bad, it can run more than 20 kilometers on a full charge, 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 battery has not reached its service life, and the motor has been scrapped first!

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

Similar to the situation of domestic engines, the performance of domestic motors is not good, mainly due to the problem of materials. Insufficient material technology leads to poor quality, low life and high failure rate of domestic motors.

The advantage of imported motors is the material. Developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan have better material technology and better quality motors. Of course, they use better materials and the price of motors is more expensive.

The gap in this regard will not catch up with developed countries until the permanent magnet brushless motor is applied on a large scale.

The performance of the permanent magnet brushless motor depends on the performance of the strong magnetic material used, and the best strong magnetic material is the rare earth permanent magnet material.

In terms of rare earth permanent magnets, China's technology is the world's top, and 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 be caught in the neck by the motor.

Yue Anquan, who is next to him, said, There are two ways to solve the motor problem. One is to conduct research and development on our own, 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 start from scratch, and scientific research takes time. As for when results will be achieved, it’s hard to say. In addition, the capital investment is relatively large.

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

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

Li Weidong pondered for a moment, then said, Electric vehicles are the trend of future development. In terms of core technologies, we must master some of them. For the four major components of electric vehicles, if we want to win two core technologies, we must have at least one of them. The core technology needs to be in hand. So in terms of cost, you don't have to worry too much, but the core technology must be taken down.

For example, this motor, even if it costs a lot of money, has to do research and development. Once you have mastered the core technology, you will be able to recover the cost just by selling motors in the future. Back then when I was working on the rear axle assembly of an agricultural tricycle, wasn't that the same way!

Chairman, you mean that we set up a scientific research team and conduct research and development ourselves. Yue Anan asked, with a hint of doubt in his tone, obviously not agreeing with Li Weidong's idea.

Li Weidong said, You are right, setting up a new scientific research team is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive, and is not an optimal choice.

However, if we cooperate with other companies, our research and development will be restricted by other companies, and we will be stuck. In terms of key technologies, you must not be stuck!

What good ideas does the chairman have? Yue Anan asked.

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

M\u0026A? I didn't think about this method. Yue An'an paused, and then said, It's just for a motor to buy a company specifically, is this cost-effective?

Absolutely worth it! Li Weidong said decisively: 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 fund, you don't have to worry. This money is not only from Fukang Agricultural Machinery, but also from Fukang Engineering. I will provide another part myself to acquire a small and medium-sized motor company. There should be no problem.

Mr. Yue, you have also worked in the Machinery Department before, so you should know something about domestic motor companies, right? Help me to inquire recently to see if there is a suitable company, the scale is not too large, but the foundation is good, suitable for our mergers and acquisitions!

...

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

Unlike the hard days of the agricultural machinery industry, the days of the construction machinery industry are still very good.

With the continuous domestic infrastructure projects, the demand for construction machinery is also increasing day by day.

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

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

Chairman, this is our specially developed reach storage forklift for Qinghe's wholesale mall. This forklift has a designed carrying capacity of 1.5 tons and a design 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 length of the fork legs is 1.07 meters, the width of the fork legs is 0.67 meters, and the turning radius of the forklift is 2.2 meters. Chen Yonghua reported a series of figures.

Qinghe City wants to vigorously build a wholesale mall, so there will definitely be a greater demand for storage forklifts. The so-called close to the water, first to get the month, Fukang Engineering will naturally develop storage forklifts to seize this market.

Today, what Chen Yonghua has developed is exactly one of the storage forklifts, the reach storage forklift.

This kind of forklift is small in size, flexible in excitation and convenient in operation.

As a wholesaler, it is more convenient and quicker than hiring a porter, and the cost is lower than that of a porter.

After all, it is impossible for a porter to be on call in the warehouse 24 hours a day. If you buy a warehouse forklift, even if the goods arrive and deliver in the middle of the night, the boss can drive the forklift alone.

Mr. 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, and what we need to solve are mainly two problems, one is the battery problem and the other is the motor problem.

For the battery problem, we plan to directly use the vehicle battery. I have calculated that the ordinary vehicle battery, 12 to 16 yuan, should be enough for forklift trucks.

However, the problem of the motor is difficult for us to solve at present. The motors produced in our country are generally not powerful enough to carry a load of 1.5 tons. And foreign motors, although they have such great power, are too expensive to buy.

This lightweight storage forklift is powered by electricity. Because a small forklift with a turning radius of only two meters is difficult to cram into a high-powered internal combustion engine and fuel tank.

In contrast, a motor plus sixteen batteries, the volume is much smaller. It can be completely stuffed into the chassis of the storage forklift.

It's just that this set of power solutions of electric forklifts cannot be used on electric tricycles.

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

Electric tricycles cannot have such a large space to install the motor and battery, so only the power solution of electric bicycles can be adopted.

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

I got stuck by this motor again! Li Weidong sighed helplessly.

In later generations, the motor is not a problem at all. Many domestic construction machinery companies have developed electric loaders and excavators. At that time, the electric motor was even better than the internal combustion engine and could provide more surging power.

When it comes to the electric construction machinery of the later generation, the difficulty is still in the battery. In general, the power consumption is too large, and the battery's power is somewhat insufficient.

Later generations of electric construction machinery no longer need to add weight, and the problem of counterweight can be solved only by the weight of the battery. But the power is still not enough, especially when you need to work for a long time, the charging time is a trouble.

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 engineering, many of them are rushing to the construction period and working day and night. At this time, electric construction machinery needs to be charged for a long time, and the practicability will be greatly reduced.

The internal combustion engine does not have this trouble. It takes a few minutes to fill up the oil and you can continue to work.

Therefore, before the breakthrough of battery technology, electric construction machinery is probably only suitable for small forklifts, small excavators, and small forklifts.

...

The electric tricycle and the storage forklift were both caught in the neck by the motor, which made Li Weidong very irritable.

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

After all, Yue An had worked in the Machinery Department, and he had a lot of contacts in this area. He used his contacts to find a company called New Oriental Electric Co., Ltd.

Chairman, the scale of this New Oriental Motor is not large, with less than 300 people, and the company's assets are not too many. I estimate that within 20 million, this company can be won. Yue An said.

With less than 300 people, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com is still a small business! 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, but later became independent in the process of enterprise reform, and it is regarded as the third industry of that large enterprise.

Later, the large enterprise was transformed into a state-owned holding enterprise, and Dongfang Electric also carried out the reform of the shareholding system and became a joint stock limited company, which is wholly-owned by the large enterprise.

Although Dongfang Motor is not large in scale, after all, it has the old foundation of a state-owned enterprise. No matter the quality of workers, technical level, or scientific research ability, they are all very good!

It's just that the parent company of New Oriental Motor is, after all, a large-scale enterprise in China. People may not want to sell it!

Whether people are willing to sell or not, we always have to make inquiries! Li Weidong then asked, Who is this big company you're talking about?

Huanghai Petrochemical Group! Yue Anan replied.

Huanghai Petrochemical! Li Weidong smiled slightly, and then said, I really met an old acquaintance!