Chapter 71: The Tremor of the Hengde Era

As the world's largest power battery industry leader with the highest market share, Hengde Era invests massive amounts of capital into power battery research and development every year and pays close attention to the dynamics of the battery industry.

When Tianqi Technology's press conference had just begun and Su Xin announced the development of the Solid-state Battery, someone reported this news to their superiors, and it quickly drew the attention of top management.

In just five minutes, this news shocked all the top executives at Hengde Era.

All senior executives, including Chairman Ceng Daqun, immediately held a video conference, continuing to watch the Tianqi Technology press conference while discussing the authenticity of the Solid-state Battery Technology and simultaneously deliberating on response strategies.

After they finished watching the test video Su Xin displayed, the several top executives all fell silent.

The various data points of the Thor Battery did not differ much from the Solid-state Battery data calculated experimentally by several top car companies, so there was no surprise there.

The most critical point was that in the test video Su Xin played afterward, the Thor Battery's capacity, volume, weight, safety, and high-low temperature tolerance indeed perfectly realized those figures.

This proved that the Solid-state Battery Technology Su Xin spoke of was indeed real!

This also meant that as the world's first Solid-state Battery, the sudden emergence of the Thor Battery would crush all other power batteries, and it also rendered the Semi-solid-state Battery they had spent huge costs researching over the past few years completely wasted.

This kind of loss was a nearly devastating blow to Hengde Era.

Most importantly, despite the market hype about how soon Solid-state Batteries would be mass-produced, and ordinary people thinking Solid-state Batteries were not far off, in reality, only they, the seasoned industry insiders, knew that the current research goal of major top car companies was still only the Semi-solid-state Battery.

This was a transitional stage between liquid and solid, and there was still a gap of one grade from a true Solid-state Battery.

They hadn't even finished researching the Semi-solid-state to maturity, yet Tianqi Technology had directly brought out an all-solid-state battery; this simply made them feel desperate.

Even if Tianqi Technology's technology stood still forever, they would still have to spend three to five years and invest huge sums in continuous research to have any chance of catching up.

And that was just catching up.

One also had to consider that during those three to five years, Tianqi Technology's market share, cost control, supplier management, sales channels, and scale of volume would likely have already developed to the global top; with all these advantages combined, even if they developed a new product years later, it would have no competitiveness.

Furthermore, this was under the premise that Tianqi Technology's technology remained stagnant.

But would Tianqi stand still?

Impossible!

With Su Xin's existence, not only would Tianqi Technology not stop moving forward, but it would also maintain an incredibly terrifying research speed, with technology constantly improving, leaving everyone with no hope of competition.

This was the point that truly made the various top executives at Hengde Era feel desperate.

Ceng Daqun said with a hoarse voice:

"Everyone, Tianqi Technology's Solid-state Battery Technology can basically be confirmed as real. Since we cannot avoid it, we must find a way to respond."

"Everyone, share your opinions; what should we do next?"

On the video screen, the other several top executives all had grave expressions, thinking in silence.

At this moment, one of them said:

"I don't think everyone needs to be too pessimistic. After all, even if Su Xin's Solid-state Battery can really be mass-produced, the output will inevitably not be high. Plus, with the initial cost gap, it can at most only seize a small portion of the mid-to-high-end market; it is impossible to squeeze out all our living space in a short time."

"Therefore, we can compete through differentiation, lower prices first, strive to survive in the low-end market, and at the same time, cut all current R&D projects, concentrate all R&D power, find a suitable new track, and look for opportunities to overtake on a bend."

"This is our only chance."

Another executive's eyes lit up, and he nodded: "That's right, I almost forgot. Su Xin is, after all, just entering the new energy battery industry. Although he likely already has a factory now, the output definitely won't be that high."

"As long as its output isn't high, it won't pose a major threat to us in the short term."

"Even if his output increases rapidly later and he keeps grabbing market share, he will first strike down other manufacturers; it won't be our turn so quickly."

"Or rather, as long as Su Xin cannot occupy the entire market, there will always be living space for us in this vast automotive market."

"If we can survive, there will be a chance to fight back."

"Although this is a bit of a blow to morale, we have to admit that we are indeed lagging behind now; we can only seek survival first, then seek development."

These words made the other several top executives feel much calmer inside.

At first, they were all so shocked by the suddenly appearing Solid-state Battery Technology that their brains couldn't quite process it, but now, thinking about it carefully, the situation was indeed not as critical as imagined.

After all, no matter how advanced Su Xin's technology is, if the output is insufficient, it can at most only seize a very small portion of the market.

And the remaining 99 percent of the market is still occupied by other manufacturers.

Furthermore.

For any product, the most important thing is price.

As a new technology product, the price of a Solid-state Battery will inevitably be far higher than their products, which gives them an opportunity for differentiated competition.

As the power battery manufacturer with the highest current market share, Hengde Era will not have a major survival crisis in the short term.

As long as they adjust their R&D direction and operational strategy in time, it is still very possible to retain a considerable portion of the market.

While the several top executives were discussing response strategies, on the live broadcast screen, the large screen behind Su Xin finally finished playing all the test videos.

Su Xin was seen walking back to the center of the podium, raising the microphone, and saying confidently:

"I believe everyone has seen the various test data of the Thor Battery. Next, it should be the data that many people are most concerned about..."

"Price."

Su Xin pressed the remote control again.

The screen switched, and the large screen displayed the price figures of several Liquid Lithium Battery models from competitors, with the Thor Battery at the very bottom, only the price figure behind it was represented by four question marks.

"If you are an industry insider, you should have a rough understanding of the battery supply prices of various power battery manufacturers. I will briefly mention a few here that have relatively high market shares."

"For example, the Card Battery of a certain Di, the supply quote is about 620 yuan per kilowatt-hour."

"For example, the Ternary Lithium Battery with the second-generation CPT Technology of a certain Era, the supply quote is about 700 yuan per kilowatt-hour."

"There are also several other major manufacturers, and their battery prices are also roughly in this range."

"As for the price of the Thor Battery..."

"As everyone knows, when a new technology hits the market, its production lines need to be retrofitted, process flows need to be reformulated, the yield rate will also be very low, supply chain costs are also difficult to control, and coupled with huge R&D costs, all these factors superimposed together will greatly increase the production cost of new technology."

"So, what do you think the supply price of the Thor Battery will be?"

Speaking to the end, Su Xin kept them in suspense and looked at the people at the scene with a smile.