Chapter 249 Panasonic’s Huge Crisis

Like the ugly country, the island country Panasonic is also in a gloomy mood due to the release of sulfur silicon batteries.

They have paid huge costs in the past few weeks, even interrupting most other projects for the so-called sulfur lithium battery, and investing all their funds and resources into the research and development of sulfur lithium batteries. However, when the final interview for this battery Only then did they realize that what they got in their hands was just technology that was a whole generation behind others.

What Shanshan shares? What technology was leaked?

It's all a pretense!

It was just a smoke bomb deliberately thrown by someone, or even a fishhook with tempting bait.

I swallowed the bait, and as expected, the fishhook caught my throat.

Now, do they have any way to turn things around?

The batteries have been produced, and subsequent plans and contracts have been arranged. If there are temporary changes, it is likely to cause greater losses.

However, if I bite the bullet and continue publishing...

That would be equivalent to giving up one's original status to others.

In the past few years, China's battery technology has been continuously expanding its advantages. Now, the other party does not even let itself be the second choice.

The winner takes all, and this is evident in this moment.

Shiraishi sat dejectedly in his office, with a contract in his hand that was signed less than 5 days ago.

That was a one-year raw lithium purchase contract with Greenbushese Company, and the price was 225% of the previous contract.

The numbers above seemed like a huge irony.

Just a few days ago, they were still complacent about getting the lowest price in the world. The company's senior executives even held a celebration party specifically for themselves.

But now?

This contract has become a nightmare that drags the entire company into the abyss.

After a long silence, Shiraishi said:

"Let's... break the contract."

"If we break the contract, we will have to bear 30% of the liquidated damages, and it will be a one-time payment. This is an unbearable loss for us!"

"I know, I know. But if we don't break the contract and continue to eat this contract, the losses we will face will be even greater..."

"Isn't this necessarily true? Although the other party has controlled the high-end market, it is undeniable that our sulfur lithium batteries still have a certain degree of competitiveness. Even if we only make mid- to low-end products, we can still reduce the price increase effect of the contract within this year. After digesting it, this is much better than our one-time expenditure of huge cash flow!”

Hearing this, Shiraishi shook his head, and the expression on his face became cold and tough again.

After all, he is an old man who has been in shopping malls for a long time. Under such a blow, although he lost his temper in a short period of time, the speed at which he regained his sanity was equally astonishing.

He looked directly at the speaker and reprimanded in a stern tone:

"What kind of opponent do you think we are facing! Where do you think our technology comes from?! It would be fine if the technology is really leaked, but now we have confirmed that this is a smoke bomb deliberately released by the other party, do we still Can you trust the technology in your hands?”

"You didn't try to understand our opponents at all! They can't leave us anything! Even technology that's a generation behind!"

"In previous tests, we have discovered that there are problems with the process of steaming lithium sulfur compounds. The battery stability will deteriorate when hot and cold changes rapidly. However, we believe that the probability of such an application scenario is low, so we decided to No immediate steps were taken to resolve it.”

"Now, we have re-tested it and concluded that even a temperature fluctuation of about 20 degrees is enough to affect the stability of the battery!"

"And in many places in the world, the temperature difference between day and night is more than 20 degrees!"

"Such an impact is very small, yes, but over time, the probability of battery explosion accidents will greatly increase!"

"Do you really want to completely destroy our goodwill with such an unstable battery?"

Seeing Shiraishi, who was as furious as a hound, all the employees who originally wanted to express different opinions fell silent.

After looking around for a week, Shiraishi organized a vote, and then decided on the strategy of breaking the contract with a ratio of 55 to 32.

That night, Panasonic issued a notice of breach of contract with Greenbushese, but they did not recall the batteries that had been shipped in advance.

Everyone was immersed in pain, and the rounds of bowing and apologizing seemed to be endless. However, such apologies did not bring about good results in the end.

Because just the day after they began to organize the comprehensive improvement of sulfur-lithium battery technology, a battery purchased by a small car company in the island country exploded, causing a test driver to suffer minor burns.

The flames also ignited a grocery store on the roadside. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished in time and no more serious consequences were caused.

The car company did not hesitate at all and immediately filed a judicial lawsuit against Panasonic. Within a few days, the preliminary technical investigation results were announced:

The reason why the battery exploded was simply because the car entered the automated car wash room for washing after driving under the scorching sun, and then continued driving under the scorching sun within a short period of time.

Severe temperature changes cause battery deflagration, as Panasonic has discovered.

The investigation is still continuing, but internal information has begun to leak out. A Panasonic insider who did not want to be named revealed that they had already discovered this hidden danger, but considering the market and goodwill, they did not immediately carry out a recall.

This comment caused an uproar, and Panasonic wanted to struggle, but official investigations followed, and in the end, they were forced to admit technical defects, recall all batteries, and bow to apologize.

A well-known company that has been famous for a century is once again facing a huge crisis.

…

Sichuan Shu, Shufei Manufacturing Factory.

Ye Zhou was sitting in an office reserved for him, and on the screen were reports about Panasonic Group's recent scandals.

"You guys are so ruthless. You dare to bury such technical loopholes. Are you afraid that something big will happen?"

Chen Hao, who was sitting opposite, smiled and replied:

"If something goes wrong, it's not our responsibility. Look, the technology we gave to Shanshan Company is exactly the same as the technology Panasonic received. Why didn't something like this happen to Shanshan?"

"The answer is simple. Shanshan still has our shares, so we strictly require them to complete all tests before releasing it. And Panasonic? They gave up too many things in order to compete for time, so that many decisions have been deformed. "

"So, no matter what kind of technical loopholes there are, they will not directly lead to serious consequences. What leads to serious consequences is just their arrogance and carelessness."

Hearing this, Ye Zhou nodded.

This is indeed a fact. The process of steaming lithium sulfur compounds is not mature enough. Logically speaking, the other party should have put this battery on the market after repeated testing.

But if they didn't do that, the problem would be serious.

The nature of this behavior is the same as Tesla forcing the entire car to be smart when the smart system was not yet complete, leading to a series of problems such as car locking, loss of control, and brake failure.

They are all seeking death.

Thinking of this, Ye Zhou said:

"This time Panasonic was basically defeated. Our opponents are gradually decreasing, which is good."

"Let's not talk about them anymore. I plan to live here in Chendu from now on. Please help me make arrangements."

Chen Hao nodded in agreement, and then asked:

"What's your next plan? Continue with the Nantianmen Project, develop an exoskeleton, or continue optimizing the battery?"

Ye Zhou shook his head and replied:

"These are all things you have to do. I can't follow up on the subsequent optimization of the technology. That would be too cost-effective."

"I have to blaze new trails."

"Next step, I plan to engage in dedicated-level quantum computing."

"The direction is not yet known. Maybe it will be molecular simulation, maybe RSA decryption, maybe quantum machine learning... In short, it will bring us some new changes."

This chapter is to make up for the chapter I owed yesterday. Tomorrow’s update will be around nine o’clock.