Chapter 479 - 220: Steady Progress

Chapter 479: Chapter 220: Steady Progress

Although the New Century Fund had completed its acquisition of Xinya Bank, that didn’t mean everything was settled.

Once the Xiangjiang Securities and Exchange Commission and the Banking Regulatory Commission finished dealing with the Quantum Fund, they would certainly investigate the New Century Fund’s acquisition of Xinya Bank.

Even though the New Century Fund had no obvious regulatory violations, Zhong Liwen still needed to handle Xinya Bank as quickly as possible, just in case. This included resuming its business operations.

However, given the bank’s near-bankruptcy and the New Century Fund’s announcement that it would be taking Xinya Bank private and delisting it, a series of investigations was inevitable.

It would likely take at least a year for everything to be resolved and for the privatization to be successful.

However, Jiang Miao, the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, wasn’t in a hurry. Hailufeng Company had not yet reached its growth limit domestically, so there was no urgent need to enter overseas markets.

Besides, Jiang Miao had no intention of entering foreign markets carelessly. He wanted to avoid too many uncertainties and would only allow Hailufeng Company to expand overseas once a foolproof plan was in place.

「February 20, 2027.」

The Lantern Festival.

With Hailufeng Company now fully back to normal operations, its management team began their regional rotations.

Jiang Haibo went to the Monan Branch.

Zhang Xincheng headed to the Gannan Branch.

Jiang Miao remained at the Shanmei Headquarters to oversee operations.

Meanwhile, after half a month of restructuring, the bus company had finalized its new management team, and Jiang Miao had approved the appointments.

Acting General Manager Liu Deming handed over his duties to the new General Manager, Wang Hanbo, and returned to his post in the secretarial department.

Wang Hanbo arrived at the transit hub on Tengfei Road, which also served as the site for bus maintenance and modification. The site covered an area of nearly 53 mu.

Considering this was a key, core site for the bus company, Wang Hanbo decided on the spot to move the company’s headquarters here. It would make management more convenient and allow him to keep a close eye on the bus modification work.

Inside the modification workshop.

A dozen or so mechanics were busy at work on a K7 bus.

"Director Li, what’s the plan for the K7 modification work?"

The Technical Director, Li Yuansheng, adjusted his glasses and began to explain to Wang Hanbo, "Manager Wang, here’s the situation. Taking cruising range into consideration, we’ve changed the battery specifications. We now have two options. One uses one cubic meter of battery cells. With the corresponding casing, the total weight is about 1.8 tons, with a capacity of 400 kWh and a range of 600 kilometers."

"400 kWh?"

"The other option is half a cubic meter of battery cells. The total weight is 900 kilograms, with a capacity of 200 kWh and a range of 300 kilometers."

Wang Hanbo rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Our company runs three shifts, each six hours long. This battery capacity is definitely more than enough."

Li Yuansheng nodded. "Yes. After all, the buses travel at only twenty to thirty kilometers per hour in the city, reaching sixty to seventy in the suburbs. Plus, the boss requires smooth driving, so the capacity is definitely sufficient."

In fact, Wang Hanbo had also done something else these past few days: he had transferred all the drivers with poor driving habits to Hailufeng Company’s logistics division to drive heavy trucks. ’Better they don’t wreak havoc on the buses.’

After all, passenger buses required good service etiquette. Drivers who were short-tempered or had bad driving habits could easily lead to customer complaints or cause people to stop riding the bus altogether.

To bring the bus company back from the dead, Wang Hanbo had to find ways to change its old shortcomings.

"Director Li, how are the routine battery swaps performed?"

Li Yuansheng explained, "The K7’s battery is swapped from the bottom. We’ve packaged the cells into standardized packs, with each pack holding 20 kWh of power. When a shift ends, we just replace the depleted packs."

"Is the swap convenient?"

"It is. We’ve adapted some of our old equipment. With manual assistance, one bus can be swapped in five to ten minutes. We’re currently planning to set up 10 to 30 battery-swapping bays at each transit hub."

Looking at the vending machine inside the bus, Wang Hanbo asked, "Will adding a vending machine affect the center of gravity?"

"It will, which is why we switched to a horizontal vending machine." Li Yuansheng led him onto a modified bus.

Two horizontal vending machines were located in the middle of the bus, visible as soon as one boarded. They were wedged between seats and secured with a stainless steel frame to prevent them from moving while the bus was in motion.

Walking closer, he saw that a small seat and restraints had been fashioned around the central pillar, allowing customers to sit on something like a long, narrow bench to use the vending machine.

Wang Hanbo sat down. A steel bar blocked his back, and the space in front was very narrow. Once seated, it was difficult to move his lower body.

"This design is to prevent customers from lingering there after making a purchase."

"How do you buy something?"

"There’s a display screen. You just tap what you want and pay by scanning a QR code, inserting coins, or tapping your bus card."

Seeing that the vending machine was stocked with popsicles, ice cream, and cones, he tried using a banknote and bought two vanilla cones from Hero Dairy.

As he ate, he looked at the seating inside the bus.

Excluding the three spots taken up by the vending machines, there were 13 elevated seats in the back, 6 seats in the middle section, and 1 in the front, for a total of 20 seats.

Including the bench, it came to 23 seats.

To improve comfort, Wang Hanbo planned to reduce the standing room to prevent passengers from being crammed together. For the morning, midday, and evening rush hours in the city, they could simply dispatch more buses.