Using it on tanks…
Faced with Director Lu’s solemn and earnest face, Lu Zhou finally knew why this old man was here.
In fact, research on electrical tanks was nothing novel.
“Dr. Porsche” had done similar research in the 1930s.
The VK4501P tank had a PorscheType101/1 air-cooled engine, where the power generated by the engine was stored in a battery, which was used to drive the two 275kW motors.
However, due to the limitation of technology back then, the electric tanks didn’t provide a huge advantage on the battlefield. Only the “differential steering system” technology from the tank was retained.
With the continuous advancement of science and technology, the concept of electric tanks had been widely talked about in the military industry.
Lu Zhou speculated that Director Lu wasn’t only asking about tanks.
What Director Lu really wanted to know was if the dividends from controllable nuclear fusion could overflow to the military industry…
“You would have to ask a military expert for that.” Lu Zhou thought for a second and said, “But in my opinion, whether it is lithium-sulfur batteries or lithium-air batteries, they all have limited application in the military field.”
Director Lu was a little worried, so he immediately asked, “Why?”
“Safety.” Lu Zhou sighed and said, “Chemical batteries use redox reaction to convert chemical potential energy to electrical energy. Since there’s a redox reaction going on, there will be stability issues. Lithium can spontaneously ignite in the air. If hit by something like a shell, it wouldn’t just be engine oil leakage, it would one hundred percent result in an internal explosion.”
Surely someone told him about this before.
Like Lu Zhou had expected, Director Lu didn’t look surprised.
“Oh, I see.”
Director Lu had a look of sadness on his face.
Obviously, Beijing already held a technical meeting regarding this topic, and judging by his reaction, he was on the supportive side of lithium-air battery application in military fields. However, it seemed like it was already shown to be technically infeasible.
The old man stared at the teacup on the coffee table for a long time. He raised his head and asked reluctantly, “Is there no room for improvement? For example, make a battery that is more stable and still has a high energy density?”
“That’s not something that can be done with a chemical battery…”
Lu Zhou shook his head and paused for a second before he spoke again.
“Actually… I don’t know a lot about the military. However, from what I understand, even though it is not reliable to use lithium-air batteries for front-line units such as tanks, if you used it on non-combat units such as transport vehicles and trucks, or even logistics helicopters, it might be possible.”
An electric engine had the advantage of lower noise and better control.
There were many other advantages of having a fully electric logistics system, especially under the premise of having access to electrical facilities.
Director Lu began to think, while Lu Zhou smiled and spoke, “Actually I’m a liberal, I haven’t done a lot of research on weapons. But if the military needs my advice, all I can say is to focus on other places instead of chemical batteries.”
Director Lu immediately asked, “Like what?”
Lu Zhou said, “Like controllable fusion technology. I’ve already made a miniaturized controllable fusion battery. Even though there are many cost restrictions, in a decade or so, the fusion battery might achieve the level of results you desire.”
Miniaturization of controllable fusion technology had already been used in spacecraft such as Starlight and Magpie Bridge. Apparently, the newest generation of nuclear submarines was also using fusion batteries.
Lu Zhou remembered seeing a large order from the Chinese Navy regarding fusion batteries.
Wanting to apply this technology to land units would require a reduction in cost and battery size, but who knew what could happen in the future?
As long as they continued down this research path, this technology would continue to improve.
No matter how much Lu Zhou talked about fusion batteries, the Director of the Energy Bureau and the electric vehicle industry were still going crazy over the lithium-air batteries.
Several Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers had summoned engineers to study Lu Zhou’s paper. They were able to deduce that the lithium-air batteries wouldn’t have a huge effect on them; they only had to add a front air intake grill.
In short, the electric vehicle manufacturers were relieved.
However, even though they had a chance to breathe, this wasn’t over.
Due to the new uncertainties in the electric vehicle industry, BYD and other companies had postponed releasing their latest cars. They had begun designing new vehicles that contained an air intake grill that would fit the standards of lithium-air batteries.
Even though fewer consumers were purchasing cars, due to the continued decline in electricity prices and the steady progress of domestic oil prices, the overall impact wasn’t huge for them.
However, while the car manufactures were relieved, the car battery manufacturers were having a breakdown.
The boss, who finally made up his mind to upgrade the production line to lithium-sulfur batteries, had aged ten years overnight.
The electric vehicle industry was becoming more and more prosperous, but their products were outdated…
Zhongshan New Materials warehouse.
Liu Wanshan looked at the mountain of lithium-sulfur battery stock while smoking a cigarette.
Standing next to the boss was the secretary. The secretary wanted to complain but didn’t know who to complain about…
“Is Star Sky Technology… planning on shutting us down?”
Liu Wanshan tapped the cigarette and sighed.
“This is a disaster.”
Even though the stock price of Zhongshan New Materials soared a while ago, their sales had plummeted.
Some small factories even breached their contracts and refused to buy more batteries. Hence, the large amount of stock in his warehouse.
The only positive side was that they weren’t the only ones faced with this situation; the entire battery industry was upside down. Going further up the supply chain, the lithium material industry was also a mess
This wouldn’t be lethal for them.
However, it would definitely hurt.
The secretary standing next to Liu Wanshan spoke.
“Boss, what do we… do now?”
Liu Wanshan took a drag and contemplated for a second before speaking.
“Turn off the battery production line temporarily, transfer some workers to the mobile battery production line. For the modified PDMS materials and HCS-2 materials production, urge downstream manufacturers to pay for them as soon as possible. We need the cash flow. When the lithium-air batteries come out, we will go full force ahead. In any case, we have to maintain cash flow and survive!”
The secretary nodded.
“Okay, I’ll do that right now.”
Liu Wanshan looked at the pile of stock in the warehouse and felt a headache.
He walked out of the factory and threw his cigarette in a trash can. He looked back at the warehouse again.
Those batteries are worth tens of millions!
Liu Wanshan was unwilling to give up.
“No, I have to talk with Professor Lu.
“Star Sky Technology owns a part of us, they have to help us!”