Chapter 293 Battery Manufacturers Unite to Lower Prices

Beijing, north side of Chang'an Avenue.

On the small island across the Beihai Sea, an old man in a Zhongshan suit carefully read the report in his hand.

He looked up at Wu Weizhao, who was the liaison officer in place of Qin Anguo at the Science and Technology Department, and asked softly, "Does Professor Xu really think so?"

On the other side, Wu Weizhao, who was a little nervous, nodded seriously and replied, "We have communicated with Professor Xu, but he insisted on leaving and had no interest in continuing to serve as the general manager."

The old man nodded and said, "In this case, let him do it."

After a pause, he continued, "But please communicate with Professor Xu again and ask him to stay in office for a while. At least, let us hold the celebration banquet and award ceremony before resigning."

Wu Weizhao nodded, "Okay, I will communicate with Professor Xu."

"Have you asked Professor Xu if he has his own scientific research arrangements in the future?" the old man asked.

Wu Weizhao nodded and said, "I have consulted with him. Professor Xu said that he seems to be ready to return to theoretical research in mathematics and physics in the second half of the year."

"Including the European Atomic Energy Research Center. In the first half of the year, didn't he detect traces of dark matter? The LHC will conduct experiments in this area in the second half of the year. Professor Xu said that he might focus on these aspects."

The old man pondered for a moment and said, "Let's do this for now."

He originally wanted to see if he could ask Professor Xu to continue his research on lithium batteries to see if there would be any breakthroughs, but since he has his own research, let's put it aside for now.

Anyway, with the breakthrough of the lithium dendrite problem, it will take some time for the domestic industry to digest these subsequent changes in technology.

"By the way, how is the patent authorization for the artificial SEI film developed by Professor Xu going?" the old man asked.

Wu Weizhao quickly replied: "It is still under discussion. There are 13 battery industry manufacturers shortlisted, four domestic and nine foreign."

"But I heard from the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute that they are going to authorize three domestic manufacturers and five foreign manufacturers, a total of eight."

The old man nodded and said: "Scientific and technological innovation is a strategic support for improving social productivity and comprehensive national strength, and must be placed at the core of the overall national development."

"You go and communicate with Director Qin to include the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute in the latest tax incentives for state-supported enterprises for technological innovation."

"For high-tech enterprises like the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute, the state must vigorously help and support them."

Hearing this, Wu Weizhao's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.

The latest tax incentives for state-supported enterprises for technological innovation are only for enterprises or institutions such as national and provincial science and technology enterprise incubators and university science and technology parks.

This support policy is not only a great degree of tax reduction or even exemption, but also special scientific research funds allocated every year.

In addition, scientific research institutions can receive support from the state for research and development housing, land use, equipment purchase, etc.

It is really unexpected that a small private enterprise like the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute can make an exception and enter the policy.

After all, the only non-state-owned enterprises that are eligible for this policy are Huawei, DJI and other large companies that are strategically important to the country.

Of course, relying on the patent of artificial SEI film, the strategic significance of the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute to the country is also not low.

Breakthroughs in the field of lithium batteries can greatly drive the rapid growth of the global new energy vehicle market, and the growth rate of the power battery market will also increase significantly.

According to the plan of the "White Paper on the Development of Lithium-ion Battery Industry" previously formulated by China, it was originally expected to reach the goal of 300Wh/kg in the field of lithium batteries in 2020, 400Wh/kg in 2025, and 500Wh/kg in 2030.

But now, because of the breakthrough of the lithium dendrite problem, let alone 500Wh/kg, in the second half of this year, the capacity of lithium-ion batteries can even directly exceed 1000Wh/kg.

From this, we can fully see the importance of that small artificial SEI film.

It is reasonable to include enterprises with such patents in the latest tax incentives for supporting enterprise technological innovation, even if their registered capital is less than three million.

On the other hand.

After successfully completing the project "Nuclear Energy β Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion of Electric Energy Mechanism", Xu Chuan stayed for two days to deal with the subsequent work arrangements and then returned to Jinling.

The successful incubation of a large-scale project is undoubtedly satisfying.

Especially for him, this technology was what he wanted to bring back in his previous life.

So much so that after the project was completed, he was rarely idle for a few days. Except for a few classes at Nanjing University according to the schedule, he had forgotten all scientific research and learning.

After a few days of comfort, the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute finally started the final patent licensing quotation.

More than half a month is enough for these battery industry manufacturers to do a complete test of the artificial SEI film.

Using the "complete version" artificial SEI film and related electrolyte and other accessories provided by Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, these manufacturers were surprised to find that the film made by Professor Xu was amazingly effective.

The products they copied from the information in the papers and patent documents are simply garbage in front of the genuine products.

Although those imitations can also solve the problem of lithium dendrite formation, they cannot solve the problem of lithium precipitation.

Severe lithium precipitation will quickly consume lithium ions in the electrolyte, thereby rapidly reducing the battery capacity.

However, using the genuine artificial SEI film provided by the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute, there is almost no such problem.

The battery capacity can be maintained at more than 90% after more than 500 cycles, and can be maintained at about 80% after 1,000 charge and discharge cycles.

The effect is amazing, so good that they don't even want it.

After all, the controlled planned scrapping of batteries is also one of the ways for the battery industry to make money, especially in the mobile phone industry. The service life of most brands of mobile phone batteries is generally only about one to two years.

If you don't want to change your mobile phone, then changing the battery is also necessary, otherwise the severely declining mobile phone power will make people want to carry a power bank and data cable with them.

A thousand charge and discharge cycles, coupled with the increased battery capacity, are enough for users to use it for three or four years without changing the battery.

But in this way, how can they make money from batteries?

Of course, raising the price of batteries is also a good method, but the benefits of raising prices are less than half of the benefits brought by capacity renewal and planned scrapping.

In the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, Xu Chuan ignored these broken questions.

This was his second time to attend such a commercial meeting in the institute, but he didn't say much. He sat in silence almost all the time and watched the professionals he hired communicate with the battery manufacturers.

Watching this group of people arguing, Xu Chuan felt a little bored and waved to a hired professional beside him.

"Do you have the latest quotation statistics of these manufacturers? Give me a copy."

Soon, the staff member handed him a report, and Xu Chuan took it and flipped through it. These things would be counted and sent to him by Fan Pengyue every week, but he didn't pay much attention to them before, after all, the Nuclear Energy Research Institute was the real business.

He was not very interested in business and the patent authorization of artificial SEI film, as long as it could meet his psychological expectations.

If it couldn't be achieved, he didn't mind leaving it in his hands.

Anyway, there is only one store, no other branches.

As for other countries or laboratories and research institutes coming up with substitutes in a short period of time, the probability is basically so small that it can be ignored.

After all, if this thing is so easy to make, it would have been made long ago.

The industry and laboratories and research institutes have spent tens of billions of dollars on the lithium dendrite problem in recent years.

So much money has been thrown into this problem for decades, but it has not been solved. It is almost impossible to find a substitute in a short period of time, even with his sample here.

After flipping through the quotations in his hand, Xu Chuan found that the quotations of these manufacturers were almost exactly the same, and the values ​​were very close.

BYD in China quoted 530 million for three years of patent authorization, and CATL quoted 550 million for three years of patent authorization.

Whether it is Panasonic in the small island country or LG Chem and other battery manufacturers abroad, the quotations are about 70 million yuan, which is converted into RMB, according to the current exchange rate, just about 500 million.

Obviously, these manufacturers are privately connected in every round of negotiations and quotations.

Faced with the three domestic quotas and five international quotas he released, these battery manufacturers intend to unite and get the patent authorization together with the least effort.

After all, if they are not unified, no one knows how much each person will bid, and the price will be driven up to the sky by everyone. Instead of doing this, it is better to sit down together in advance and hold a meeting to discuss.

Of course, even after the discussion, each battery manufacturer will definitely raise the price secretly.

The quota is limited, and there are many manufacturers participating in the competition. If you honestly follow the unified quotation, others may raise the quota and you may not belong to it.

As for how much to raise secretly, it depends on your own tolerance and bottom line.

Although Xu Chuan does not understand business behavior very well, he can still see this kind of obvious things.

After thinking for a while, he knocked on the table and drew the attention of the representatives who were arguing and discussing in the conference room.

Hearing the movement, everyone looked over curiously, and some of them were confused about what this ultimate scholar wanted to do.

In fact, it was not that no manufacturer directly contacted Xu Chuan himself at the beginning, wanting to get the patent authorization directly from him.

After all, he has the final say.

But at first, this guy told them to go to the research institute to handle it, and he didn't care about it. And later, he couldn't find anyone.

There was no way, so the representatives of these manufacturers put their attention and breakthroughs here.

So even if this guy came to attend the meeting today, he didn't say much during the whole process, and the representatives of the manufacturers just thought he was curious and came to listen.

After attracting the attention of these people, Xu Chuan said: "I have seen your latest quotation, but to be honest, I am not very satisfied."

"I am too lazy to talk about how broad the market for lithium-ion batteries is, and how much the global annual output value of negative electrode materials for lithium batteries is. I believe that everyone here knows these things better than me."

"And, to be honest, I don't really like monopoly-related behaviors, including your joining forces to lower prices. Although this may be a normal business behavior in your eyes, I don't like it. I prefer sincerity."

"It has been almost 20 days since the original press conference. I believe you have also tested the artificial SEI film and electrolyte provided to you by the Sichuan Hai Materials Research Institute."

"These two are common parts made based on existing lithium batteries, and you don't need to independently manufacture a separate lithium battery production line or something."

"So now here, I give you two choices."

"The first one is patent fee + profit sharing , that is, after you pay a relatively low patent fee, you will give me a certain amount of money for each artificial SEI film used in the production of a lithium battery. This is a very common patent authorization in the current market. "

"The second one is to buy it out directly. Artificial SEI film + matching electrolyte, three-year patent authorization is at least 120 million yuan. The quotation is based on this, and the price is high. "

"That's it. I will give you three days to go back and discuss. I will wait for you here after three days, and decide the final authorization directly in one round. "

Although he put forward two conditions, for these manufacturers, there is actually only one condition, that is, buyout, share or something. If they can buy out, these manufacturers will definitely buy out.

After all, buyout can make more money, and I believe that these manufacturers will choose to buy out at the same time.

As soon as Xu Chuan finished speaking, there was a commotion in the conference room, and there was an uproar.

"Professor Xu, your price is too high. Lithium batteries are not only artificial SEI films. We also need to consider other costs."

"Impossible, 120 million yuan is far beyond our achievement plan. This price is too exaggerated."

"If it is an exclusive international license, we can accept a quotation of 200 million or even 300 million, but there are five international patent licenses."

"."

Obviously, Xu Chuan's sudden intervention was unexpected by these people.

But Xu Chuan didn't want to pay attention to these people.

Indeed, producing a lithium battery is not just about artificial SEI film; indeed, the patent license he gave is not exclusive.

But the technology is exclusive, you can take it or not.

The bottom line he gave to the professional negotiators he hired before was 100 million yuan per copy. These manufacturers obviously knew it, but they still united to lower the price by nearly 30%, hoping to get the patent license at a lower price.

Perhaps they think he is just a scientific researcher or scholar who is easier to bully?

In this case, just increase it from 100 million to 120 million.

Xu Chuan was not worried that these manufacturers would choose to give up. Even if the offer was 120 million yuan, these manufacturers would definitely make some money, and they would make the most money.

If all these manufacturers gave up, he would not mind selling the artificial SEI film technology directly to them.

It was not that no one from Energy Treasure had approached him, hoping to get a patent license, but he also refused.

Standing up, Xu Chuan walked out.

But at the door, he stopped and turned his head and said, "By the way, there is one more thing."

"I can tell you clearly here that the bottom line I gave to the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute before was 100 million yuan. The reason why it has been increased to 120 million now is because you made me unhappy."

"My attitude towards partners has always been very sincere. For this cooperation, if the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute has new products developed in the future, I will give priority to partners with whom I have had a pleasant cooperation before."

"In addition, I am just a scientific researcher and a scholar. Don't treat me as a businessman and use those commercial means. It will be better if everyone is sincere."

After speaking, Xu Chuan left the meeting room directly, leaving everyone in the meeting room.

Although he doesn't know much about the strategy of using both hard and soft tactics, it can be used temporarily.

If these manufacturers really want to unite and not purchase the patent license of artificial SEI film, he doesn't care. There are more battery manufacturers than just them, there are others.