Investor That Can See The Future

Chapter 131

Homin Kim, Professor of Chemistry at Kookmin University.

After graduating from Korea University, he moved to the United States and obtained his doctorate from MIT. He then went through a post-doctoral course and returned to Korea University to be appointed as a tenured professor.

He is known not only in Korea but also as a global authority in the field of batteries, and is currently conducting research and development under the support of universities.

When I met him, he looked much younger than I thought.

“Hello, Professor. I am… … .”

Professor Homin Kim looked at me and smiled.

“I heard from Professor Myung-Jun Kim. Isn’t that after the rumored gangjin?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like coffee?”

“Yes.”

Professor Homin Kim listened to Maxim Coffee Mix.

“What is this?”

“Coffee is also Maxim.”

“Sit for a moment.”

I set aside the books lying on the sofa and sat down. Professor Homin Kim boiled water in an electric kettle and then poured the coffee mix into a paper cup.

“Thank you.”

“Do you know where the first coffee mix was made?”

“It’s Dongseo Food.”

“right. This is a real invention of the century.”

Professor Homin Kim pointed to the blackboard.

“What do you think is written on the blackboard?”

“Ah, because I’m a liberal arts major.”

Is the word ‘I’m sorry’ used in this case?

Professor Homin Kim, seeing my expression, smiled.

“It’s a battery chemical, and I write it down whenever I think of it, so I don’t know too well. I just left it because it was too bad to erase. By the way, what made you want to see me?”

“I want to hear what the professor thinks about batteries and electric vehicles.”

Professor Homin Kim said willingly.

“Coffee varieties are broadly divided into two categories. Do you know what it is?”

I nodded.

“Robusta and Arabica.”

Professor Homin Kim nodded.

“Similarly, lithium-ion batteries can be divided into two broad categories.”

I remembered what I had read in the paper.

“Was it NCM and LFP?”

“I know.”

NCM, so-called ternary battery, makes cathode active material with nickel, manganese, and cobalt compounds. On the other hand, LFP uses lithium iron phosphate.

“Do you know what trade off means?”

I nodded.

“It’s an economic term.”

The government should implement the goals of economic growth and price stability. However, when the economy grows, prices rise, and when prices stabilize, economic growth slows down.

Ultimately, if the two goals are incompatible, one has to give up or find a compromise.

“It’s also on our side. Lithium-ion batteries are such a case. If you increase the dose, safety decreases, and if you want to increase safety, you have to decrease the dose. NCM is the former, LFP is the latter. When the properties of a trade-off relationship collide with each other, if you cannot give up on either side, you must eventually overcome it with technology.”

“… … .”

It’s already hard to understand what you’re saying.

Taek-gyu must have been like this when I was talking about economy and management, right?

“Do you remember the L6 explosion?”

“Yes.”

Professor Homin Kim burst out laughing suddenly.

“Haha, I can’t possibly know. It’s famous for making a lot of money from it. As you know, the L6 battery exploded because the separator inside the cell was damaged. The reason is that the capacity was unreasonably increased in a limited space. As you can see from this case, it is very difficult to increase the capacity and ensure safety.”

So, Suseong Electronics slightly reduced the battery capacity of smartphones released after the L6 incident. This is to prevent similar situations from occurring even if performance is reduced.

“Most electronic devices use ternary batteries. The same goes for electric vehicles. It is only China that uses LFP.”

Japan’s Technics, Korea’s Seoseong SB, and CL Chemical all produce NCM. On the other hand, Chinese battery makers, including BID, mainly produce LFP.

“China is the country that produces and consumes the most batteries.”

China, which entered industrialization late, is a latecomer in the existing automobile market. Therefore, it is determined to take the lead in the next-generation automobile market.

The Chinese government has been actively promoting electric vehicles by providing subsidies and various benefits.

The realistic problem of air pollution in major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai also played a role. People misunderstand that the Chinese government doesn’t care much about air pollution, but in reality, it’s a matter of life and death at the government level.

Most of the high-ranking Communists and chaebols live in large cities. If food or beverages are contaminated, buy organic or imported products and eat them, but the air cannot. That said, I can’t even carry an oxygen bottle with me every time I go out of the house.

Since it is impossible to stop the operation of the factory, the number of eco-friendly vehicles is increasing, so that even vehicle exhaust gas is reduced.

Chinese companies’ battery technology lags behind those of advanced countries. Therefore, it mainly produced LFP rather than NCM, and the Chinese government also concentrated its subsidies on LFPs produced by domestic companies. (Although it ostensibly raised the safety issue, for this reason, Seoseong SB and CL Chemicals batteries were not eligible for subsidies in China. excluded)

“Currently, Chinese companies are also turning to NCM. It is impossible to increase the capacity of the LFP, but it is possible to increase the safety of the NCM.”

“i See.”

I didn’t ask why. It’s obvious that you won’t understand if you listen.

Instead, I asked another question.

“Then what do you think about the future of electric vehicles?”

“Energy is lost with each step. In theory, electric vehicles are less efficient than internal combustion engines. While internal combustion locomotives burn fossil fuels to directly drive the engine, electric vehicles burn fossil fuels to convert them to electricity, then use the electricity to charge the battery and use the electricity charged in the battery to drive the motor. But in the end, electric cars are more efficient.”

This is because of energy efficiency.

The energy efficiency of internal combustion locomotives is about 20 percent. Only 20% of the energy generated by burning gasoline is used to drive the car, and the rest is wasted as heat energy. On the other hand, the energy efficiency of electric vehicles is over 80%. That is why electric vehicles consume less energy even if they go through more steps.

Professor Homin Kim said while drinking coffee.

“How much was the total car sales last year?”

“It’s less than 90 million.”

“Then what about EV sales?”

“It’s about 750,000 units.”

At least that’s the total number of electric vehicles (EVs) as well as plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

Professor Homin Kim nodded his head.

“It’s still less than 1% of the total sales. It is expected to exceed 1 million this year, but it is still a very small number. What do you think will happen if all the cars sold now are all electric?”

“Electricity usage will skyrocket, so power management will be a problem.”

“That can be solved somehow by building more power plants or using alternative energy. There are two problems. One is the battery price, and the other is the battery efficiency. If it wasn’t for smartphones, how could electric vehicles be popular so quickly?”

It was the smartphone, not the electric vehicle, that first triggered the supply and demand for batteries. Smartphones, which consume more power than feature phones, are rapidly spreading, and battery production has increased rapidly, resulting in a sharp drop in price.

Nevertheless, it is still expensive enough to rely on subsidies.

“Innovating the manufacturing process has the effect of reducing the fixed cost per unit of product and can reduce the processing cost, but conversely, if the production increases, the raw material price rises.”

Just as the supply of automobiles exploded the demand for oil, the supply of electric vehicles exploded the demand for raw materials for batteries. In fact, lithium prices continued to rise.

The most serious is cobalt.

In ternary batteries, cobalt is an essential raw material. Half of the world’s reserves are in Congo, where supply and demand are unstable due to civil war and instability.

In addition to the speculative demand, the international market price has already more than doubled. The proportion of cost has also increased, from less than 8% to more than 20% now.

“What would happen if we increased the subsidy from 1 million units to 90 million units?”

“Before that, the government will go bankrupt.”

“What if 90 million electric vehicles rush to charging stations? It’s probably worth seeing in winter.”

There are still long lines at crowded gas stations. However, fast charging takes more than 30 minutes for electric vehicles. In winter, when battery efficiency drops sharply, charging stations will burst.

“Then what should I do?”

“Simple. We can reduce the cost, increase the capacity, and make the charging speed faster.”

“Isn’t it a problem because I can’t do that?”

Again, while technology has advanced rapidly, batteries have not kept pace.

About half of the improvement in efficiency is due to improved power efficiency of electronic components such as semiconductors.

Professor Homin Kim smiled bitterly.

“That’s why we work hard on R&D. We are trying to find a way to reduce the proportion of expensive cobalt and rare metals as much as possible, and increase the capacity while ensuring safety. Science can’t make the impossible possible, but it can make the possible possible. This isn’t just an electric car problem. Batteries are the core technology of the future. Smartphones, laptops, tablets, wearable devices, drones, electric vehicles, internal medical devices, etc. If we do not solve this problem, technology development in other fields will also face limitations.”

At first, there was only a vague idea, but after meeting and talking, I was convinced.

This person is the right person.

“Any other questions?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

I put down the paper cup I drank and said.

“I am planning to open a battery R&D research center at OTK Company, and I wonder if the professor will be the director.”

“… … Huh?”

Professor Ho-min Kim, who was confused for a moment, burst into laughter.

“Haha, are you going to hire me now?”

“Rather than that, it would be more accurate to say that I am taking you.”

“If I go to a research institute, I have to quit my professorship.”

“I will treat you more than that. Not only for the professor, but also for all the researchers I work with.”

As Professor Ho-Min Kim is a tenured professor at the University of Korea, stability and honor in his life are guaranteed throughout his life. But other researchers do not.

In most cases, even master’s and doctoral degrees suffer from hardship and job insecurity. If the research is stopped, you will be unemployed immediately.

Great achievements do not come alone. The help of those working below should be supported.

I started persuasion in earnest.(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

“In Korea, whether it is a university or a company, I hope that the results will come out within a year or two. If that doesn’t produce results, I will cut off the application.”

The research team led by Professor Homin Kim has not produced any results for several years. In fact, there were rumors that the support should be stopped.

“If you take charge of the research center, we will create an environment where you can study freely for 10 or 20 years.”

Well, even with that being said, I don’t really want to wait that long.

Professor Homin Kim is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a next-generation battery. This means, in other words, that he has achieved such great scientific achievements that he has been awarded a Nobel Prize.

If so, when will the achievements be made, and when will the Nobel Prize be awarded?

It probably won’t take long.

Resolving the current battery problem is the industry’s task, and all companies are actively engaged in R&D. As such, it is highly likely that a solution will be available soon. And the person who will come up with the solution the fastest is Professor Homin Kim. (If someone else solves it first, that person will win the Nobel Prize)

You may think that you are too young to receive a Nobel Prize, but the original science and engineering fields often make great achievements when they are young.

Einstein discovered the theory of relativity in his twenties, and Stephen Hawking became famous as a world-famous physicist from his thirties.

Professor Homin Kim scratched his hair.

“Can you really continue to support R&D?”

“of course.”

I feel like I’m a little tight on money these days, but fortunately, thanks to the success of Lost Fantasy M, I was able to breathe. A partial dividend over the next quarter could bring you tens of millions of dollars in cash.

The money will be invested in the establishment of the research institute.

Looking at his expression, he seems to have moved a little, but in such a case, you should definitely put a wedge, right?

Instead of babbling, I brought out a realistic story.

“If you join me, I will make you a lot of money.”

Professor Ho-min Kim, who was unexpected, was once again puzzled.

“money?”

“As you know, I am a business administration student, and I do not know much about chemistry or battery principles. But I know that if the development is successful, the company that makes the product will make a lot of money. And the companies that invest in it will also make a lot of money. There are countless wealthy businessmen and financiers. But what about the scientists, developers, and researchers who developed it? How many of them have become rich?”

Researchers belonging to companies or universities often end up receiving only promotions or performance pay, even if they succeed in development. Conversely, if they do not perform well, they are treated like cold meals or fired.

“I will give 30% of the stake in the research institute to the professor. All patents and technologies developed will be owned by the research institute, and the profits generated from it will also be owned by the research institute.”

Professor Ho-min Kim was making a face as if he had been stabbed.

“I didn’t know I would receive such an offer from a Korean university student.”

“If Thomas Edison had not founded General Electric, would he have been rich? Nikola Tesla, who invented many inventions under Edison, lost all his patents and died living in poverty.”

I looked straight at Professor Ho-Min Kim and said.

“Wouldn’t it be better to be Edison than Tesla if possible?”