From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 52 Mr. Xu, you're too temperamental!

"of course it's true."

Xu Yi nodded.

As the core component of new energy vehicles, the research and development technology and production of battery packs must be firmly in his grasp.

Looking back over the past few years, the difference between top-tier and super-top-tier new energy vehicle companies lies in whether they have their own battery R&D factories.

Mastering battery technology is equivalent to mastering the most vital lifeline and having complete autonomy.

Your car may sell well, but the battery pack, which accounts for the most expensive part of the overall vehicle cost, still needs to be purchased in large quantities. It's just an assembly plant.

Conversely, the reason why giants like BYD can engage in endless price wars is because they have a very high rate of self-developed vehicles. They can produce batteries, electronic controls, and most of the vehicle's components themselves, which is a path of full self-development.

Only by minimizing costs in the intermediate stages can we achieve the highest return on investment and greater autonomy.

Even later on, they can even supply battery packs to other car manufacturers.

In this way, even without selling cars, there will be a steady stream of profits.

of course.

Taking the path of full self-development doesn't mean we have to develop everything from scratch.

That's way too slow.

Some simple components can be made this way, but core components like battery packs for new energy vehicles have long development cycles and high technical barriers. Even with brute force, it's not something that can be mastered in just a few months or a year.

Moreover, Xu Yi also required that both parties participate in the research and development of the battery, meaning that Weineng would provide manpower and resources to help him jointly develop a new improved battery cell with a quality that reaches or exceeds the industry's excellent level.

The fastest way is to directly invest in a joint venture to build a factory.

In this way, one can directly obtain readily available technical support from the second tier of the industry and receive assistance from their core R&D team, which is equivalent to acquiring some of the technology.

Later on, it will be natural to acquire most of the shares and the entire factory, thus completing the transfer of technology patents to the production chain.

Later generations, whether it was Lei Jun's "self-developed route" or some mainstream new energy vehicle companies, mostly adopted this approach.

He simply copied this industry-leading solution directly.

Harmful--

It's nothing more than a few coins!
If you don't act now, in two years when the new energy industry enters a period of explosive growth, the stock prices of these mainstream power battery manufacturers with technological reserves will soar, and it will be too late to acquire them then.

...

"However, I have another request. In addition to needing your cooperation with our team to jointly develop a battery pack solution, the purchase orders should still focus on the battery cells. The subsequent cell assembly and vehicle installation will be handled by our company's own production line."

Xu Yi continued.

Not only did he want to purchase at the lowest price, but he also purchased large quantities of original lithium iron phosphate power cells.

Because in the process of manufacturing a complete vehicle battery pack, there is an additional packaging step for the power battery cells.

If the entire packaging process is completed in-house, costs can be reduced by 10%.

Don't underestimate this single core component's 10%; once sales pick up, the resulting profit margin will be enormous.

The packaging technology for power battery packs is also relatively simple, and their internal self-developed capabilities are more than sufficient.

After listening.

Liu Chengyong stood up solemnly, his face serious, and went straight up to take Xu Yi's hand.

"Mr. Xu, there's no need for further words. From now on, coming here will feel like coming home... Whatever your needs are, let's discuss them in detail in the company's highest meeting room!"

They just pulled me inside.

...

What else can you say?
That's so domineering!! In the past two years, Vaillant has indeed been stuck in a rather awkward position.

As a second-tier battery manufacturer, it's difficult to expand its factory and its order volume is insufficient.

They want to increase investment in research and development, but they can't seem to bring themselves to do it.

In contrast, other mainstream battery manufacturers in China...

Companies like Guoxuan High-Tech and CALB are all state-owned enterprises with military qualifications and strong government support.

It is said that even companies like CATL have secured a large number of orders from BMW this year, and have turned to investing heavily in the research and development and production of ternary lithium batteries. At the same time, they have also connected with some imported battery design solutions, putting them far ahead of their competitors in related fields.

It's important to know that having a cooperation order with BMW is a form of industry endorsement.

This also means that it will be easier to enter the supply chain lists of top international automakers.

Opportunities like this.

As a local private enterprise, Vaillant wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing!

Everyone wants to grow bigger and stronger, but once you reach a certain scale, resources, opportunities, and luck are all indispensable.

Xu Yi immediately wanted to invest, negotiate large-volume orders, and even contribute capital to build a joint venture factory...

Who could refuse such a client?

……

What happened next was quite predictable.

For a private company like Vaillant, which is facing a bottleneck, the cooperation between the two parties is undoubtedly mutually beneficial.

finally.

After two days of detailed discussions and multiple communications, an investment agreement was signed. Xu Yi acquired 15% of Vaillant's shares for 75 million, gaining a seat on the board of directors, which means he can participate in some of Vaillant's core decision-making and voting rights.

For the current industry, this is a good price.

After all, there was the example of BAIC investing in Guoxuan High-tech last year, acquiring only 10% of the shares and obtaining a seat on the board of directors.

The investment agreement also specifies the business synergy-related content, such as priority supply rights and internal price procurement rights.

These can all provide Xingchen Automotive with the lowest-cost battery pack production orders for its future development.

It is worth mentioning that Xu Yi also secured several technology cooperation agreements in the investment agreement.

Although it does not involve core technologies, it allows both parties to share some basic battery technology patents, which makes it easier to build a core team for self-developed battery cells later and saves a lot of time in the early stages of development.

It took multiple rounds of communication to finally resolve this issue.

Finally, Xu Yi added 80 million yuan to the financing for the factory construction, which Vaillant's board of directors gladly accepted.

Taking the current construction costs of new energy plants in China as an example, the investment for a new 1GWh battery plant is approximately 10 billion yuan.

Of course, if the localization of equipment is increased and production is expanded in batches to reduce costs, the total cost can be reduced to around 8 million.

With this injection of funds, plus Vaillant's own working capital, the remaining gap can be filled simply by seeking bank loans and pursuing supply chain financing, which will allow them to officially launch this billion-dollar expansion project.

If all goes well, they might even be able to secure some government subsidies.

Government subsidies for "new energy technology upgrading funds" can reach 10%-15%, or 1 million to 1.5 million yuan, depending on the level of support and relevant regulations in China.

This is not something Xu Yi needs to worry about.

……

(End of this chapter)