2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 945 Boss Tan's Open Scheme (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
P.S.: Still asking for some monthly votes~

The blade battery, making its debut, was actually the focus of this puncture experiment.

Wei Lai's presentation of the performance of ternary lithium batteries in the traditional model, showcasing a new battery form developed based on lithium iron phosphate technology, can be described as groundbreaking.

With over 100 million online viewers across several major online platforms, and witnessed by on-site staff, industry leaders, and media, the Blade Battery, making its official debut, unsurprisingly passed the puncture test.

As for the traditional ternary lithium battery used to highlight it, it was no surprise that the battery caught fire out of control within a very short time after the needle was inserted.

"As we all know, it is difficult to avoid various traffic accidents during daily driving. Among these accidents, vehicle fire is a key factor affecting people's escape."

"As the theme of today's live broadcast suggests, safety is the greatest luxury of a car. Nothing is more important than life. We respect life, so we always put the safety of our cars first."

"As a core component of new energy vehicles, battery safety is a key factor in evaluating a new energy vehicle. In the event of an accident, the battery should be kept from catching fire for a certain period of time to give people more chances to escape. This is what we have been working on."

At first, he was somewhat resistant, but as the explanations became more in-depth, Lü Ruifeng's ability to express himself in front of the camera became more and more fluent. He no longer felt nervous at the beginning, and now he is starting to enjoy the atmosphere.

The atmosphere at the scene had lost the excitement of the fire test. Everyone who had calmed down wanted to hear what Wei Lai, the person in charge of the power battery field, would have to say.

In terms of the direct experience of the puncture test, what is presented to the public is that ternary lithium batteries are not as safe as lithium iron phosphate batteries; one didn't even emit smoke, while the other caught fire quickly.

Frankly speaking, such a test is somewhat unfair to ternary lithium batteries, since the two are different in terms of density, other technical parameters, and physical properties.

"The fires of ternary lithium batteries do not necessarily indicate that they are unsafe. This is something we need to understand. Just as lead-acid batteries are better than lithium batteries in terms of both cost and safety, why don't we work on overcoming the challenges of using lead-acid batteries in automobiles?"

"The reasons are mainly related to battery life, which we won't go into here. What we want to say is that ternary lithium batteries have their advantages, and the puncture test does not represent all of them."

"We shouldn't give up on such a good product. Instead, we should improve its safety performance through technological breakthroughs. How do we do that? We can dress up the ternary lithium battery with a thicker layer of clothing, just like we dress it up."

After a brief pause, Lü Ruifeng said confidently, "Jinxin Times' future safety tests for lithium batteries are aimed at ensuring that they do not catch fire within five minutes after an accident. We hold ourselves to standards several times higher than the highest standards to leave more time for passengers to escape."

"In the future, Jinshidai will open up more crash test areas and invest more resources in safety to strive to bring better safety protection to every passenger."

"The spontaneous combustion of batteries after a collision is a physical phenomenon. For the time being, it is still quite difficult for the whole world to overcome this challenge. Jinshidai does not dare to say that we have this ability, but we are working hard."

"Perhaps one day, our batteries will be able to provide more time, such as half an hour, an hour, or even two hours, for occupants to escape in special circumstances?"

"Of course, the most important thing is that every driver, whether it is a gasoline car or an electric car, should respect their own life, drive safely, and avoid traffic accidents."

The viewers who have stayed for more than two hours of live streaming are quite patient. It would be difficult to stick with this kind of professional live stream unless you are interested.

"Haha, this boss from Weilai really dares to speak his mind."

When Lü Ruifeng said that battery fires are a physical phenomenon that cannot be solved for the time being, people at the scene and those watching on screen were somewhat surprised; good heavens, is this how you advertise?

Isn't this a slap in the face to those companies that brag?
This approach effectively blocks all exaggerated and false advertising in the field of battery safety, telling consumers in the most direct and straightforward way that such actions will have a significant impact on the sales of new energy vehicles.

"The promotion of new energy vehicles should not be based on safety accidents involving ordinary people. We can achieve vehicle safety through more investment and more testing, rather than making improvements after accidents occur."

After the live stream started, Tan Jincheng led Boatman Brother and Li Zhen, along with other industry leaders, to the lounge above the laboratory. The experiment could also be viewed from there, but it offered better privacy.

Lu Ruifeng's speech drew the attention of everyone in the lounge to Tan Jincheng.

To dare to say such a thing must have been authorized by Tan Jincheng. Saying that this is like shooting oneself in the foot is a bit of an exaggeration, but the impact is definitely not small, as this is a live broadcast watched by millions of people.

"You're awesome, kid. You've got guts. I admire that."

Surprised, the boatman gave Tan Jincheng a thumbs up. As a leading company in the new energy industry, Weilai's attitude is actually the industry benchmark. This marketing approach that puts the safety of users first may have some impact on itself in the short term, but it is quite beneficial in the long run.

Judging from various trends, the promotion of new energy vehicles is unstoppable. Even from the most basic point of view, the price of oil alone will lead many people to choose electric vehicles.

Besides, are gasoline-powered cars absolutely safe?
"Are you serious about it not catching fire within five minutes?"

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

Through a live broadcast, the experimental format, and Lü Ruifeng's words, insiders saw far too much. And Lü Ruifeng's seemingly casual remark revealed Wei Lai's ambition.

Currently, there are no mandatory requirements regarding the non-flammability time in the national standards for power batteries. Most companies implement safety standards through internal testing.

Without a unified standard, most companies ignore this issue. According to data provided by Weilai and CATL, only 50% of customers currently make related requests.

Is it difficult to extend the fire time to five minutes or more in the event of thermal runaway in automotive power batteries, especially ternary lithium batteries?

It's not difficult, but only a handful of leading companies like WILTECH, BYD, and CATL can do it. I don't know about BYD and CATL, but since WILTECH dares to say that, it must have some confidence, or even already possess the technology.

The young Tan Jincheng may seem radical, but he is actually as steady as an old dog. He often boasts, but he will never boast about something he can't do.

Li Zhen, who had been working with Tan Jincheng for many years, clearly understood him, hence his somewhat solemn expression. Guoxuan was a long-established battery manufacturer, but it would still take some time to break through this technology.

To reiterate, it is technically feasible, but since there is no unified national standard and customers do not require it, how many manufacturers are willing to put in the effort to develop it?
Just as there are those who commit subsidy fraud in the vehicle manufacturing sector, there is no shortage of such fraud in the power battery sector as well.

"Of course, that's not all. We will also promote the establishment of relevant national standards. We want to make money, but we can't make money through dishonest means."

Tan Jincheng spoke with certainty, making no attempt to hide his ambition.

According to internal data from Weilai, annual sales of 30 vehicles can significantly reduce procurement and production costs, while also reducing R&D expenses. The effects of scaling up are obvious.

For industry leaders, a pure electric vehicle can achieve a gross profit margin of 20% to 30%, while the battery module, which accounts for 30% to 60% of the cost of an electric vehicle, also has a considerable gross profit margin.

While the initial and ongoing investment is enormous, especially for an industry like electric vehicles that requires trial and error, the subsequent profits are equally substantial.

In this situation, there is no need to cut corners on safety research and development.

Ternary lithium batteries do not catch fire within five minutes under thermal runaway conditions. Weilai has mastered this technology and is ready for mass production. The reason it was not demonstrated this time is to promote the establishment of national standards as soon as possible.

It's not enough for one company to have such technological capabilities; it's necessary for the same technology to be available in the same industry, so that a consensus can be formed.

"One live stream, three main purposes; President Tan is still the same President Tan."

Mr. Zeng, the owner of Ningde who did not come to Ningbo, was also watching this highly anticipated live broadcast. Lü Ruifeng used simple and easy-to-understand language and his own self-produced batteries, without taking advantage of the characteristics of ternary lithium batteries to promote the blade battery making its debut.

There was no deliberate attempt to belittle competitors, which made viewers and industry professionals feel much more comfortable.

It must be said that as a leading player in the industry, Weilai has a good vision. This vision is not only reflected in Tan Jincheng, but also runs through the genes of Weilai's management team.

Of course, Wei Lai's ambitions are also quite large, and having such a competitor also puts a lot of pressure on him.

Promoting the Blade Battery's debut via live stream, addressing user pain points from a safety perspective, demonstrates Wei Lai's marketing prowess as an industry leader. The Blade Battery also performs exceptionally well in the laboratory, increasing its potential for widespread adoption.

The final technical highlights seem to express the attitude of the industry leader.

However, if we're talking about who was most affected by this live stream, it would definitely be Ningde Times.

In 2018, the top ten global power battery suppliers accounted for 85% of the market share. Regionally, these were the three East Asian countries, whose companies almost monopolized the global power battery market share.

The three South Korean companies (LG, Samsung SDI, and SK) hold an 11.9% market share, while the smaller Panasonic and PEVE hold a 29.2% market share.

Our five companies collectively hold 47.5% of the global market share, practically dominating the entire power battery industry chain, and our advantage is unshakeable.

Ningde is one of these five companies. With its main ternary lithium technology, independent battery supplier status, and national subsidies for driving range, Ningde stands out among a group of manufacturers, surpassing Samsung SDI and capturing 4.1% of the global market share, in addition to the two giants, WTI and BYD.

After listing on the ChiNext board last year, CATL's funding situation was greatly relieved. Like most companies, it experienced a period of rapid growth after listing. This year, CATL has also begun to expand on a large scale, striving to capture a higher market share.

Ningde has also done well in this regard. In terms of domestic customers, their customer structure is somewhat similar to that of Huawei, mainly consisting of traditional OEMs with state-owned backgrounds.

Companies like Dongfeng's Fengshen series, BAIC, Changan, and others, as well as independent brands like Chery.

In the European market, Ningde is also doing well, having secured battery supply contracts for some Volkswagen models and Audi. In addition, it is actively expanding its customer base to include major clients such as Volvo, Citroën, and Jaguar Land Rover.

In terms of market penetration, Ningde's performance is quite good.

Ningde's biggest advantage is its status as an independent supplier. In the current context where supply chain security is of paramount importance, Ningde's status can bring greater security to its partner companies.

For example, some state-owned enterprises cooperated most with Weilai before Ningde grew up. However, with Ningde's growth and breakthroughs in ternary lithium battery technology, more and more companies have begun to choose to cooperate with both companies at the same time.

Even Geely is like this; Geely established a joint venture battery factory with Weilai, but Volvo's partner is CATL.

As Ningbo's growth progressed, the market share of Weilai and BYD gradually shrank, and Ningbo's threat to the two companies was much greater than the mechanical data suggests.

“We have to spend a lot of effort to mitigate the impact of a single live stream.”

No matter how much Lü Ruifeng speaks favorably of ternary lithium batteries, and no matter how many people know the difference between lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium battery technologies, the fire shown in the live broadcast is an indisputable fact.

Most consumers don't understand these things, nor do they care; they only see the images of the fire.

"Didn't Mr. Lü say that Jinshidai would be conducting other types of crash tests later? Why don't we also conduct these kinds of tests in a public manner?"

“Okay, let’s arrange some live test broadcasts, similar to what Wei Lai did. If necessary, we can also try live streaming from the battery factory.”

Smaller manufacturers worry that the US will raise the national standards for power batteries, especially ternary lithium batteries, too high, but CATL, which focuses on this core business, does not have this concern.

The biggest problem it brought them was that it changed consumers' perception of ternary lithium batteries to some extent, and in a negative way.

To continue operating this business effectively, more investment and higher operating costs are needed.

If Shanghai's massive discounts on Tesla were intended to create a "catfish effect" similar to Apple's, then Wei Lai's live broadcast on battery safety was a blatant and calculated move.

By publicly revealing some of the industry's unspoken differences, you can't really criticize them, because they are genuinely improving battery safety.

If you want to work on ternary lithium batteries, fine, then you'll have to meet my technical standards, or you can increase your investment in lithium iron phosphate batteries while working on ternary lithium batteries.

Investment? How many companies have the deep pockets of someone like Wei Lai or Tan Jincheng?

While making waves in the battery industry, he also acquired a listed medical device company. According to information from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Inco Medical is already planning a private placement.

According to insiders, Inco Medical plans to issue no more than 4000 million shares to specific targets through a private placement. Based on Inco's current share price, the planned fundraising amount is approximately 7.4 million yuan.

Who else could be the specific target besides Tan Jincheng, who was fined by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the first time for violating information disclosure regulations?

In the current environment, who else but him would invest huge sums of money to stir up trouble for Inco Medical?
Based on the information currently available, the more than 300 million yuan spent on the initial lightning acquisition, plus the funds planned for this fundraising, totaling over 1 billion yuan in cash, all came from Tan Jincheng's personal funds.

There are plenty of wealthy people in China, but when it comes to those who can cash out more than 10 billion yuan at once, there aren't many.

According to Inco Medical's share issuance plan, after the issuance, Inco Medical's total share capital will increase to 2.36 million shares. Tan Jincheng's shareholding ratio of 6000 million shares will increase to 25.42%, while the shareholding ratio of Liu Fangyi, the current actual controller of Inco Medical, will be diluted from 41.57% to 34.52%.

The gap in shareholding ratios between the two parties has narrowed to 9.1%.

No one knows the details of the deal between Tan Jincheng and Liu Fangyi, but after the share issuance is completed, Tan Jincheng will firmly establish himself as the second largest shareholder of Inco Medical, wielding extraordinary influence over the listed company.

A live stream attracted over a million viewers across the internet. After the stream ended, a 1 minute and 46-second video of a puncture and fire, along with Lü Ruifeng's key remarks about controlling the thermal runaway and fire time of ternary lithium batteries to more than 5 minutes, began to circulate on various internet platforms.

“The coverage can be wider and more precise. We can focus on ByteDance and take advantage of their algorithmic advantages.”

Zhou Ao personally took charge of the traffic redirection and promotion work after the live broadcast. This was a targeted marketing plan that he and his boss formulated based on the sales trend of new energy vehicles this year. However, his boss was still not very willing to do too much in terms of patriotic marketing.

Zhou Ao dared not disobey this point. Using safety as a breakthrough point was the best and most optimal marketing method at present. Coupled with the slogan of live streaming, it could also ride the wave of popularity of luxury brands.

It might actually elevate Weilai's brand influence to a whole new level.

After working on it for more than half a month, Zhou Ao had to admit that his boss's solution, which focused on safety, was indeed feasible and could be used in the long term. With two live broadcasts a month, in the future, whenever users mentioned battery safety, this would be the first thing that came to mind.

Moreover, he had tried it during this period, and it was just as the boss had said. In the track he had come up with, no one could beat the Chrysanthemum Factory. You know, their eldest princess was still being held captive.

The tariffs imposed on May 15th were primarily aimed at companies related to the Japanese pharmaceutical company, HTC. The 70 entities on the entity list are almost all related to HTC, making the intention to target them all too obvious.

Furthermore, it has recently been revealed that Google will remove Huawei phones from the Android update list, and this should be announced tomorrow.

With a top-notch marketing team and external factors, we simply can't compete with them in this market. We should just stick to what the boss said and take the safe route.

"How about it?"

With so many big names and media present for the two-hour live broadcast, Tan Jincheng had to treat them. Wei Lai was generous, providing a lavish lunch and covering transportation costs for all the media outlets at the Beicang headquarters' small canteen.

Big shots like the boatman were personally entertained by him.

Since it was a luncheon, the boatman and his crew had to rush back in the afternoon, so everyone was quite restrained. However, Boss Tan was still quite flushed from drinking. He couldn't stop Wei Lai's live-streamed humiliation and ambition, so he decided to create some trouble for the young man at the dinner table.

"It's already been submitted, but we won't get a specific response until after Monday. It shouldn't be a big problem. But boss, would you like to take a break, or can I come over tomorrow?"

Cheng Linfeng handed the boss a glass of water as he answered.

"It's alright, I'm still conscious. Those old men did it on purpose, but thankfully they didn't go too far. You can continue."

As revealed in the investment community, Inco Medical plans to issue no more than 4000 million shares to a specific target, namely Tan Jincheng. The funds raised will be used for the production of the Anhui factory project, the expansion of the Jiangxi and Vietnam projects, and to supplement cash flow.

With a funding gap of approximately 5 million yuan, Inco Medical will quickly enter a phase of expansion after receiving this funding.

Tan Jincheng was anxious, but Liu Fangyi was even more anxious. He had been running around for this funding since last year, but unfortunately, the listing period was not long enough and the stock price performance was not good. The funds that entered during the IPO had hardly made any money, and they were waiting to cash out and were not willing to continue supporting him.

Although Tan Jincheng's arrival may lead to the loss of actual control of the company, it is a timely help for Inco Medical.

"What did General Manager Liu say?"

According to the normal procedure, after the private placement plan is submitted, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange will accept it within two working days at the earliest, and the registration can be submitted to the higher authorities within three working days from the date of acceptance.

The fastest process can be completed within half a month.

In the past week, Inco Medical has seen a significant increase in its stock price, but Tan Jincheng knows that such an increase cannot last long. The hype is only temporary, and after it passes, the stock will fall back to its original state.

Rather than facing scrutiny later, it's better to propose a private placement while the stock price is currently performing well. It might just cost a little more money, but the reputation will be much better.

However, what he is most concerned about now is not whether the private placement will be approved, which is not a concern at all, but Liu Fangyi's attitude, which directly affects his say in the role of Inco Medical in the future.

After the private placement is completed, Tan Jincheng will control 6000 million shares, which is more than 2000 million shares less than Liu Fangyi's existing 8147.72 million shares. Jinyoukang is also not tradable during this period.

(End of this chapter)