Super Copy of Great Power Technology

Although this patrol car with autonomous driving function is not very practical, it is quite impressive. After all, it is a true full-function autonomous driving, which is the ultimate ideal of all car manufacturers.

The patrol car carries everyone forward all the way. When to turn, when to go straight, or when to take a detour is all controlled by the system. If it occasionally encounters pedestrians or other vehicles, it can automatically sense and avoid them. There is no human intervention throughout the entire process, which truly achieves fully automatic driving.

"Amazing, really amazing! I thought the LV3 level autonomous driving technology installed in your Roadster sports car was the best technology you have mastered. I didn't expect that your research and development of the autonomous driving system has been so in-depth and has already approached the LV5 level." Mr. Wang, who also has some research on autonomous driving technology, undoubtedly has the most say on this matter, and he has a very high opinion of this patrol car.

"Yes, I've seen our company's self-driving test car at Tesla headquarters. Its functions are similar to the self-driving system installed on your Roadster sports car, which is far from the level of this patrol car." General Zheng also echoed.

In fact, the road conditions inside the Ruida Automobile Factory are too simple after all, and the patrol car can show very limited things. The two big guys can have such high evaluations, but they are inferred from some details. First of all, this patrol car has completely removed the steering wheel, accelerator, brake and other control facilities. This shows that the researchers of Ruida Automobile have sufficient confidence in the automatic driving system of this patrol car and can cope with any road conditions and any emergencies. Secondly, the recognition ability of this patrol car is quite powerful. Pedestrians, vehicles, and the most troublesome electric bicycles can all be automatically identified. The response of the car computer is also unexpectedly fast. When the target is discovered, it can calculate the opponent's speed and driving direction in the first time, judge whether there is a threat to the car, and then respond according to the calculation results.

A few minutes later, the patrol car sent everyone to the auditorium. Qiao Ruida asked everyone to get off the car and walk into the auditorium. Behind them, the patrol car, which had completed its mission of sending people, automatically drove to the charging station on the side of the auditorium to recharge.

The press conference had not started yet, but the reporters were already in place. The huge auditorium was packed with people. The arrival of Qiao Ruida and the four big guys undoubtedly shocked the reporters on the scene. Some of the quick-witted ones had already picked up their cameras and video cameras and started shooting in the direction of the five people. For a while, the flash lights were flashing frequently, and the people couldn't open their eyes. Fortunately, Qiao Ruida and the four big guys were all well-informed people who had experienced many similar scenes. Facing the numerous flash lights, they were still able to keep smiling and calmly waved and greeted the reporters.

"I didn't expect so many big names to come to a press conference held by Ruida Automobile. Just posting this photo will be a good news and can cause a stir among people."

"I only recognized Mr. Qiao from Ruida Group, Mr. Wang from BYD, and Mr. Li from Geely. Who are the other two people? Do any of you know them?"

"The guy with the bald head and glasses is Zheng Shunjing, general manager of Tesla China. The guy in the blue suit is Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL. These are all real bigwigs in the automotive industry. I don't know how Ruida Auto invited them to attend the press conference."

"Mr. Qiao is the big boss of Ruida Automobile, and Mr. Zeng is a battery supplier. It's not surprising that they came to the press conference. The remaining three bosses are all in the automobile business and are competitors of Ruida Automobile. Their presence is somewhat intriguing."

"Four of the five big guys are on the rich list. It would be great if I could arrange an interview with one or two of them."

After Qiao Ruida and his four companions entered the auditorium, a staff member soon came over and led them to sit in the reserved seats in the front row and brought them a few bottles of mineral water.

Two o'clock in the afternoon came quickly, and the press conference officially began. Shao Heping, wearing a blue striped suit and tie, walked onto the stage with a smile on his face. Facing hundreds of reporters and dozens of cameras for the first time, Shao Heping was quite calm. He stood in the center of the stage and said:
"Hello everyone, I am Shao Heping, the general manager of Ruida Automobile. Today's new car launch conference is hosted by me. Please bear with me if I don't do a good job. Before launching the new car, please allow me to introduce several new products and technologies developed by our Ruida Research Institute.

The first is the sodium-ion rechargeable battery. Since the maturity of new energy vehicles, light-weight and high-capacity lithium batteries have almost become standard, whether it is a ternary lithium battery, a lithium iron phosphate battery, or a lithium cobalt oxide battery, it is inseparable from the word lithium. However, lithium batteries also have many disadvantages, such as easy to catch fire and self-ignite, low safety factor, poor low-temperature resistance, high price, and scarce reserves of lithium ore, the raw material for producing lithium batteries. So is there a battery that can replace lithium batteries without so many disadvantages? The answer is yes, that is the sodium battery.

Sodium batteries, as the name implies, are batteries that rely mainly on the movement of sodium ions between the positive and negative electrodes to work. Their working principle is quite similar to that of lithium-ion batteries. The main raw materials for producing sodium batteries are sodium ion compounds, which are not too abundant in nature, such as sodium chloride (salt), sodium sulfate (sodium sulfate), sodium carbonate (soda ash), etc., which are all sold at very low prices. Therefore, the cost of sodium batteries is much lower than that of lithium batteries, only about one-third of the latter.

The energy density of sodium batteries is about 200Wh/kg, which is slightly lower than that of lithium batteries, but it is sufficient for use. Sodium batteries are much safer than lithium batteries. In extreme conditions of short circuit or puncture, they will only generate heat but will not burn or explode. The low-temperature performance of sodium batteries is much better than that of lithium batteries. At a low temperature of minus 10°C, the battery's charge and discharge capacity is almost unaffected; and at an extreme low temperature of minus 20°C, the battery's charge and discharge capacity can be maintained at around 80%~90%. This means that sodium batteries can not only cope with common low-temperature environments, but are also suitable for use in extremely cold areas.

......"

As Shao Heping continued to explain, the content displayed on the large screen behind the stage kept changing. First, it showed a photo of an 18650 sodium battery, then a schematic diagram of the sodium battery's principles, followed by pictures of various raw materials for producing sodium batteries, and finally various test pictures of sodium batteries, including charge and discharge tests, short circuit tests, puncture tests, capacity tests, low temperature tests, and so on.

The reporters who attended the press conference were all well-informed. They knew before the press conference that Ruida Research Institute had developed a new sodium battery, but they did not expect that the performance of this sodium battery would be so excellent. Except that the energy density is about one-third lower than that of lithium batteries, in other aspects, it is superior to lithium batteries in all aspects. In particular, the ultra-low cost of sodium batteries and the almost inexhaustible raw materials for production have left people with huge room for imagination.

Qiao Ruida already knew all the things Shao Heping explained, and some of the information was provided by him to Shao Heping. So he listened carefully for a few sentences, but did not continue listening. Instead, he took out his mobile phone and logged into the live broadcast room of Ruida Group's official website to check the netizens' reactions. Not long after the live broadcast started, the number of people online had exceeded 500 million, and these people were quite active, with dense comments and fast refreshes in the message area.

"Sodium batteries have been mentioned for a long time, but we have never seen the real thing, so they are probably not mature yet. I wonder if the sodium battery brought out by Ruida Group this time is a mature product?" "Sodium batteries have very good low-temperature performance. I can finally drive a new energy vehicle in Heilongjiang in winter."

"I don't know if there are any retail channels for this sodium battery. I want to buy some to make a battery pack and install it on my electric donkey. It's not much better than lead-acid batteries, and the price is about the same."

"With the impact of sodium batteries, I don't know whether lithium batteries will die, but lead-acid batteries are doomed."

"I wonder if Ruida Motors has plans to replace sodium batteries in its MINI EV. If it does, the price of this car could be reduced by another 10,000 or 20,000 yuan. By then, you can drive home a green-licensed car for just over 20,000 yuan. That would be awesome."

"This sodium battery is so cheap that it can be used in so many fields, such as electric vehicles, electric tricycles, electric bicycles, energy storage, electric ships, aerospace, etc."

"With the help of sodium batteries, electric vehicles are destined to take off. Traditional fuel vehicles are expensive, costly to use, and cause serious pollution. How can they compete with electric vehicles?"

“Are there any stock traders in the live broadcast room? If you have bought lithium battery-related stocks, sell them quickly and then buy the new energy vehicle sector at the bottom. Conservatively speaking, there are at least three daily limit ups waiting for you.”

"The above poster, you reminded me a little late. The lithium battery sector has already plunged. The scene is terrible. Half of the lithium battery-related stocks have hit the limit down, and the remaining stocks have also fallen by more than 5%. In contrast, new energy vehicle stocks, led by BYD, have all risen sharply, with an average increase of more than 4%. The leading stock BYD has already hit the limit up."

……

No matter how much controversy there was online, the press conference continued. Shao Heping only briefly introduced the sodium battery and soon moved on to the next product. Shao Heping took out a palm-sized hard-shell battery from his pocket. The surface was covered with a layer of blue translucent insulating film, which looked quite high-end. Shao Heping shook the battery in his hand and introduced it: "What I have in my hand is a graphene battery developed by our Ruida Research Institute. Can you guess what its capacity is?"

"6000mAh", "10000mAh", "5000mAh", "I have a power bank of similar size, with a capacity of 15000mAh. This one has a graphene battery, so the capacity should be higher, probably around 2000mAh."

Reporters at the scene spoke enthusiastically, and they all said their estimated battery capacities, ranging from 5000mAh to 30000mAh. Shao Heping listened from beginning to end, but kept shaking his head until no more reporters spoke, and then he revealed the answer.

"You all guessed wrong. The correct capacity of this graphene battery is 1000000mAh, or 1000AH. Its voltage is slightly higher than that of ternary lithium batteries, which is 5.0V. That is to say, this small battery can store 5 kWh of electricity, which can drive a laptop to work for 100 hours, drive an electric fan to work for 50 hours, and drive a 1-horsepower air conditioner to work for five hours. Isn't it incredible? Our graphene battery is so magical. Its energy density is about 10000Wh/kg, which is more than 30 times that of ternary lithium batteries.

Thanks to the super strong conductivity of graphene, the charging and discharging performance of graphene batteries is quite exaggerated. Just a single battery can withstand a charging current of more than 7000A and a discharge current of more than 5000A. After forming a battery pack, the charging and discharging capacity can be further increased. When we installed the vehicle for testing, it only took 2000 minutes to charge a commercial vehicle with a range of 0 kilometers from 100% to 15%. And this 15 minutes is not the limit of the battery's charging speed, nor the limit of the charging pile, but the limit that the power grid can withstand. Isn't it exaggerated?

The energy storage principle of graphene batteries is similar to that of capacitors, not traditional chemical energy storage, so they are much safer than traditional batteries. If they encounter physical damage, or extreme conditions such as fire, lightning, or short circuit, the battery will at most deteriorate and self-destruct, but will not catch fire or explode.

Graphene batteries have strong adaptability and can work normally in the range of 100℃ to minus 100℃. With a little protection, they can be sent into space without any problems.

I have mentioned so many advantages of graphene batteries, but does it have any disadvantages? There is one, that is, it is expensive. It is not just expensive, it is very, very expensive. Just this palm-sized graphene battery in my hand costs as much as 20,000 yuan. It is more expensive than gold, and it is much more expensive than the same weight of silver.

As for why graphene batteries are so expensive, it all starts with the main raw materials used to produce them. Graphene is a new two-dimensional material that was discovered by scientists in the 21st century. Its physical and chemical properties are very magical, so graphene has a wide range of applications, including solar cells, sensors, biomedicine, supercapacitors, and so on. Some building materials can even significantly increase their strength by simply mixing some graphene.

Such a magical graphene has not been widely promoted. The reason is that it is too difficult to manufacture graphene. Whether it is mechanical exfoliation, atmospheric precipitation, or graphite redox method, the production cost is very high, and the graphene produced has many defects and poor quality. The raw materials needed to produce graphene batteries are electronic-grade graphene with the highest quality requirements. The price of this kind of graphene in the market is usually several hundred yuan per gram, and the supply is limited, so it is difficult to purchase in bulk. This is why graphene batteries are so expensive. "(End of this chapter)