2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 365 Lithium Battery Electric Vehicles
At 8:00 a.m., guests staying at the Tiangang Hotel began to get up one after another.

After the banquet last night, there was free time. Many of the suppliers and store owners were acquaintances, and they gathered in small groups. As a result, business at Tiangang Hotel and even some well-known KTVs in Beicang District improved considerably.

There aren't many people like Zhao Chuanbing who actually bring their families to the event. Most suppliers come alone, just to enjoy themselves. Those who know, know.

Not everyone is like Zhao Chuanbing, who had always worked his way up from the bottom and had little experience of the world, and who was also attending a dealer conference for the first time.

"I heard there's a new product launch today?"

After getting up, it was time for breakfast. On the way to the restaurant, familiar people chatted in small groups about today's schedule.

"I heard they have. The last time they launched a new product was at the Shanghai Auto Show, which was half a year ago. It's definitely time for them to launch a new product."

Compared to its competitors, Flash's current product line is quite monotonous, consisting of only three models: Flash, Windspeed Fit, and Windspeed Crown Energy. The lower-end Flash series, apart from some differences in configuration, only comes in black and white.

The only difference between the two mid-to-high-end products is the color; there's not much difference between them, unlike other major manufacturers that offer a wide variety of styles.

Besides the persistent shortage of production capacity and limited technical strength over the past year, Tan Jincheng was actually learning from Tesla's approach in the early stages. For startups, if you come up with so many fancy models and names in the early stages, consumers may not remember them all.

Instead of launching multiple styles all at once, it's better to focus on selling a few good ones and then iterate and update them as technology advances.

"Any new product launches?" Zhao Chuanbing asked, pulling aside someone he knew.

Manufacturers offer a variety of models, and the profit margin varies depending on which model is sold. Selling the Crown model will definitely earn more than selling the low-end version of the Flash. Generally speaking, manufacturers invest the most when promoting new products, and in addition to profits, they can also receive some subsidies.

Yingzhou is located in northern Anhui Province. It has a large population but limited consumption level. The best-selling cars in his store are naturally the low-end version of the Flash series. Therefore, Zhao Chuanbing's profits actually come more from providing after-sales service for these cars.

He also wanted to sell Guanneng. Guanneng is of good quality and looks nice, and the profit is also high. However, Guanneng sells for as high as 4000 yuan, and the people of Yingzhou are still very reluctant to spend the money. Many families even use this as a dowry.

If there are new products to promote, he can earn some subsidies from Flash.

"The message that came back from a few people who went out drinking last night is that there's a product experience session after breakfast, and I heard there will be a new product launch then, those electric bikes covered with cloth in the square outside."

Zhao Chuanbing nodded. That's probably about right. There are always some well-informed people among the distributors, and some even have a good relationship with the managers inside Flashway.

Around 10 o'clock, three electric vehicles were pushed into the prepared conference hall.

After breakfast, the distributors and merchants were already sitting neatly in the conference hall when Wang Chao, dressed in a suit and tie, walked in.

The air conditioning in the conference hall was on full blast. Looking at the huge crowd below the stage, Wang Chao couldn't help but clench his fists.

The boss actually asked him to host the new product launch, and Wang Chao was both excited and a little nervous.

"Hello everyone, first of all, let me introduce myself. I am Wang Chao, the director of the R&D department of Flash Technology. First of all, I wish everyone here and their families a happy New Year, and I wish all the bosses a prosperous New Year."

"You can see these three electric vehicles on stage; that's right, these are the latest models developed by FlashTech. Now, I'll explain the differences between the new and old models."

"First of all, you should have noticed that these three electric vehicles are much smaller than all the electric vehicles currently on the market, right? You might be wondering if the battery has been downgraded, resulting in a reduced range, right?"

Before going on stage, Wang Chao silently recited a few lines of his boss's words: "Just treat the audience like ordinary cabbages and radishes." After a few opening remarks, his nervousness eased considerably.

These days, there aren't many proper new product launches. The trend of holding new product launches in China is more common now. The scene of holding a special launch event for a new product probably started after Apple under Steve Jobs was introduced to China.

It's rare for purely technical personnel to go on stage and explain new products. Wang Chao had never done this before, so he didn't quite understand why the boss insisted that he go on stage.

"Yes, why is that, Director Wang? Your car does look much smaller than the ones on the market."

These are obviously planted people, meant to liven up the atmosphere.

Wang Chao smiled and said, "They are small because our battery technology has been improved. These three vehicles use brand-new lithium batteries. After the explanation, you can go to the square to experience them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the audience began to murmur among themselves. Everyone in the audience knew that FlashPower had been working on lithium batteries, but they hadn't heard any news about it for over a year. They didn't expect that they would bring out lithium battery products on the first working day of the new year.

Currently, the mainstream battery on the market is lead-acid battery, while there are also many concepts such as graphene and lithium battery. The technology of lithium battery is relatively mature, and it has been applied to electric vehicles before, with some manufacturers having worked on it.

However, most manufacturers are just using it as a gimmick and have never actually mass-produced lithium batteries. FlashPower's involvement in lithium battery research isn't new; lithium batteries are more environmentally friendly and easier to recycle, and aside from being more expensive, they do have advantages over lead-acid batteries.

When Shanchi secured its Olympic sponsorship, Tan Jincheng mentioned at the press conference that it would have lithium battery electric vehicle products in the future. It's unclear whether Shanchi is just using this as a gimmick, like other manufacturers.

"Everyone probably wants to know if we're just creating a gimmick. Please rest assured, it's absolutely not a gimmick. Our boss promised at the Olympic Games press conference that we would provide the Organizing Committee with more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient electric vehicles."

"Our battery was developed by the Beijing Institute of Physical Chemistry over a year and has been approved by an evaluation committee composed of authoritative institutions such as the Zhejiang Provincial Economic Commission, the Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Quality Supervision Bureau, the Vehicle Management Office, and industry associations."

"In addition, our battery technology has the capability for mass production, and we have reached an agreement with our battery supplier, Boneng Environmental Power, on contract manufacturing of lithium batteries."

Other companies may be using lithium batteries as a gimmick due to cost considerations, but Flash will definitely not do that. Although lithium battery electric vehicles are not mainstream at present, they will gradually become the trend after the new national standard is introduced in a few years.

As for costs, the current costs are indeed high, but once the upstream and downstream of the lithium battery industry are fully established, the batteries for two-wheeled vehicles will be a matter of course, and the battery costs will be completely controllable.

During the year-long collaboration with the Imperial Capital Research Institute, the first thing Tan Jincheng asked them to do was to quickly apply the lithium battery technology they had mastered to electric vehicle batteries, so that lithium battery electric vehicles could be mass-produced.

As for the production of lithium batteries for electric vehicles, Hangxin New Energy does not plan to do it itself, but instead outsources it to Boneng. The same applies to mobile phone batteries, which are also mainly manufactured by contract manufacturers.

Hangxin aims to dedicate its limited resources to the research and development and production of automotive batteries, avoiding redundant waste of production capacity.

Wang Chao's explanation was not particularly outstanding, but rather conventional. He used the simplest language to popularize lithium battery technology and trends to dealers and terminal store owners, and also explained the design concepts of the three new models.

A batch of lithium battery electric vehicles has already been delivered to the Organizing Committee for testing.

"Mr. Wang, will FlashCheer use lithium batteries to completely replace lead-acid batteries?" a distributor asked.

The high cost of lithium batteries will inevitably lead to higher product prices, which will affect sales volume, and this is their biggest concern.

"Haha, don't worry about this. For a long time, our lithium battery products will only appear in high-end models, not in mid-to-low-end brands. So don't worry about this."

"How will lithium battery electric vehicles be priced? Will they be very expensive?"

"It will be a little higher, but not by much. We will announce the price soon. In terms of lithium battery technology, we can say that we have an advantage, and the price will definitely be acceptable to everyone and consumers."

The attendees were reassured after hearing Wang Chao's explanation. Flash's pricing system is nationally unified and dealers and retailers are not allowed to change it privately. You can sell it for more or less money using your own methods.

For example, you can find a second-hand seller to resell, or you can organize some promotions in your store like Zhao Chuanbing does, but the price you sell to ordinary consumers must be uniform nationwide.

If the price is too high, it will be difficult to sell. After all, no matter how many freebies are given away during promotions, consumers will still have to pay the full amount.

This morning's schedule was actually a new product launch. The low-end Flash brand will continue to focus on its cost-effectiveness advantage. There were no new models released. There will be some minor adjustments to the components later, but everything else will remain the same.

The mid-to-high-end Feiyi and Guanneng series have released lithium battery versions. Compared to Guanneng, the Feiyi series lithium battery version is more compact and more suitable for urban women. If the price is right, the Feiyi lithium battery version should sell well in big cities.

After Wang Chao finished explaining and answered some questions, the staff from FlashDrive guided everyone to the parking lot outside the Tiangang Hotel, where 100 lithium battery electric vehicles were available for everyone to experience.

Rows of electric vehicles were parked there. Although the weather was cold, everyone's hearts were warm. This should be the most mature lithium battery electric vehicle product on the market right now.

After everyone got in the car and experienced it, they increasingly felt that there was a reason why Director Wang dared to boast that his company's lithium battery technology was far ahead of its competitors.

"This bike is very comfortable to ride, and very stable," Zhao Chuanbing thought to himself.

It's more compact and agile, but the battery life isn't apparent yet. As for the smaller size, the foot pedal area has less space to store items.

That's ridiculous! This is a mid-to-high-end product, usually used as a means of transportation. How could it be used in small-scale cargo transport scenarios like low-end products?

"I wonder what the price will be. I hope they can announce it after we finish eating," Zhao Chuanbing thought to himself.

According to the schedule, the main event of the dealer conference will begin this afternoon. In addition to speeches from the leaders of Beicang, the owner of Shanchi, who has not been present all morning, will also give a concluding speech.

Besides the appearance of the owner of Flash, outstanding stores and outstanding distributors will also be selected. There will also be cultural performances that will continue until the evening, which is what everyone is concerned about.

(End of this chapter)