236: Chapter 236 Battery Heating System

"Boss, you've been scammed, right?"

Chen Jianping looked at Shen Fei with a shocked expression, and the others beside him also looked over in disbelief.

"The laws of physics don't allow it. To stop from 200 km/h, it takes at least 35 meters."

To avoid compromising his professional expertise, he glanced at Zhang Bin, who nodded in agreement.

"That guy is definitely bragging, Boss. Don't listen to their nonsense. Anyone who claims they can stop instantly is either bragging or challenging Newton."

"Then we won't brag about that." Shen Fei turned the steering wheel, and the car smoothly navigated the curve. "We'll honestly say 36 meters. Integrity is the best marketing."

Shen Fei also nodded silently; after all, that friend of his often claimed to be very honest himself.

After the test drive ended, Shen Fei parked the car in the parking lot. He got out, walked around the car, and crouched down to check the chassis.

"The workmanship is good." He stood up and patted Zhang Bin on the shoulder. "You guys did a good job."

A faint smile appeared on the corner of Zhang Bin's mouth; he had finally lived up to the boss's expectations.

"Boss, there is one more test we haven't reported yet." An engineer from the testing department ran over, holding a report with a hesitant expression.

"Go ahead, the boss understands technology, no need to worry." Chen Jianping reminded him.

"It's about the extreme cold test we did in the Northeast during winter. Although the results were good, the effect..."

Shen Fei took the report. He had originally thought it was something major, but after one glance, he immediately felt at ease. Wang Mengyang's High-density battery was still fine.

In a minus 40-degree environment, the range decreased by 25%, with the actual range being 75% of the nominal range.

In a minus 30-degree environment, the range decreased by 20%, with the actual range being 80% of the nominal range.

In a minus 20-degree environment, the range decreased by 15%, with the actual range being 85% of the nominal range.

"75% capacity." Shen Fei looked at Wang Mengyang. "This result is quite good."

Wang Mengyang's expression was a bit complex.

He was the head of the electric vehicle department. This car battery had been developed by him over the past six months, and the energy density had gone through two iterations from the initial 170Wh/kg.

The energy density had reached 210Wh/kg, 30% higher than the batteries on the market at the time, with a cycle life of 1500 times. It could charge to 80% in half an hour via 400-volt fast charging.

Every indicator was far ahead, meeting his expectations, except for the cold weather degradation.

"Professor Wang, it's the laws of physics." Shen Fei patted his shoulder. "Lithium batteries experience decreased ion activity and increased internal resistance at low temperatures; no battery can escape that."

"I saw that when Tesla was in Norway, they were at 75% to 80% capacity at minus 20 degrees. Our results are already quite good."

"I know it's the laws of physics." Wang Mengyang shook his head slightly. "Boss, users don't care about the laws of physics."

"If users in the Northeast see their range drop to 75% in the winter, they will curse us."

Shen Fei thought about it. In other places, minus 40 degrees might be rare, and minus 20 degrees is about the limit. But in the Northeast, minus 40 degrees is very common, and when combined with air conditioning, 50% capacity in winter is seen everywhere.

"However, don't worry, Boss. We will definitely find a solution before the launch." Wang Mengyang promised.

"I know where the problem lies." Shen Fei said casually.

This surprised both of them, and they both looked towards Shen Fei in unison.

"It's easy once the problem is identified. If there's a plan, we can come up with a solution in three days."

"Is three days enough?" Shen Fei said with a smile.

Wang Mengyang hesitated a bit but still said with a smile: "Boss, that depends on the scale of the problem."

"Three days is definitely enough." Shen Fei looked at him and provided the most mature solution from the future. "You don't need to change the laws of physics, you just need to find a way to make it less uncomfortable for the users."

"Battery heating, insulation materials, and charging strategy optimization."

"You know more than I do, you go figure out the plan."

Wang Mengyang nodded; it turned out to be so easy.

"Understood, we will definitely come up with a plan within three days."

...

Three days later, Wang Mengyang and Chen Jianping appeared in Shen Fei's office on time.

Both of them had rather dark circles under their eyes; it seemed they had been working a lot of overtime these past three days.

"We have come up with three plans in total."

He handed over the report.

Shen Fei nodded with satisfaction after reading it; all his suggestions had been implemented.

"Increase the battery heating system by adding a heating film to the bottom of the battery pack. It will automatically start in sub-zero temperatures to keep the battery temperature above 5 degrees, increasing the cost by 2,000 yuan."

"The range can be improved to about 90%."

"At the same time, wrap the battery in an aerogel insulation layer to slow down the cooling rate when parked. The cost only needs to increase by about 500 yuan, and the range can also be significantly improved."

"Add a reservation function to the charging pile so that when the user plugs in the gun, it heats the battery before charging to ensure charging speed."

"The cost only needs to increase by about 100 yuan, mainly through software optimization."

Seeing Shen Fei put down the report, Wang Mengyang put down his pen and turned around.

"Boss, the three plans can be used in combination. If all three are adopted, the range can reach over 90%, and the comprehensive cost will increase by about 2,500 yuan."

Shen Fei looked at the confident Wang Mengyang and nodded with satisfaction.

He remembered those early new energy vehicle owners from his previous life. Most of the first batch of people who bought electric cars with subsidies had suffered losses.

Exaggerated range, breaking down in winter, slow charging—these problems caused many people to lose confidence in electric vehicles.

Later, Tesla introduced battery heating, Nio did battery swapping, and BYD made the Blade Battery. Step by step, they brought back user confidence.

What Transsion needs to do is not compete with competitors to see who is cooler, but to set a standard for all electric vehicles.

In the future, testing must follow Transsion's standards. Whoever dares to exaggerate their figures will be smashing their own rice bowl.

"Implement all three." Shen Fei stood up. "The first generation of cars must build a good reputation. I'd rather have higher costs and lower profits than let users think Transsion's cars are not good."

Chen Jianping calculated it slightly, then said with some hesitation.

"Boss, the 2,500 yuan cost plus the previous BOM, our cost per vehicle has already exceeded 180,000."

"If we price it below 300,000, we'll be selling at a loss."

"Who said the price will be below 300,000?" Shen Fei smiled. "Our cars are worth that price."

He stared at the two for a while.

"The first batch of cars, although not intended for making money but for building a reputation, we still need to earn the money saved from our supply chain."

Wang Mengyang and Chen Jianping nodded.

Currently, an 80kWh battery pack is indeed very expensive, which causes most car companies' pure electric models to have a range not exceeding 400km, which completely cannot compare with fuel vehicles.

But Transsion has its own factory and is aiming to change the industry, so just go with large batteries and long range to build a reputation.

Of course, we still need to make money on the battery pack, but just a little less than other competitors. After all, we need to leave some room for other competitors to survive, so they don't all start cursing us later.