Chapter 814 Electric Vehicle Prototype
Zhao Ling was also a little helpless about Qin Tao's method of nurturing children. However, since her son was smart and couldn't play all day long, it was always good to learn more knowledge.
After spending two or three days with their parents in the capital, Zhao Ling and Qin Tao took their son south with them and came to Huating.
Golden Sun Motor Company is abuzz with excitement, and many people are gathered around a car with a modern look and even a sense of science fiction. This is their newly built Golden Sun Electric Car!
"Compared with ordinary fuel vehicles, our electric vehicles require a battery pack and are very heavy. Therefore, we pay special attention to the effects of weight reduction and drag reduction." Ma Gong introduced to Qin Tao with great interest: "Mr. Qin , our car is the first ordinary family car in China or even the world to have been blown through a wind tunnel. Through the wind tunnel, we have determined its current shape and has the best wind resistance coefficient. Since there is no need for engine cooling vents , so there is no air intake grille on the front, which can also reduce wind resistance, and we also used folding door handles for the first time.”
Different paths lead to the same destination. The appearance of the car in front of us is really similar to that of Maodou 3.
Just entering the 21st century, this appearance looks sci-fi. Not only does its overall shape blow through the wind tunnel, but it is also more streamlined. Although the overall shape is a family car, it is very different from the boxy Santana. No, it looks very modern, but the sci-fi comes from certain details: a small door handle can also reflect it.
In order to reduce wind resistance, the door handle simply adopts a telescopic method. It stretches out when in use and retracts when not in use. It is integrated with the door, which can continue to reduce air resistance.
“The door handle has been removed, but why haven’t the rearview mirror been removed?” Qin Tao said with a smile.
Except for some novice drivers who do not use reflectors, other normal drivers will look at reflectors. However, reflectors are also an important source of air resistance. If removed, air resistance can be further reduced and the endurance of electric vehicles can be improved.
"We have tested it, using a camera outside and an LCD screen inside. However, the screen will be blurry at certain times and there may be delays, so for the sake of safety, we still installed a reflector and wait until later technology It has matured again and will be improved to electronic rearview mirrors," Ma Gong said.
The electronic technology of this era is definitely not that mature. Golden Sun Electric Vehicles pursues technological advancement, but it does not ignore safety. After all, safety is the first priority for cars.
“Speaking of high technology, how is the autonomous driving research I proposed going?” Qin Tao asked.
"Autonomous driving is the responsibility of Goose Factory. It is not yet practical for installation on cars. We do not have it on this car now." Ma Gong said: "Goose Factory said that the use environment of cars is much more complicated than that of aircraft. Yes, they must be cautious."
There is already a mature autopilot system on UAVs, which can automatically control even takeoff and landing. However, when taking off and landing, the runway is clear. After flying into the sky, the airspace is even clearer. However, roads are different. There are various There are many kinds of vehicles, a large number of pedestrians, and various traffic lights. Autonomous driving is not that easy.
You know, even in the 20s of the 21st century, autonomous driving was not very mature. Some recognized signboards as pedestrians, and some showed that there were people around in an empty cemetery. This shows that these technologies still need to be developed. Just keep developing.
As long as we do preliminary research and be ahead of our peers, we don’t need to be too aggressive. Once we promote autonomous driving and an accident occurs, the impact will be too bad.
"The vehicle uses a large amount of high-strength steel and aluminum alloy materials. In some places, we also used 3D printed titanium alloy to reduce the weight. The overall weight of the vehicle is now 1.6 tons, which is still somewhat behind the fuel vehicle. .”
In this era, the old Santana is still popular. Many people will brag about the two-ton Poussin. In fact, the curb weight is only about 1 ton. Even if it is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class on the W126 platform, such as the article on the 1990 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL, the curb weight The mass is only 1590 kilograms.
Electric cars carry batteries, which does increase their weight. Therefore, for electric vehicles, weight reduction is always pursued and there is no end.
“How is the power system? How is the endurance?” Qin Tao asked.
“In terms of power, we use a 50-kilowatt-hour battery pack to drive a 192-kilowatt permanent magnet motor. It can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers in less than five seconds. The speed-up performance is unmatched. As for the cruising range, it has reached 300 kilometers. , GM’s impact simply cannot compare with ours.”
To say that the first person to research electric vehicles must be General Motors. Under the severe air pollution in California, they began to take the road of electrification. The impact was made into a big toy. This car is a two-door and two-seater sports car. , at first glance, it is not for ordinary people. It is equipped with an 18.7 kWh lead-acid battery and drives a 102 kW electric motor, with a cruising range of only 200 kilometers.
When it comes to battery packs, the capacity of lithium batteries is much higher than that of lead-acid batteries. However, because the Golden Sun electric car is larger, the cruising range is not much higher. However, this 300 kilometers is not the same as some electric car companies in later generations. The gimmick is real battery life under actual road conditions, not something that can be achieved at a constant speed in a test track. If the reduced publicity is followed, the battery life may be advertised as 500 kilometers.
In terms of power, the electric motor far exceeds the ordinary fuel vehicles of this era. The common Santana models only have a few dozen horsepower, and even the big ones with V6 and V8 only have about two hundred horsepower.
With ample power and greater torque, the acceleration capabilities of electric vehicles are terrifying.
Qin Tao nodded: "Yes, three hundred kilometers will be of practical significance. Charging is a big problem. The higher the cruising range, the better. This car looks pretty good."
Speaking, Qin Tao opened the car door and looked at the interior. Well, even the interior is bold enough!
Although the rearview mirror has not been turned into a camera and an LCD screen, there are no conventional instruments visible on the instrument panel inside the car. There is only a large screen on the right side of the center console. At first glance, it should be touchscreen.
“This design is full of high-tech feeling.” Qin Tao pointed at the central control screen and said: “Who came up with the idea?”
“Carroll Shelby,” the horseman said.
He is only responsible for the technology. If he is asked to do the appearance and interior, it will stump him. Therefore, Qin Tao suggested at the beginning that if he could not handle it, he should hire others.
However, Qin Tao did not expect that Ma Gong would actually invite a world-class car design master! No wonder the appearance of the car is so beautiful, and the interior of the car is so high-tech, it looks like science fiction at first glance.
There has been a lack of top car designers in China for a long time. All kinds of cars have been designed and are extremely ugly. This thing really requires talent. (At the time of East China Heroes, I thought the ugliest one was the QQ6. The imitations back then were just okay, but once I designed them myself, they were weak.)
Carroll Shelby was born in 1923. He liked to go to racing races as a child. After the outbreak of World War II, he did not go to college and became a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. After retiring, he continued to return to his beloved racing industry and became the best racing driver. , was also named the best racing driver of the year. Unfortunately, he was in poor health. In 1959, he gave up his career as a racing driver and started to work as a designer. Moreover, as soon as he debuted, he caused great things.
In 1961, Shelby wrote to the British AC Company, promising that as long as it gave him a body, he could install a Ford engine on the body. Then, he wrote to Ford, saying that if he was given an engine, he could install it on the AC body. So, without spending any money, he defrauded the body and engine, and the world's first Cobra was born out of nothing.
In the 1970s, Shelby's automobile company went bankrupt. Two years after his collapse, he started new development. He cooperated with Chrysler and Dodge, wandering around and constantly creating a new life. In 2002, Shelby became the chief consultant of Ford GT again. At that time, he was already 80 years old, and he also launched the Shelby GT500, showing that his level was as good as ever.
Now, although Shelby is old, he is still in the automobile industry that he loves. Moreover, Shelby has also joined Golden Sun Electric Vehicle Company, which makes Qin Tao very curious.
“Who invited him here?”
"Max, we are having a headache about the designer. Just when Max heard about it, he went to the United States to hire one." When the horse worker talked about this, he was very excited: "We saw that the person we hired was an old man, and he was very excited. I felt dissatisfied, but later I heard that he was a world-famous car guru, and I almost passed by such a heavyweight."
Most of them are engaged in the military industry, and they have built electric cars. As for car masters, they are really unfamiliar with them.
“Did Max invite us? Did he get to our core?”
"No, the three-electric system has always been the top secret of our company." Ma Gong said: "Moreover, Shelby has his pursuit. He came to our company to design a brand new electric racing car. We agreed to him .”
Shelby is very famous, but he was not present at the scene. He helped design this Golden Sun car. At the same time, Golden Sun Company had to agree with him to mass-produce a super electric racing car.
Qin Tao nodded: "Yes, one for civilians and one for high-end will allow our Golden Sun electric car to develop faster and better. Is there any hard target for this racing car?"
“Yes, Shelby is looking forward to sprinting from 0 to 100 mph in under two seconds.”
It takes 2.5 seconds for an F1 car to accelerate from 0 to 100 mph. This is already very advanced. Various engineers have racked their brains but cannot go any further. The few fuel racing cars that can run within two seconds will not appear until more than ten years later.
The reason is very simple. Fuel vehicles require gearboxes and shifting operations, which will waste valuable time. The electric motor does not have a gearbox and can reach tens of thousands of revolutions when started from scratch. It is simply born to increase speed. The speed of an ordinary electric vehicle in future generations will be beyond the reach of many high-performance fuel vehicles.
“Do we need to research a new power system specifically for him?” Qin Tao asked. In fact, as long as this technology is available, it will be easy to expand it.
The horseman shook his head: "It shouldn't be necessary. Our current slow speed is entirely due to the large size of the power battery. Shelby wants to build a two-door, two-seater sports car. It only uses a 20-kilowatt-hour battery. Using Our existing electric motors can enable this speed-increasing capability for a supercar that weighs less than a ton."
If an electric vehicle wants to improve its endurance, it must install more batteries. After installation, the weight will increase and the endurance will be reduced. Therefore, add more water and noodles, and add more water to the noodles. When it reaches a certain level, it will become a limit. If it is further improved, it will become a limit. We can only look forward to the battery performance.
Now it’s easier to do subtraction.
GM's impact sports car uses an 18.7 kilowatt-hour lead-acid battery. This battery is very heavy. We use a 20-kilowatt-hour lithium battery, which is only half the weight. Coupled with the advanced car body design, it can completely achieve this goal. need.
It is very simple to increase the speed of an electric car. As long as the switch is pressed to the end, the rest will be left to the electric motor. You don’t need to worry about anything else!
Qin Tao nodded. Suddenly, he was looking forward to it. When this electric sports car comes out, it will definitely usher in a new era! This is definitely a revolution in the automotive industry!
"Now, if our automobile industry wants to develop, it must change its route." Qin Tao said: "Western developed countries have been manufacturing automobiles for hundreds of years, have accumulated rich experience, and also have a large number of patent rights. We have been behind If we chase, we will never catch up with them. Only by changing the track can we beat them! The future of our motherland's automobile industry depends on you!"
These words of encouragement made everyone’s hearts surge.
"Next, the group will also vigorously support the development of Golden Sun electric vehicles. If we want mass production, we need a production factory. We will build the world's largest electric vehicle factory in Huating and sell our Golden Sun vehicles all over the world. !”
Once the prototype car is ready, the next step is mass production. Mingzhou Group has plenty of money, so it can just build a factory and build a brand new production line!
"Mr. Qin, can our route be successful?" Ma Gong asked cautiously: "Many people are saying that our electric cars are not environmentally friendly because there is a lot of pollution in manufacturing batteries and the source of electricity is also polluted. If we Wrong direction..."
"Who said that? Island people, right? Of course they have to criticize us because they are taking the hydrogen energy route." Qin Tao said: "They say what they say, and we do what we do. We have vast land and a huge population. , we can completely rely on our market to decide the technical route. In short, we will never continue to follow their path, because the relevant patents are in their hands. They want to continue to sleep on these patents, Make money from us? Haha."
Technology is determined by the market. Which technical route is correct depends on whose market is bigger. On fuel vehicles, China has always been subject to various restrictions. Take the key automatic transmission as an example. In fact, it is not about processing capabilities. It cannot be achieved, but it is impossible to avoid those complicated patents. People have found the optimal solution and registered the patent. We must either spend huge sums of money to purchase the patent, or avoid the patent and find other routes. Other routes will definitely not work. Very useful.
The same is true for hydrogen fuel vehicles. Islanders have registered a large number of technology patents. What should others do? Of course no one else will play with them. Let's change the track.
What about Americans? What technical route should they choose?
General Motors has already launched Impact, its flagship product, and of course it is on the electric vehicle route. In Qin Tao's time and space, the new president came to power in 2001, representing the interests of the oil groups. Under their pressure, California canceled the original Regulations no longer require absolute zero emissions, so General Motors got rid of the big hole of Impact cars: all 1,171 Impact cars they produced were rented out, and they only made more than 5 million yuan in revenue every year, but they had already sunk in Hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development costs!
So Max took over the technology and personnel of Impact Auto, and finally came up with edamame. Looking at Edamame becoming the benchmark for electric vehicles in later generations, and seeing General Motors shrinking more and more, I wonder what those executives who gave up their impact have in mind.
Qin Tao sat on the seat of the electric car, looking at the advanced interior and excellent workmanship, feeling a little proud. He was at the forefront of this technology and would lead the global electric car revolution! The motherland in the 21st century will have more and more high technologies! The motherland will become a real manufacturing power!
"Mr. Qin, our electric car will be sold to the public soon, and we have to officially announce the price." Ma Gong said to Qin Tao: "But the price has not been determined yet. Can you give it to us?" An idea?"
Qin Tao nodded: "Okay, tell me what you think?"
"The current cost of this electric car is about 200,000 yuan." Ma Gong said: "We spent about 50 million yuan on research and development. Next, if we build a factory, introduce equipment, etc., we will have to spend a lot of money. Therefore, if the price of our cars is too low, we may not be able to make a profit, and if the price of our cars is too high, it will not be popular.”
Over the years, Qin Tao has made a lot of preparations for electric vehicles and visited many automobile factories. However, in the end, he decided to build his own factory. Electric vehicles are high-end and must use the most advanced production lines.
This difficult decision also appeared in front of General Motors executives. Their electric cars were expensive, so they could only rent them, not sell them, exclusively to the wealthy. However, the main factor that led to the inability to make profits was the electric cars. The production capacity of cars cannot be increased, and many rich people and celebrities have to wait a long time before they can buy one.
“An ordinary Santana can be sold for more than 200,000 yuan, and advanced electric vehicles like ours cannot be too cheap.” Qin Tao began to analyze. To say that electric cars will be introduced into thousands of households is sheer bragging. In this era, cars are not accessible to ordinary people. A Santana is equivalent to an apartment in a first-tier city. It is quite dignified to drive out. Of course I wonder if those who spent their only money on buying a car instead of buying a house have any regrets.
“Toyota Crown still costs 500,000 yuan. Our electric car is a brand new high-tech, so I think it will be 600,000 yuan.” Qin Tao said.
If it’s more than one million, it’s a bit outrageous. After all, there aren’t many people in the country who can spend more than one million to buy a car. Nowadays, the common official car Audi costs 100, which is more than 300,000 yuan. Double the price of the official car is enough.
“Mr. Qin, what if we can’t sell it?” Ma Gong was still a little worried. He spent a huge amount of money on research and development and building a factory. What if it doesn’t sell well?
Qin Tao smiled and said: "How can it not be sold? What we produce is a high-tech car! It is not only sold nationwide, but also sold around the world! If it is not accepted by others, the worst we can do is open a few taxi companies of our own."
In order to defraud subsidies, those unenterprising car companies used to do the same thing. As long as the car price was set higher and the subsidy amount in proportion to the car price far exceeded the cost, the car companies could make money. As for selling the cars, Without going out, you just need to register a company, buy these cars, and find an open space to park them. It's that simple.
Now Qin Tao has no subsidies to defraud. If no one buys them, he will buy his own and run a taxi company. Electric cars are everywhere on the street, becoming a beautiful scenery in the city and doing publicity work in disguise.
After watching the Golden Sun Electric Car, Qin Tao came to the R&D Department again. It was already dark, but people here were still working diligently. In one of the special designer rooms, an old man with gray hair, his hands and body Even though it’s covered in mud, I still enjoy it.
In front of him, a one-to-one full-scale clay model of a car has appeared. With its low body and smooth lines, it looks like a beautiful two-seater luxury sports car.
“This car looks good.” Qin Tao looked at the model of the car and said.
"Yes, the appearance of this car should be the most beautiful among all sports cars!" Carroll Shelby said proudly, while turning his head to look at the person, when he saw Qin Tao, there was a smile on his face Smile: "Are you Mr. Qin?"
"I heard that you were introduced by Max. You must be his friend. You are his friend, and you are my friend. How are you doing here?" Qin Tao started to build relationships.
"Well, I'm living a good life here." Shelby said: "There is nothing more proud than doing a job that I love. When I used to do design, I had to take into account the size and size of the engine. As for the layout, now I only design the appearance, and the power system will be matched according to the body, which is much more convenient! With this appearance design of mine, it was difficult to put down a high-horsepower engine before, but now it’s no problem!”
“This car will definitely become the most popular super luxury sports car in the world!” Qin Tao echoed: “Even if it sells for two million, people who buy it will flock to it.”
Two million? Isn't it just a matter of changing the shell? The horseman was a little shocked.
“That’s right, it’s worth two million dollars!” Shelby doubled the price seven or eight times in dollars!
(End of this chapter)