Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 954 Hydrogen Cylinders, Nanshan Carbon Fiber's New Business

Chapter 954 Hydrogen Cylinders, Nanshan Carbon Fiber's New Business

"With CEOs of various car companies entering the market, it is expected that the various configurations on cars will be diverse in the future, and cars will develop more and more in the direction of consumer electronics."

“This may not necessarily be a good thing for us.”

"After all, Xingchen Auto and Jaguar Land Rover are both traditional car companies, and their main products are those with large-displacement engines."

Zeng Tingting mentioned one of her concerns.

It has to be said that this risk needs to be taken very seriously and it is entirely possible that it will occur in the future.

Once the market trend changes, even if the competitiveness of your product does not change, your sales will decline significantly.

"What you said does need attention, but from a global perspective, the demand for luxury cars with large-displacement engines is still there."

"The impact of electric vehicles will first affect the products of car companies such as Volkswagen and Toyota."

"Our luxury cars have a minimum displacement of 2.0T, and our main products are large-displacement models such as W8, W12 and W16."

"For some wealthy people, a large displacement car is a symbol of status. Even if it is not favored by the government, it will not disappear so quickly."

Cao Yang has no plans to remove fuel vehicles from Nanshan Automobile Group's sales system so quickly.

Even in the next ten years, his support for large-displacement engine models will not change.

Of course, this does not conflict with his support for the development of electric vehicles.

Use electric vehicles to impact the sales of automakers such as Volkswagen and Toyota, and use large-displacement engines to stabilize the sales of Xingchen Auto and Jaguar Land Rover. Walk on two legs and don't relax on either one.

To some extent, Cao Yang is betting on both sides.

After all, whether it is the industrial chain of electric vehicles or the industrial chain of large-displacement engine models, a large part of it is controlled by Nanshan-based companies.

Nanshan Battery is the world's largest battery company, and Nanshan Engine is China's largest engine company.

Nanshan Auto Parts supplies a large number of parts for both electric and fuel vehicles.

"We have previously launched some hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of Xingchen Automobile, but the market response is not particularly good at the moment."

"On the contrary, the sales of pure fuel vehicles with larger fuel tanks have always been quite good."

“Although the annual growth rate is not as high as in the past, it is also increasing steadily.”

"According to the current trend, Xingchen Auto's global sales are expected to exceed 100 million vehicles in the next three years."

Zeng Tingting knew that Cao Yang’s expectation for Xingchen Auto was to achieve global sales of 100 million vehicles.

It would be very difficult to go any higher.

After all, it is a luxury car with an average selling price of 100 million yuan, and it is not easy to increase sales.

Unless, like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, they continue to launch various entry-level models.

But this plan had been rejected by Cao Yang before.

So far, Xingchen Automobile has given consumers in China the impression that it is a brand that is more luxurious than Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

This invisible and intangible influence is actually very important.

After all, as long as consumers drive a Xingchen car out, no matter whether they know what model it is, everyone knows that it is not cheap.

Even when driving on the road, some cars around will consciously stay away from Xingchen Automobile to avoid being unable to pay compensation after a collision.

For many people, it's this specialness that counts.

"The development speed of new energy vehicles in China is much faster than that in the world. In many places, even after another ten years, the new energy vehicle market will still be relatively small. In addition to continuing to expand the domestic market, Xingchen Automobile cannot give up the overseas market."

"Especially in the Middle East and Africa, South America and around the polar bears, these are places where there is great potential for large-displacement engines."

Xingchen Automobile's overseas development is the best among all domestic companies.

However, Cao Yang obviously still wants to increase his investment.

Take Africa for example. Although it gives people the overall impression that it is very poor, there are actually quite a few rich people there.

With such a large population base, even a few millionaire can contribute a lot of sales.

There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor, but this is not a bad thing for the promotion of Xingchen Automobile.

Especially those models that take the hard-core off-road route still have great prospects in these places.

"That's true. Since last year, we have further divided the overseas regions and started to increase the number of domestic sales staff going abroad for expansion."

"In some markets, we also work with Huawei to jointly develop the local telecommunications and automotive markets, and the progress is relatively smooth so far."

When Zeng Tingting said this, her face was full of confidence.

Within Nanshan Automotive Group, the number of employees working overseas has now exceeded 5000.

According to Zeng Tingting's plan, the number of overseas staff will exceed 10000 in a few years.

The key point is that half of these staff members were sent from China.

These people's income is actually very high.

Originally, Nanshan Automobile Group’s treatment was the best in the domestic automobile industry, and personnel going abroad received various subsidies.

If you go to some African countries, the monthly subsidies alone are higher than the salaries of employees in most domestic companies.

Add to that various sales incentives, a person with three to five years of work experience working overseas at Nanshan Automotive Group will have an annual salary of at least 50, and it is normal to earn over one million.

For many college graduates from ordinary families, being able to join Nanshan Automotive Group and work overseas is definitely a very good path.

In China, you work your ass off with just that little salary, and once you pay your mortgage and car loan, you're left with no money.

But if you are in Africa, let alone making 100,000 or 80,000 yuan a month, even if you only make 40,000 or 50,000 yuan, you can still live a very comfortable life.

You can just spend a few hundred dollars to hire a young and beautiful local college student to be your nanny, to do your laundry and cooking during the day and to warm your bed at night.

There is not much to say about this kind of treatment.

Just when Zeng Tingting and Cao Yang were chatting about Nanshan Automotive Group, Zeng Jianying from Nanshan Carbon Fiber came over.

"Mr. Cao, I just saw Toyota Motors display a new energy vehicle with hydrogen fuel cells, and Honda Motors also has a similar product."

"During this period, the country is also encouraging the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles."

"I plan to arrange for someone to research carbon fiber gas tanks and make it a brand new application area for carbon fiber."

Nanshan Carbon Fiber is now the world's most technologically advanced carbon fiber company, and together with Guangwei Group, it almost monopolizes 80% of the domestic carbon fiber market.

Although the sales volume of carbon fiber is increasing every year, Zeng Jianying certainly cannot passively wait for customers to increase their own sales volume in order to increase the sales volume of carbon fiber.

He plans to take the initiative, just like when he produced carbon fiber wind turbine blades, to find more application scenarios for carbon fiber.

After a year of research, he decided to focus on the development of hydrogen storage tanks for hydrogen fuel cells.

He planned to formally propose the idea to Cao Yang by taking advantage of the Guangzhou Auto Show.

"Carbon fiber gas tank?"

Nanshan Automobile Group has not always regarded hydrogen fuel cells as its main development direction.

Although there is an internal team researching this technology and preparing to use it on commercial vehicles in Nanyangshan City, it is ultimately incomparable to electric vehicles.

Now that Zeng Jianying suddenly mentioned the carbon fiber gas tank, Cao Yang naturally had to think carefully about the future layout.

"Yes, as a hydrogen storage container, hydrogen storage bottles have four main development paths according to the classification first proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2002."

"Chromium-molybdenum steel hydrogen storage bottles are Type I; steel liner fiber hoop-wound bottles are Type II; high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage mainly uses aluminum liner fiber-wound bottles, which are Type III; and finally, plastic liner fiber-wound bottles, which are Type IV."

“Type I and Type II are mainly used for stationary hydrogen storage applications such as hydrogen refueling stations, which is not the focus of our research.”

"Type III and IV are used for on-board hydrogen storage in China and internationally."

"In addition to the different liner materials, both Type III and Type IV gas cylinders use a full carbon fiber winding process, with the carbon fiber weight accounting for up to 57%. Due to the high working pressure, the specifications of the carbon fiber are also required to be high."

“This is a very suitable place to leverage our technological advantages.”

Although Cao Yang is not in charge of many specific matters of each company, when it comes to some important product development, they must report to Cao Yang.

As a product that Nanshan Carbon Fiber will focus on developing in the next few years, how much resources will be invested in carbon fiber gas cylinders is also inseparable from Cao Yang's support.

"The most promising direction for the use of carbon fiber in the pressure vessel field is the use in the field of hydrogen storage cylinders, which should be recognized by everyone."

“However, the development speed of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is not expected to be as fast as everyone imagines.”

Cao Yang would definitely not directly offend Zeng Jianying, so he also wanted to have a good chat with him.

He certainly has no objection to the development of carbon fiber gas cylinders.

However, how much energy to put into this project requires a careful discussion.

"With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, hydrogen energy, as a clean and efficient form of energy, has received more and more attention."

"As key equipment for hydrogen storage and transportation, the performance and safety of hydrogen storage bottles are of vital importance."

"Carbon fiber hydrogen storage bottles have the advantages of light weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance. They can effectively improve the hydrogen storage density and safety of hydrogen storage bottles, providing strong support for the large-scale application of hydrogen energy."

“根据现有的一些氢能发展规划推算,2025年全球燃料电池汽车预计销售100万台;到 2030年全球燃料电池汽车大约300-400万台,相应的碳纤维需求量18万吨,未来的复合增长率很值得期待。”

Zeng Jianying has been researching this for a year, and even Nanshan Carbon Fiber has produced several samples.

Therefore, he is very clear about the development of the industry.

"At room temperature and pressure, hydrogen has the characteristics of small molecular formula and easy dissipation. Therefore, in the process of production, storage, transportation, addition and use, there are very high requirements for technology and equipment support."

"Compared with traditional energy sources, hydrogen production and storage and transportation require greater investment to ensure efficiency and safety. At this stage, the overall cost is still relatively high, of which the storage and transportation of hydrogen alone accounts for 30%-40% of the total cost of hydrogen."

"If this problem cannot be solved well, there will be no good future." Cao Yang knows something about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

After all, this new energy development route is still very popular in Japan, and Korea also has relatively strong support.

China also has relevant policy support. Even from the perspective of supporting bicycles, the support amount for each vehicle is much higher than that for electric vehicles.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that the cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is much higher than that of electric vehicles.

"Indeed, domestic hydrogen storage and transportation mainly takes the form of high-pressure gas with relatively low cost. As an important storage container, hydrogen storage bottles are gradually upgraded from Type I, II, and III to Type IV carbon fiber bottles with higher mass density and lower cost."

"It is estimated that at the same 35MPa pressure level, the cost of a Type IV hydrogen storage bottle is about 2 yuan, which is 30% lower than that of a Type III hydrogen storage bottle. The main reason is that the Type III bottle storage tank uses a large amount of metal aluminum material, while the Type IV bottle uses a lower-priced polymer and a smaller amount, usually a plastic liner."

"In addition, the carbon fiber wrapped around the outside of the liner to increase strength accounts for the main cost of the Type IV bottle, which is our advantage."

Zeng Jianying followed up on Cao Yang's question and continued to explain the relevant situation.

From this process, Cao Yang could also feel his persistence.

"Has the technical route for this gas cylinder been determined?"

Since Zeng Jianying wanted to carry out this project so much, Cao Yang felt that there was no need for him to stop her.

After all, this is also a blue ocean market. As long as it is done well, the future is still very good.

"Regarding the forming process of the carbon fiber composite layer of the hydrogen storage bottle, most of the current processes are that the carbon fiber is impregnated through a resin tank during the winding process and then wound, and the carbon fiber and resin are used as two independent raw materials for winding, which is usually called the wet winding process in the industry."

"We have been trying the dry winding process, where carbon fiber and resin are pre-preg-made into pre-preg tapes in advance, and then the pre-preg tapes are used as winding raw materials for gas cylinder winding. The dry winding process can achieve higher winding efficiency and better product stability."

"The sealing technology bottleneck at the bottle mouth is relatively large, especially for high-pressure gas cylinders, which are the key areas for safety and hydrogen leakage. How to achieve safe sealing of the bottle mouth valve, gas cylinder valve seat, and plastic liner has become an extremely critical technology for hydrogen storage bottles."

"As the pressure increases, the hydrogen storage density gradually increases, and the transportation cost gradually decreases."

"After developing to a certain extent, there will be a critical point, and that is when our gas cylinder business will officially explode."

After hearing what Zeng Jianying said, Cao Yang knew that Nanshan Carbon Fiber had already made great efforts in this regard.

In that case, let’s keep going.

"You can communicate with Nanshan Auto Parts and Nanshan Battery to see if the gas storage tank project and the hydrogen fuel cell project can be combined together."

"This will also save a lot of time in future commercial applications."

What Cao Yang said basically meant that he agreed with Zeng Jianying's idea.

……

While Zeng Jianying and Cao Yang were discussing the future development of carbon fiber gas tanks, Toyota, which was betting on hydrogen-powered vehicles, was not so satisfied with the reactions of various media.

"President, the Chinese media seem to be focusing on various electric vehicles, and few people are interested in our hydrogen fuel cell technology."

Tetsuaki Kobayashi and Akio Toyoda flew here from Japan today specifically to attend the Guangzhou Auto Show.

In the field of electric vehicles, Toyota has very few products to show off. In China, apart from hybrid models, it does not even have an electric vehicle.

Toyota Motor also attaches great importance to this Guangzhou Auto Show.

They brought together Yangcheng Toyota and Chuncheng Toyota to form a large Toyota exhibition booth in order to further enhance Toyota's influence in China.

2014 was a difficult year for Toyota.

In the American market, they are being suppressed by General Motors and Ford, and their sales are declining.

Although the current situation has been stabilized, it will definitely be very difficult to restore sales to its peak level.

In the Chinese market, the sales of Japanese car companies have been a bit sluggish in the past two years.

Toyota has tried everything, but not much has changed.

However, as the Chinese automobile market is the largest in the world, Toyota will never give up.

Toyota has even decided internally to launch more new products in China in order to gain a market share in China that is worthy of its global status.

At present, the combined sales of the two Toyotas are less than 100 million vehicles, which certainly will not satisfy Akio Toyoda.

Toyota also knows that new energy vehicles are very popular in China, so they want to take advantage of this auto show to promote their hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

They are even preparing to sell hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China in the form of imports.

However, the media's performance gave them a heavy blow.

"Electric vehicles are ultimately just a transitional technology, and their large-scale promotion and popularization face various problems."

"And its energy saving is not real energy saving. Except for China, the development speed in other markets may not be so fast."

Akio Toyoda is one of the people who firmly believes that the prospects for electric vehicles are not that good.

In other words, he is a pessimist about electric vehicles.

Even Toyota has a dedicated team researching electric vehicles, but the intensity is definitely different from that of the team working on hydrogen fuel cell technology.

"For us, the advantages of electric vehicles are indeed not as great as those of hybrid vehicles, and they will not cause too much impact on the existing industrial chain."

"But the situation in China is different. I think the company may need to reconsider its future development direction."

"At least in the Chinese market, we still need to launch some electric vehicles."

Based on his own analysis and judgment, Kobayashi Tetsumin made a suggestion.

He knew that Akio Toyoda would not be happy with this proposal, but he had to say it.

Today’s traditional fuel vehicles have little traffic at auto shows, which will definitely affect sales in the end.

"We have already stepped up local R&D efforts in China, so we can let them try to develop one or two electric vehicles to see how the market responds."

Toyoda was silent for a moment, then gave his opinion.

He knew that what Kobayashi Tetsumei said made sense.

If you want to survive in the Chinese market, it seems that it is really impossible without electric cars.

However, Toyota's accumulation of electric vehicle technology is mediocre, and he has no confidence that it will eventually catch up with China's independent brands.

"Should we consider cooperating with Nanshan Battery or other manufacturers for our batteries?"

Kobayashi Tetsuaki asked a very sensitive question.

In recent years, the relationship between Nanshan Automobile Group and Toyota Motor has definitely not been good.

The two sides have clashed in China and many overseas markets.

Lexus LS570's sales are relatively stable in the United States, but have been basically crushed by Star Auto in other markets.

Similarly, the sales of Toyota brand Land Cruiser have also been greatly affected.

As for the various tricks used by Nanshan Hongqi, there is no need to say more.

Not to mention the impact that Nanshan Transmission and Nanshan Auto Parts have had on companies such as Aisin and Denso.

Anyway, the relationship between Toyota Motor and Nanshan Automobile Group has nothing to do with harmony.

"You can't find Nanshan Battery!"

Akio Toyoda was silent for a moment, then gave a very affirmative response.

He knew that even if Toyota brand electric vehicles turned to Nanshan Battery for supply, the relationship between the two parties would not change much in the end.

The opponent will even have an additional weak spot of Toyota.

"If we don't look for Chinese battery companies, then we won't have many options."

"Or let Panasonic build a special battery factory in China to supply us?"

Kobayashi Tetsuaki did not refute his boss's decision.

He is fully able to understand the other person's thoughts.

"If we let Panasonic supply us, without a guaranteed number of units, their investment risk would be very high."

“We are not considering this route in the short term either.”

"There are many battery companies in China. Just because we don't seek cooperation with Nanshan Battery doesn't mean we can't seek cooperation with other manufacturers."

"Whether it is Guoxuan High-tech, BYD, or various battery companies such as CATL and Xinwoda, they are all starting to make efforts in the Chinese electric vehicle market."

"I think we can first contact all these companies to see if they are enthusiastic about cooperation."

It would be a bit hasty to directly determine the partners before any contact or communication.

So even if Akio Toyoda already had some ideas in his heart, he did not intend to say them out immediately.

It would be embarrassing if these ideas were just his own unilateral thoughts and the other party had no intention of cooperating with Toyota.

"Well, I'll start arranging this matter later."

"China's own brands are developing faster and faster in the field of electric vehicles, so we have to speed up as well."

"It would be best if we could launch our electric vehicle solution at the Beijing Auto Show next year."

Kobayashi Tetsuaki continued to put forward his ideas.

It is important to clarify such general direction as soon as possible.

Following these exchanges, Toyota quickly took action internally.

(End of this chapter)

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