My Age of Investment

"That's too many questions!"

Gene got up from his workstation, picked up a battery brick made of dozens of batteries glued together on the table, tossed it in his hand, and asked Xia Jingxing with a smile, "Would you like to watch a cool fireworks show?"

Xia Jingxing pointed to the battery brick in the opponent's hand and asked, "You mean the lithium battery caught fire and exploded?"

Gene smiled and nodded.

Xia Jingxing glanced around, "Just do the explosion experiment right here?"

"Of course not! We're not that stupid."

Gene shook his head again and again, pointing to a glass room not far away, "In there, there is a full set of experimental equipment, monitoring and fire-fighting equipment.

We do experiments in it, which is safe, and can monitor battery changes, as well as collect and record various experimental data. "

Xia Jingxing also noticed the laboratory the other side pointed to.

The location of the laboratory is located in the original Tesla company's office area. equipment.

Now that the company's administrative staff have moved to the adjacent office building, this place is vacant, so it has been transformed into a battery testing laboratory.

"Okay, then I have to see. I haven't seen a lithium battery explode and catch fire?"

Xia Jingxing shrugged, spread his hands and said, looking very curious.

"Haha~"

Gene laughed.

—————

This is the case with small Silicon Valley companies, where corporate management is flat, and employees often get along with their bosses.

Of course, if Tesla grows bigger, it may not have such a good corporate atmosphere.

"David, the fireworks engineer, got to work, the twelfth firework show is ready!"

Gene greeted the colleague from the battery pack next to him, his expression serious, but his tone was very funny.

A white male in his thirties stopped working on sticking batteries in his hand, stood up, walked over quickly, and greeted Xia Jingxing with a smile.

"Hello, Darren, I'm David Lines. I've worked in Silicon Valley for ten years and I'm Tesla employee number 12."

The people who come here are very cheerful and talkative, and they introduce themselves when they come up.

Xia Jingxing smiled and shook hands with the other party, chatted a few words, his eyes were a little strange, he looked at the other party a little more.

He knew who this man was just by hearing his name.

In the previous life, this man was also a capable person, and he and Gene were one of the three core manufacturing teams of Tesla prototype cars.

After saying hello to Xia Jingxing, David took a sheet to write and draw, and began to communicate with Gene about the adjustment of the experimental data of the "Twelfth Fireworks Show".

Compared with the previous eleven experiments, some data needs to be adjusted in this experiment, such as which brand of lithium battery is used, how high the external heating temperature is set, the battery storage capacity, the state of discharge... a lot of experimental parameters.

Naturally, this experiment could not be done purely for Xia Jingxing, the purpose was to let the major shareholders see the explosion and listen to the sound.

How inconsiderate and not bad money!

Xia Jingxing did not interrupt the discussion between the two and waited patiently.

After communicating for a while, the two reached a consensus.

David took the battery brick, entered the glass room laboratory, and began to connect various circuits to the battery brick, and the other end of the circuit was connected to a motor.

Gene was holding tools and doing some auxiliary work on the side.

When the preparations were ready, the two exited the lab, turned on the switch, energized the battery, and the motor began to make a "humming" sound.

Xia Jingxing stood side by side with the two of them, quietly observing the movement in the laboratory outside the glass room.

When several other members of the battery pack heard the movement of the laboratory, they all gathered around, and all their eyes were fixed on the battery brick and the constantly rotating motor in the glass room.

You are blowing me up!

Xia Jingxing watched for ten minutes, but the battery still hadn't exploded, and was lying there and discharging well.

As if seeing the urgency in Xia Jingxing's eyes, Gene smiled and explained, "Don't worry,

There is still a lot of data that has not been tested. "

Xia Jingxing nodded, that's how experiments are done, patience is needed, and the richer the data, the better.

It exploded all of a sudden, it was cool, but there were a lot of experimental data that were not available.

Gene used the controller to adjust the temperature in the laboratory for a while, and the humidity for a while, but it still didn't explode!

Gene glanced at the people around him and said with a smile, "Everyone pay attention, I'm going to start short-circuiting it."

As soon as the voice fell, the big brother pressed the button of a controller on the console outside the laboratory.

"Fuck!"

Xia Jingxing was surprised to speak in Chinese, only to see the white smoke constantly emitting from the battery bricks in the laboratory, the smoke getting bigger and bigger, until the white smoke billowed and obscured the entire laboratory.

The smoke was released very quickly, and it only took a few seconds to complete it.

then.

There was a loud bang, and a fire flashed across the laboratory covered in thick smoke.

Xia Jingxing was taken aback, even through the thick smoke, he could see clearly, the battery turned into a big fireball with the explosion and kept burning.

Compared to his reaction, the performance of the other engineers was much calmer.

Maybe it's because I've seen it a lot, and they all look like they're not surprised!

Some people even smiled, and that expression was very similar to the children watching the fireworks during the Chinese New Year.

Gene quickly pressed another button on the outside console. A fire extinguisher nozzle protruded from the ceiling of the laboratory and began to spray foam to extinguish the fire. The smoke purifier also started to quickly draw out the billowing smoke in the laboratory.

After a while, the fire went out and the smoke was evacuated, revealing the true colors of the laboratory.

The original clean and tidy laboratory has become a mess, all the residue left by the battery explosion.

Xia Jingxing walked into the laboratory to have a look, mainly to see if the glass was damaged by battery fragments.

He found that except for a few shallow impact marks on the glass, the rest of the glass was unscathed, and there were no broken marks or cracks on the glass.

Jim reminded, "Don't look, Darren, the laboratory uses bullet-proof, explosion-proof glass, which is two inches thick, and this glass manufacturer also accepts supply orders from the Army."

Xia Jingxing looked at the glass wall a few more times and sighed that Nima could play.

He was still a little worried about the safety of the laboratory, but now he doesn't have to worry about it. He is so eager to survive, and the employees should not be killed or injured.

Eberhard saw that Xia Jingxing was studying glass there, he pushed open the glass door of the laboratory, walked in, and said with a smile, "Daren, isn't this glass good?"

"It's good, but the price shouldn't be cheap, right?"

"We could have chosen to build the lab out of cheaper metal materials or masonry, but we ended up not doing that," Eberhard explained.

The battery is the core problem of Tesla's research and development!

The choice to use a glass wall is to let every battery engineer see "how powerful a lithium battery can explode" and let them understand how great the responsibility is on their shoulders. "

Speaking of this, Eberhard's face was heavy, "After all, these batteries are all installed on the car, if the safety of the battery cannot be solved, then the life of countless Tesla owners will be threatened.

In the future, every engineer who joins Tesla, I will take them to visit this laboratory, so that they can feel Tesla's responsibility and car-making safety awareness. "

Xia Jingxing understood the other party's intention, nodded and said, "This is a very good idea, the safety hazard of lithium batteries is very great.

If we can't completely conquer this technology, no one dares to drive the car we build, and the title of "widowmaker" will fall on our heads.

You're doing a great job, it's nothing to spend a little money, our employees do have that awareness that safety must always come first. "

In the previous life, Tesla often had safety accidents. In addition to autonomous driving, the biggest problem was battery technology.

Xia Jingxing feels that Eberhard attaches great importance to R\u0026D safety and vehicle owner safety, which is excellent.

Eberhard nodded. He lived a poor life. Although he has now obtained financing and found a big sponsor, he will not spend money indiscriminately.

Bulletproof glass is expensive, but this money cannot be saved. In addition to ensuring the safety of the laboratory, it also means implanting the corporate culture of "safe production" in everyone's mind.