Elon Musk was somewhat embarrassed when he heard Li Mu criticize him for being too focused.
He has never felt that being too focused is a problem. In his mind, focusing makes it easier to succeed.
Because focusing often means being more professional, just like focusing on recyclable launch vehicles and pure electric vehicles. In his opinion, there is nothing wrong with doing so.
However, when facing Li Mu, although he felt a little disapproval in his heart, he did not dare to express it with his mouth.
He asked Li Mu very humbly: "Mr. Li, what do you mean?"
Li Mu said categorically: "Tesla's positioning should not be consumers' second car, let alone a supplement to fuel vehicles. It should find a way to become the first choice model for people who don't have cars and a replacement model for people who have cars." .”
With that said, Li Mu added: "If you want to do this, in addition to making capacity reserves in advance, you must also start now and find ways to solve the technical problems of fast charging."
Elon Musk now positions Tesla cars for "fighter-style" use.
In other words, in theory, this car can have a range of 400 kilometers, so the user's maximum activity radius is 200 kilometers. Just like a fighter without tanker assistance, the combat radius is calculated in the same way. Exceeding this activity radius basically means that there is no way to Return to the starting point.
However, he does not think there is any problem with the combat radius of 200 kilometers, because in his opinion, 200 kilometers is enough.
However, he is indeed defining these 200 kilometers according to the standard of "the user's second car". If we use the standard of the first or only car, 200 kilometers is not enough. Doubling it It is also far from enough.
This was Elon Musk’s misunderstanding in his early days when he founded Tesla.
He believes that Tesla’s cost is very high and it must be a mid-to-high-end model. For North American users who like to drive Japanese cars or American pickup trucks, most people cannot afford it, but they can afford this car. For people, there is at least one car at home, and there may even be multiple cars.
In this case, a "combat radius" of 200 kilometers is sufficient.
Moreover, the United States itself is a country that lives on wheels, with the car penetration rate ranking first in the world. They frequently travel across state lines by car, and may go to Las Vegas, Disney, and Disney several times a year. For national parks, under such demand, if there is only one vehicle, the "combat radius" of 400 kilometers is not enough.
After all, the theoretical combat radius of a fuel vehicle is infinite. It only takes five minutes to fill up a tank of fuel. There is no way a pure electric vehicle can match this.
Therefore, in his eyes, Tesla is not a product that targets all car users. It is already very powerful if it can capture the high-end user market.
But he didn't know how to tell Li Mu his opinion. He was afraid that Li Mu's position on this matter was too high, exceeding the actual ability and significance of the matter itself.
Seeing Elon Musk hesitate to speak, Li Mu said seriously: "Elon, when we do things together, you should stop thinking like an entrepreneur."
Elon Musk looked at Li Mu in confusion. If an entrepreneur doesn’t have an entrepreneur’s mindset, then what kind of mindset will he have
Li Mu looked at him and said: "No matter what industry, the vast majority of entrepreneurs go on the road barefoot. The core of their thinking is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and accumulate less to make more. Going from 0 to 1 is breakthrough, and from 1 to 2 is development. , reaching 10 in ten years is considered a success in starting a business, just like a Chinese saying, if you don’t accumulate small steps, you can’t reach a thousand miles.”
"But others may need to take steps, but do we need it? We can't walk, we can't even run, we have to fly! So what we have to do is spend money to buy a plane. We really can't build a rocket. Then fly as fast as you can."
After saying that, Li Mu paused for a moment and then said: "Remember, what we have to do is multiplication, not addition. Even if we do not manage it well and the entire project ends up being multiplied by 0 or even a negative number, I can accept it and bear the consequences." , but I can’t accept that we are adding little by little.”
Elon Musk was slightly startled, then understood what Li Mu meant, and immediately said: "Mr. Li, I understand. In this case, we will start the research and development of high-power charging technology as soon as possible."
As he spoke, he added: "My personal idea is to increase the charging efficiency to more than 20 kilowatt hours. In this case, the user's charging time will be greatly shortened, and a car can be fully charged in four to five hours."
Li Mu hummed and said: "The idea is right, but the ambition is not enough. If we can solve the problem of 100 kWh or even 200 kWh charging equipment in the future, a Tesla can be fully charged in about an hour. Or replenish 80% of the battery, then it’s really not far from Dacheng.”
Elon Musk said in surprise: "In this case, we will not only develop fast charging technology, but also make significant optimization and adjustments in the management of the battery pack. Moreover, the charging efficiency of more than 100 kilowatt hours will be too heavy for the grid load. If several 1 million-hour charging piles are operated at the same time, the power can be equivalent to the electricity consumption of a community of several hundred people, so it is difficult to lay it out in large quantities."
Li Mu said with a smile: "Since we have installed charging piles with ordinary power for users, why do we need to build high-power charging equipment in places like communities?"
As he spoke, Li Mu added: "High-power charging equipment is not for users to use when they go home to rest. It is like a gas station, which replenishes energy for users midway. They are built on highways and in hotels. , near airports, stations, or even at popular tourist attractions far away from the city.”
Elon Musk said: "I understand what you mean, but the power supply of such high-power charging piles is indeed a big problem, and it is difficult to solve the problem of the power grid alone."
Li Mu said with a smile: "In fact, it is not difficult to solve at all. Let the power company solve the problem of the power grid. We only need to make the power company profitable, and you don't have to worry about the rest."
"For example, the electricity price in China is 40 cents per kilowatt-hour. We can charge car owners 1 yuan per kilowatt-hour because it is a super charging station that can quickly extend the battery life in the middle of the journey. In addition, the super charging station has additional Users will definitely be able to accept this price. We won’t earn a penny from this money in the early stage and give it all to the power company. This is equivalent to giving them an outlet to sell electricity at a high price. Why wouldn’t they? for?"
We can definitely use our project to go to him and ask for subsidies from the California government. "
Elon Musk lamented: "In this way, the problem of the power grid is indeed easy to solve, but Mr. Li, the cost of research and development, manufacturing and installation of super charging equipment should not be too low. We may have to build several power grids around the world in the future. There are thousands or even hundreds of thousands of such equipment, but the difference in electricity prices is given to the power company, and we ourselves have no profit. It is difficult for us to support such high costs, no profit, and equipment maintenance."
Li Mu reminded: "The purpose of giving the electricity price difference to the power company is to encourage them to help us solve the power supply problem. As I said just now, we will give them all the price difference in the early stage, but in the middle and later stages, we need to gradually get back a certain percentage."
"Don't forget that green travel, energy conservation and emission reduction are trends promoted by governments around the world. We can communicate with local governments to strive for some policy subsidies and support."
"If nothing else, let's just talk about California. Schwarzenegger is about to take office as governor. Before he was elected, he had been vigorously calling for environmental protection issues. Our products are exactly what he wants."
“We can ask the state government to provide certain subsidies to every user in California who buys a Tesla, we can also ask the state government to give us certain tax cuts, and we can even ask the state government to exempt the consumption tax and public taxes on the electricity used by super charging piles. Utility tax; we can also outsource all the construction and maintenance of charging piles to a company in California, and then help this company obtain tax deduction subsidies from the state government. In this way, we can reduce our costs across the board, and It is completely reasonable and legal.”
In his previous life, there were various subsidies for new energy. Although Li Mu was not directly engaged in the new energy vehicle industry, he learned a lot about it while living in Yanjing.
The state and government indeed attach great importance to environmental protection, so they provide various subsidies to new energy vehicles, subsidies to manufacturers, subsidies to consumers, and even purchase tax exemptions. Li Mu believes that this is not only China, but also the world. This trend, now, if Tesla wants to be at the forefront of the new energy industry, it should strive for subsidies and help from local governments. In this way, Tesla can take off quickly.
Elon Musk's eyes lit up when Li Mu said that. People like him never imagined that there is an invisible super lever behind Tesla that can leverage huge social resources, but the premise is that special SLA must develop fast and well, otherwise once other companies realize this super leverage, they will swarm in regardless of everything.
Li Mu continued to click on him: "I don't care what kind of car you are studying now, whether it is ultra-high-end or mid-to-high-end, you must thoroughly understand the technology you need and then achieve reasonable dimensionality reduction, such as your battery. Your motor, your frame and chassis, your electronic control and all electronic systems should first reach 80 points. Then don’t go from 80 points to 100 points, but go from 80 points to 60 points. Do."
"We need to lower the technical threshold and cost, thereby lowering the parameters and price of the entire car, from ultra-high-end, to high-end, mid-to-high-end, and then to mid-range. If we can build a car with the same price and comfort as the Camry, The car is about the same price as a Camry, so we can win even if we don’t care.”
Elon Musk nodded repeatedly: "Mr. Li, I understand what you mean."
Li Mu snorted and said: "About next year, I will start to acquire one or two car manufacturing companies in China, and then completely transform the production line according to Tesla's needs. Once our car passes the test in the future, it can be put into production immediately. Mass production.”
(End of chapter)