Chapter 7: Solid-state Battery Technology
Fan Ren didn’t keep them in suspense. In terms of technology, even someone at Lin Chang’s level could beat Liu Jun black and blue.
But when it came to business, he was truly a complete novice.
“If it were you, would you choose to sell the technology, or pull in investment and do it yourself?”
Liu Jun pondered for a moment upon hearing this and replied solemnly: “From my personal perspective, I definitely suggest you sell and cash out.”
“I’ve looked into the related industry these past few days. According to my estimation, selling for at least 3 billion shouldn’t be a problem.”
Fan Ren said: “But?”
Liu Jun nodded and continued: “But from a long-term development perspective, 3 billion is too low. This market is too big, and the future market scale can’t even be estimated right now.”
Fan Ren took over: “Yes, believe me, in the future, any high-voltage wireless charging technology will have to go around my patent. And right now, producing a 1150V product is just limited by materials. Once there’s a breakthrough in materials, this number will see a huge improvement.”
“So, if giving advice from the perspective of our family’s third generation in business, I suggest you do it yourself.”
After a pause, Liu Jun continued: “But this path will be particularly difficult. Manufacturing has always been the hardest road to walk.”
“Even, if we look too greedy, and end up facing resistance from all peers, the consequences—you can reference Little Japan’s hydrogen energy.”
Fan Ren nodded. He knew the consequences of doing that.
Little Japan led the way in hydrogen energy research, preemptively building a patent barrier and throwing the hardest, lowest-value storage and other marginal technologies to other nations.
This led to resistance from the whole world’s related industries, ultimately paving the way for the booming development of new energy.
Was hydrogen energy not clean, efficient, or safe enough?
No, it was just because they looked too greedy. That’s what led to the catastrophic result.
Monitors were the same—still Little Japan, same playbook. In the end, it forced all peers to tacitly avoid plasma technology.
So, if choosing not to sell the patent, then how to make concessions is a choice to make.
You know, although for high-voltage wireless charging, Fan Ren knew his technology was the only choice.
Other vendors simply couldn’t go around the patent.
However, don’t underestimate the power of capital. They could even join forces with suppliers in the related downstream industrial chain, disregarding cost, to resist together.
“How are you thinking about it?” Fan Ren asked.
Liu Jun scratched his head helplessly: “Damn, playing so big right after graduation.”
The two closed the door to discuss, and finally decided to authorize the technology to various enterprises at a price of 500 million for five years.
This price was practically negligible compared to the massive future market.
But precisely because the price was set low, other demands could be added to the contract.
For example, all enterprises were not allowed to engage in malicious competition against Xinghai’s listed products.
After that, with the money in hand, expand the company, redesign related products, and sell to the market under their own brand.
This was also why to sell the technology at a low price and make demands.
After all, Xinghai was just starting out. Without strong capital backing, to survive in today’s capital-dominated market, this was the only way.
At this point, Liu Jun’s value was demonstrated.
Although he was somewhat “sent to the cold palace” in the Liu Family right now, over the years following his father in the business world, he still had some of his own connections.
How to negotiate, who to negotiate with? Fan Ren dumped all these matters to Liu Jun.
And after getting Liu Jun’s agreement, Fan Ren directly gave him a not-low salary.
In his words, “Close brothers keep clear accounts, even though there’s no money right now.”
On this point, Liu Jun agreed even more than Fan Ren. He had seen too many enterprises fall apart over money disputes.
With Liu Jun’s joining, he no longer had to blindly pay tuition fees in the unfamiliar domain of business negotiation.
Spending one night, Liu Jun pulled Fan Ren to familiarize him with all the indicators of this 1150V high-voltage wireless charging technology, recording them one by one for use in negotiations later.
Early the next morning, Liu Jun, having slept only two hours, left a sentence, put on his branded suit, and went out.
“Twenty-three years old, with twenty thousand in pocket, stepping out into the world.”
Yes, Fan Ren threw him the company’s exclusive bank card, with the meager funds inside all handed over for him to handle.
Sending off the third brother full of chuunibyou energy, Fan Ren returned to the second floor, his consciousness arriving at the screen in his mind.
Basic Science: Level 1 (178/1000)
Electronics: Level 1 (207/1000)
Mechanics: Level 1 (223/1000)
Materials Science: Level 1 (219/1000)
Space Science: Level 1 (5/1000)
After nearly two weeks of assembly, testing, and hands-on operation, Fan Ren’s cognition of related technology categories had leveled up further.
At the same time, these skill points had also risen quite a bit.
At this moment, in the technology category bar below, a new box lit up.
Solid-state Battery Technology.
Fan Ren suppressed his excitement and slowly focused his mind on the box. Immediately, a massive amount of information appeared in his mind.
A battery technology with energy density reaching 1000wh/kg, using a certain biologically extracted substance as the medium.
And employing a new process to cut and stack sheets, allowing full and perfect contact with electrode materials to provide stable charging and discharging.
This battery could achieve 5% degradation over 30 years, and complete charging and discharging in 10 minutes.
Another technology leading the related industry by a huge margin!
Fan Ren half-leaned on the chair, lit a cigarette, and slightly closed his eyes.
At this time, his brain was like a chip operating at high efficiency, beginning to carefully study the various details of this technology.
Compared to the previously unlocked Graphene Chip Technology, Fan Ren felt that the emergence of battery technology was even more suitable for the company’s future development.
First, chip fabrication requires professional machines; without them, you can’t even start.
This was different from the current high-voltage wireless charging machine. Making chips requires a lot of humanity’s top equipment.
Traditional chips could be said to have maximized material properties, requiring a ton of humanity’s top technology equipment to manufacture.
Switching to Graphene Chip here wasn’t something simple personal DIY could accomplish.
Although Fan Ren had the complete technology, sourcing the related production equipment was enough to give him a headache.
Moreover, this wasn’t something one or two people could achieve; it required an entire team to work together and cooperate fully.
But battery technology was different. Compared to chips, which were products of humanity’s top processes, the equipment needed for battery production and research and development wasn’t as exaggerated as for chips.
He was confident that after the company passed the initial development period, he could fully establish his own laboratory and complete the research and development and production of solid-state battery.
Fan Ren opened his eyes, his brain absorbing massive battery-related technology while his hands quickly searched and checked various extended information on the computer.
At the same time, the experience bar on the light panel in his mind was also slowly changing.
His mouth corners slightly curved up. As long as he kept learning, the experience here would increase.
He just didn’t know what changes level 2 would bring in the near future.
