Chapter 475 - 218: Full Utilization (Part 2)

Chapter 475: Chapter 218: Full Utilization (Part 2)

These parking spots certainly weren’t ordinary. They were meant to provide charging services to local users, and there were also plans to build two automatic car washes.

After all, this transit hub was located right in the city, an excellent location.

Lei Bo had just sat down for a moment when he saw Liu Deming approaching with a few people.

"Secretary Liu, here on business?"

"Manager Lei? What are you doing here?"

"I was inspecting the biofuel base in Gongping Town and decided to stop by to check on the bus company’s trial vehicles. And you all are...?"

Liu Deming smiled and explained, "I’m showing some people from a solar panel company around."

"I see." Lei Bo guessed Liu Deming’s intentions.

Since the Sponge Battery was so cheap and effective, it was a natural choice to use it for storing power from the solar panels.

The Xinlou Village transit hub covered about 6.8 mu. The rooftops and the space above the parking lot could be fully utilized, allowing for the installation of roughly 6 mu of solar panels, which could generate around 7,000 to 8,000 kWh per day.

Of course, a daily generation of 7,000 to 8,000 kWh wasn’t nearly enough. After all, each bus battery swap consumed 225 kWh, meaning this amount of power could only support one swap for 31 to 35 buses.

Furthermore, the transit hub also needed to provide charging, car washing, and maintenance services, all of which would consume a significant amount of electricity.

Therefore, they had to increase the capacity of the battery room and charge during the off-peak hours of 12 AM to 8 AM. Shanmei’s off-peak electricity rate was about 0.35 yuan per kWh.

The fee for charging services, however, was around 1 to 1.5 yuan per kWh. Even accounting for energy loss during charging and discharging, the profit margin was substantial.

Using high-power charging piles, a vehicle could be fully charged in half an hour. A station could charge a maximum of 40 to 100 cars per day.

Thus, a suitable battery storage room had to be built.

Only a multi-pronged approach would allow the bus company to turn a profit.

And even that wasn’t enough. Hailufeng Company would definitely have to cooperate with Future Car to standardize batteries and battery swapping.

By then, these bus transit hubs could serve as battery swap stations.

Looking at Future Car’s battery swap fee standards, it was typically a 10 yuan service fee plus 0.5 yuan per kWh. The cost of electricity using industrial off-peak rates was about 0.22 to 0.26 yuan per kWh.

But this brought another problem into consideration: many batteries on the market had falsely advertised capacities. They didn’t actually hold as much charge as claimed—a clear sign of shady dealings.

If they used honest labeling, the charging price for the Sponge Battery using commercial and industrial off-peak rates was 0.35 yuan per kWh. After accounting for energy loss, the cost to discharge one kWh would be about 0.37 to 0.4 yuan.

Adding the 10 yuan service fee, there really wasn’t much of a profit margin.

Even using the cost of heavy industrial electricity, the gross profit per kWh was only about 0.2 yuan. This was clearly walking a tightrope.

By this calculation, the gross profit for each battery swap of a one-cubic-meter Sponge Battery would be 40 to 80 yuan. With a lifespan of about 600 swaps, the total gross profit would be 24,000 to 48,000 yuan.

Although this could cover the initial battery investment and even the various costs of the swap station, achieving such returns would require sacrificing Hailufeng Company’s interests by supplying the Sponge Battery to Future Car at a low price.

Obviously, Jiang Miao wouldn’t let Future Car off so easily.

Hailufeng Company would have to force Future Car to honestly label the Sponge Battery’s capacity and, at the same time, raise the battery swap fee.

Otherwise, Hailufeng Company would have to falsely advertise capacity like other battery companies, and engaging in fraud was clearly not Jiang Miao’s style.

The issue of battery cost was definitely Future Car’s fatal flaw. The swap stations and batteries were expensive, yet the swap fees were very low. The vast majority of batteries they currently used were lithium iron phosphate batteries, which generally cost more than ten times as much as the Sponge Battery.

Adding in the investment in swap stations and the costs of daily management and maintenance, Future Car could only barely break even. But the capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries degrades over time. The further along they got, the more problems would arise.

In fact, even though Jiang Miao had never met Future Car’s management, he could guess what they were thinking. It came down to one word: gamble.

What were they gambling on?

They were gambling that batteries would become cheaper in the future. That way, when it came time to replace their existing battery stock, they could secure a profit margin.

If not for Hailufeng Company’s Sponge Battery technology, Future Car’s own future would have been truly uncertain.

After all, in recent years, battery prices hadn’t dropped significantly, because the cost of raw materials remained stubbornly high.

Lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium batteries require raw materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. The prices of these elements had actually risen by 10 to 20% in recent years.

As for semi-solid-state and solid-state batteries, the costs were even more staggering.

At current production costs, Future Car wouldn’t dare touch semi-solid-state or solid-state batteries. This wasn’t just because the technology was immature, but also because their costs reached hundreds of thousands of yuan per ton—upwards of 100,000 or 200,000.

Worse, the batteries they had invested in earlier were rapidly approaching the end of their service life, meaning Future Car would soon face the pressure of replacing its battery inventory.

While bulk purchasing could lower procurement prices to some extent, the major battery manufacturers were no pushovers. They certainly weren’t going to be altruistic and sacrifice their own profits.

Therefore, at this stage, only Hailufeng Company could save Future Car.

After all, compared to other batteries, the Sponge Battery had a huge advantage in recycling. Its waste fluid was just soybean oil and some common trace elements, which could be taken directly to be refined into biodiesel. The sponge structure and the potassium chloride deposited within it could be used to make organic fertilizer.