The public holiday week wasn’t over yet.While the public was still talking about Beep Beep Charging and their wireless charging technology, two pieces of news suddenly caught the attention of everyone.The first was on Star Sky Technology.
In the latest press conference, a Star Sky Technology spokesperson acknowledged that they had made a breakthrough in lithium-air batteries and had already completed the production of the first-generation lithium-air batteries.
The news itself wasn’t shocking; after Professor Lu’s paper came out, most people had expected this to happen sooner or later.
The only unexpected thing was how fast everything was happening.
Immediately after the press conference, Zhongshan New Materials’ stock price flew to the sky.
Hundreds of millions of market value came out of thin air…
Of course, even though this was surprising, most people had expected to see this coming. It wasn’t sensational.
What was really shocking was the second piece of news.
Which was a rumor that Star Sky Technology was bundling lithium-air batteries and wireless charging technology together, thus wireless charging and lithium-air batteries were inseparable.
The spokesperson of Star Sky Technology said that they believed that better technology meant a higher quality of life, thus wireless charging technology and lithium air batteries should be as one.
This was quite a strong statement, as the market was still deciding whether the technology meant a higher quality of life.
This statement shocked the electric vehicle industry.
Star Sky Technology also made a similar announcement on its website.
Which was the bundling of wireless charging and lithium-air batteries!
Moreover, the wireless charging technology was completely different from the standards set by PMA and A4WP; it was their own proprietary standards.
The electric vehicle industry was already scared of the new lithium-air batteries, but this move by Star Sky Technology was like an earthquake.
Not only did the companies invested in lithium-sulfur batteries had to change to lithium-air batteries, but they also had to comply with new wireless charging standards.
Oh, what’s that?
You have your own wireless charging technology?
Good for you?
Star Sky Technology didn’t care if you had your own Qi standard or A4WP standard wireless charging technology. From now on, if anyone wanted to use lithium-air batteries, they had to comply with Star Sky’s own standards.
For example, they would have to pay an expensive patent fee for lithium-air batteries…
An online forum.
The news had been widely discussed.
Both electric vehicle owners and gasoline car owners were talking about this matter.
[F*ck me, Star Sky Technology is planning on dominating this field!]
[Does anyone here know what it means to bundle wireless charging and lithium-air batteries together?]
[It means that if you want to use the lithium-air battery patents from Star Sky Technology, you have to also purchase a set of wireless charging technology patents! You also have to sign a wireless charging compatibility agreement! Otherwise, Star Sky Technology can collect a certain amount of patent fees, proportional to the vehicle price.]
[F*ck sake, isn’t this price gouging?]
[Yeah, but what can we do? Unless we can get around the patent barriers of Star Sky Technology, we have to pay! This is like Qualcomm, you have to pay the price of using their chips.]
[They’re doing this to fight against Tesla… EVgo just announced their plans on entering the Chinese market. I see Tesla-branded charging stations all over Shanghai. Apparently, their coverage is 85%! If all lithium-air batteries have to use Star Sky Technology’s wireless charging technology, then Tesla’s charging stations will become useless.]
[Let’s see what happens, Tesla is definitely going to make a move, the Americans won’t give up…]
In fact, as the head of the electric vehicle industry, Tesla expressed its disappointment toward this move, and the company hoped that Star Sky Technology would reconsider its decision.
In the latest press conference, Musk was faced with questions one after another. He couldn’t help but feel annoyed.
“We are happy to see Star Sky Technology contributing to the electric vehicle industry! Don’t be mistaken, I am happy!
“But I hope they can reconsider. If they really want to help the electric vehicle industry, they should dig a pit and bury themselves in it!”
Technological progress was a good thing for society as it meant that people would have more choices. However, this was a threat to certain businesses.
The latest issue of The New York Times quoted Elon’s statement at the press conference and his concern about the emergence of lithium-air battery technology.
Fast technological progress was like firing a machine gun; it would eventually overheat. In the long run, it wouldn’t necessarily benefit society.
Even though the new technology sounded good, there were potential security risks.
In fact, the first people to get hit were the Chinese local electric vehicle companies and other automobile manufacturers that were planning on entering the electric vehicle field. After the initial surprise, everything returned to normal.
The terms were unfair, but they had no choice.
In fact, this did not directly interfere with their vested interests.
Compared with lithium-sulfur batteries, lithium-air batteries only required an air intake grille, which could easily be done. By making some slight changes, the vehicle range could be increased by 1.5 times, which would give customers another reason to choose electric vehicles instead of gasoline vehicles.
While the cost and risk of upgrading the technology could be passed onto upstream battery companies…
This was something the battery manufacturers and charging station companies should worry about, why should the car manufacturers worry about this?
Some companies such as Toyota, Ford, and Volkswagen expressed their concerns about adopting the Chinese standard, whereas others accepted the new standard quietly.
The only one that was pissed off was EVgo, who was also in the charging station business.
They just signed a cooperation agreement with Volkswagen, Mercedes, and other well-known car manufacturers. But now, their plan was going to fail.
Even if they wanted to upgrade their charging stations, it would be too late.
Not only did they already install a billion USD worth of charging stations in Shanghai, but if they wanted to adopt the new wireless charging standards of Star Sky Technology, they would have to pay Star Sky Technology a hefty patent fee…
This meant that they would have to do a ton of research and development from scratch and waste billions of dollars of money…
The United States authorities noticed Tesla’s grievance.
Immediately after the Tesla press conference, the United States Department of Commerce held a meeting and answered reporters’ questions.
“Bundling two unrelated patents together is not healthy to the industry, we will keep a close eye on this matter.”
There was a hint of caution in their message.
People noticed that the political development of this was going to get interesting…
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