I am farming in the real world

Chapter 224: Ambitions for Self-Developed Lithium Batteries

Tonight's dinner was an absolutely thrilling affair.

Because the 'Magic Cube Battery Swap Alliance' project that Chen Jue mentioned at the dinner table was a standard sufficient to spark a revolution in the entire automotive industry.

Although this project was still only in its initial conceptual stage, with a huge number of problems needing to be solved and realized.

However, with Chen Jue's patient explanation and logical analysis, Lei Bu Si, Xiang Qingshan, and the heads of the three major emerging car manufacturers, all decided to join this alliance.

After all, this was about overturning the existing car market and creating their own brand-new standards.

With the dense deployment of Magic Cube battery swap stations, the influence and benefits that could be brought about were calculated in astronomical figures.

If they didn't get on board at this time, it would be equivalent to being left behind in the face of the era's trends.

However, while the talk was enthusiastic, Chen Jue had already made some preparations for the specific details of the plan.

The first point was that Magic Cube Automobile, under the Magic Cube Group, invested and took over NIO's battery swap project, which had been planned for 8 years, for a cash price of 28 billion.

This included 3,000 existing NIO battery swap stations at home and abroad, as well as all patents for battery swap stations and NIO power batteries, supporting technical personnel, and subsequent revenue generated.

With the injection of this 28 billion in cash, the company's debt was reduced from the original 80 billion to just over 50 billion in one fell swoop, almost on par with the debt scale of new forces such as Li Auto and XPeng.

After receiving such a large amount of cash, Li Bin, who had been struggling under the pressure of the debt crisis, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Offload the burden and travel light! NIO's 10 years, setting sail again!"

"Thank you to Magic Cube Group @President Jue for supporting and creating a new life for NIO Automobile."

After both parties completed the formal signing at NIO's headquarters and reached this strategic cooperation worth 28 billion, Li Bin specially posted a long article on his social platform.

Throughout the article, in addition to thanking Chen Jue, he also reflected on NIO's strategic mistakes in the past few years.

Afterward, he would return to the main business of car manufacturing, strive to double sales, and give back to all investors and shareholders.

As soon as this news came out, NIO's U.S. stock price soared by more than 30%.

Including those NIO car owners, after learning of this news, they were also spreading the word in car owner groups and car forums.

"Finally, the battery swap station project has been cut off."

"President Li acted decisively to save NIO's life! (doge)"

"If it really goes bankrupt, it will be difficult to buy maintenance parts in the future (covering face)"

"But then again, isn't Magic Cube Automobile afraid of following NIO's old path by buying so many battery swap stations?"

"Anyway, I can't see any prospects for the battery swap solution."

"Who cares! If they are willing to spend the money, it means there must be profits to be made. The battery swap service has been 20% off recently, thank you to that President Jue (smirking)"

Since NIO's battery swap service rights had not been stopped, but only changed operators.

Moreover, many preferential policies have been introduced for battery swap prices recently, which has won a good reputation among hundreds of thousands of NIO car owners.

It also allowed Magic Cube Automobile, a new car company that hasn't sold a single car, to once again set off a not-small wave in the domestic car circle.

......

Of course, the overall plan for the 'Magic Cube Battery Swap Alliance' is still in the promotion stage, and has not yet been announced to the public due to the change of ownership of NIO's battery swap stations.

However, Chen Jue has already signed strategic cooperation agreements with Lei Bu Si, Xiang Qingshan, and others in private.

150,000 Magic Cube battery swap stations will start with the makeover of NIO battery swap stations, and will be deployed in batches in three phases over three years.

Considering technology research and development, iteration, and capital costs, the total cost of the entire project has been adjusted to 250 billion RMB.

Among them, 70% of the share will be led by Chen Jue's Magic Cube Group, and the remaining 30% of the share will be divided among Xiaomi Automobile, NIO, Li Auto, XPeng, and Qingshan Holding.

Whether it is technology, materials, or cash, as long as they raise their own share, Chen Jue is willing to play with them.

As for when to announce this project plan that reshapes industry standards to the market.

Chen Jue and the others discussed it and tentatively set it for the evening of January 1, 2025, New Year's Day holiday.

That day happened to be the launch conference for the first batch of Magic Cube Automobile models. Announcing it together with the launch conference also saved certain marketing and publicity costs.

......

After attending the World Robot Conference in Modu and completing the most critical link in the layout of Magic Cube Automobile, Chen Jue took a private plane back to Wenshi.

After running around the world in Germany and Dijing, Chen Jue finally returned to his comfortable and cozy base camp.

Standing behind the floor-to-ceiling glass in the president's office, overlooking the gradually forming Ruixian Deep-Water Port Terminal outside the Magic Cube factory, Chen Jue's heart was full of accomplishment.

"In the future, when Magic Cube Automobile's models are officially put into production, when they are sold abroad, they will definitely be shipped out of this terminal by ro-ro ships," Chen Jue muttered to himself.

After resting on the MC [bed] for an hour and completely replenishing his personal energy.

He began to deal with some major decisions and personnel changes within the Magic Cube Group.

First of all, on the Zotye Automobile side, after completing the restructuring and merger and issuing a call-up order to old employees.

Zotye Automobile has regained its former glory from its original state of operating bleakly with more than 2,000 employees.

Of course, it has now been renamed 'Magic Cube Automobile', and Zotye is just a subsidiary brand.

However, with the injection of the first phase of 10 billion in cash flow, Magic Cube Zotye's 10 car-making bases across the country, distributed in Hangzhou, Kangyong, Changsha, Xiangtan, Jinhua, Xiangyang, Daye, Linyi, Jintan, and Wudu, have all been activated and restarted, and by the way, they have ushered in the upgrade and replacement of the production line arranged by the parent company.

In addition to the merger of Wenshi Weima's car-making base and the large-scale application of 'Magic Cube Arms', Magic Cube Automobile's 11 car-making bases currently have the capacity to produce 5 million complete vehicles per year.

As for the number of employees, it has skyrocketed wildly in recent months.

Because the salaries and benefits given are generally 30% or even 50% higher than those of its peers, the scale of first-line technicians in each base has reached more than 200,000 people through social recruitment and the return of old employees.

While solving the local employment pressure, it also made the originally 'thin' Magic Cube Group expand at once.

"Good fellow!"

"It's even more exciting than playing Red Alert and spamming troops! Unlimited funds, so you just start recruiting people like crazy, right?" Chen Jue was a little dumbfounded when he saw that the number of employees under him had reached such a scale.

Before, he also complained that the development of several subsidiaries was too slow, but now it's good, it has skyrocketed more than 10 times in just a few months.

If the main business of 'Magic Cube Arms' wasn't selling well, Chen Jue estimated that he would have to find a way to use MC resources to cash out to support so many people.

In addition, due to Magic Cube Automobile's massive recruitment in the industry, many friendly car companies have also felt a lot of pressure.

First, it spent more than 5 billion to take over Zotye and obtain the qualification license for car manufacturing, and then it spent 28 billion to buy NIO's battery swap station project.

In addition to the recruitment of more than 200,000 first-line technical employees, anyone with a discerning eye knows that Magic Cube Automobile is going to make a big deal.

It's just that there are too few spy photos and information of models leaked from the internal of Magic Cube Automobile at present.

The only Zotye ZT700 that is known to everyone, because it is the TOP1 champion model of Nürburgring, was sealed up after being pulled back to the Magic Cube factory.

As a result, the entire car circle is guessing what kind of model Magic Cube Automobile is going to produce.

Is it going to take BYD's low-end cost-effective route?

Or is it going to create high-end luxury brands like Huawei Seres, JAC's AITO, Stelato, and Yiwei?

In short, everyone in the automotive industry is guessing, and no one can say for sure.

Only Chen Jue, the originator, knows what kind of car he wants to build.

"There is no problem with fuel vehicles. The conditions for self-developed engines and transmissions, including the chassis, have all been met."

"The only remaining difficulty for new energy is the 'battery pack'!" Chen Jue spent several hours approving the major decision documents that needed his approval.

Afterward, he compared the various 'battery packs' that can be bought on the market at present.

After acquiring Zotye, Chen Jue had already instructed Ying Ren to contact several large battery suppliers to get samples and quotations.

Among them, the largest in terms of vehicle volume, in addition to BYD's blade battery, is CATL's Qilin battery.

Both of these are lithium iron phosphate technology routes, which have higher energy density and higher safety factor than traditional ternary lithium batteries.

In addition, there is Chery Automobile's recently launched Kunpeng battery, which is rumored to have reached the solid-state battery level, charging for 5 minutes and providing a range of 400 kilometers, and the total range can reach 1200 kilometers, which is expected to be officially mass-produced and launched in 2027.

As for the batteries used by foreign car companies, about 20% of the market share is still divided by South Korea's LG Energy Solution, SK On, and Samsung SDI, which basically produce ternary lithium batteries.

The overall technology is several generations behind the two major domestic battery giants.

"BYD and CATL's production capacity is very limited. If you book in advance, you will have to wait at least half a year to get the goods."

"Moreover, the implementation of the battery swap alliance plan will have a significant impact on these two major battery manufacturers."

"It seems that we still have to develop our own batteries!" Chen Jue muttered a few words.

After flipping through the battery project bought from NIO, he took out the [lithium mica] that he had accidentally discovered during the excavation of the northern Myanmar tunnel from his MC [backpack].

He felt that if his Magic Cube Automobile wanted to come up with some disruptive technology, he would have to focus on MC materials.

While he was thinking, the president's landline on the table rang.

The call came from Zhang Siyue, the new female secretary recently assigned to the president's office: "President Chen, the county leaders are planning to invite you to dinner tonight. They're asking if you're available."

Chen Jue, seeing that he was being invited by the leaders, accepted without much thought.

As for the [Lithium Mica], he took it along with other battery samples and casually tossed it into the MC village in the underground base of the Cube Factory, planning to experiment with its parameters and performance using MC tools after returning from dinner.

Little did he know that this unintentional little action of his would, like a domino, trigger a complete change in the energy structure of the entire human society!