Tsinghua Xueba did it!Breaking the foreign technology monopoly in less than a year, the traditional giants – Monopoly, Tsinghua University, Truck – Fast Technology (Media under Drive Home) – Technology changes the future

In the production base of Iridium and Molybdenum Smart in Suizhou, Hubei, the Iridium and Molybdenum Smart EM200 electric giant mining truck is being assembled. Except for the early design stage of the mining truck in the Beijing Technology Center, the entire process of mining truck technology implementation, production, manufacturing and preliminary commissioning are all Do it here.

Zhang Huakun, one of the founders of this company, is simple and low-key, which makes it difficult to associate him with the identity of a scholar.

Zhang Huakun graduated from China Agricultural University and is keen to study various automotive technologies. He has won a number of awards in the national college students’ mechanical and automotive competitions, and was later recommended to the Department of Automotive Engineering of Tsinghua University for postgraduate studies.

Although it was established less than a year ago, Iridium and Molybdenum Smart has won orders from many large-scale mines, signed a cooperation agreement with the Ordos Municipal Government, and obtained investment from well-known institutions such as Lanchi Venture Capital and Xiangfeng China Investment. A new round of Financing is also on the agenda.

Under the general trend of new energy vehicles, why did this Tsinghua scholar enter the mining construction machinery track?

The answer he gave was,To change the “stuck neck” situation of China’s high-end mining equipment being monopolized by foreign countries, the electrified products made in China must outperform fuel mining trucks.

He further pointed out that there are about 90,000 wide-body trucks used in domestic mining areas, which is the target of iridium and molybdenum intelligence, and this amount is getting bigger and bigger as time goes by.

Zhou Yi, CFO of Iridium and Molybdenum Intelligence, said that according to different configurations, the price of an EM200 bicycle is about 3-5 million yuan per unit. Based on this calculation, the market space for domestic wide-body mining cards will reach over 200 billion yuan in the future. At the same time, future exports will also account for a considerable proportion.

This means that in the era of new energy, new forces will rise in the field of construction machinery to subvert or PK Caterpillar and other traditional players. In this field, new car-making forces like Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal and even Tesla may be born.

A secret new energy car-making track appeared.

Focus on the mining industry and change the status quo of “stuck neck”

As a serial entrepreneur, Zhang Huakun has always had a soft spot for the mining machinery industry.

In 2008, Zhang Huakun and his classmate and friend Li Kerui established a design company after graduating from Tsinghua University to design and transform body structures for major automobile manufacturers. The main projects they did at that time included mining machinery and equipment.

In 2010, Zhang Huakun and Li Kerui co-founded a mining engineering machinery company, Yatong Heavy Equipment, with an investor in Shandong.

The experience in Axiata Heavy Equipment has allowed them to accumulate many customers in the mining field. They have also visited the mine site in person, and have a deeper understanding of the operation logic of mining equipment.

“Because we also made a lot of models at that time, the biggest feeling at that time was that there were too many imported parts. If we want to produce vehicles, we may have to pay foreign suppliers a year in advance, and then order in advance. The turnover rate and market response speed were very slow, so it was quite painful at the time.” Zhang Huakun recalled.

With the deepening of understanding of the mining industry, Zhang Huakun found that,China’s slightly high-end mining equipment is all monopolized by foreign countries. Even if domestic companies are doing it, the core components are basically imported.

At that time, in Zhang Huakun’s eyes, Axiata Heavy Equipment Co., Ltd., as a company focusing on technological breakthroughs, should strive to change this “stuck neck” status in terms of economic benefits and responsibilities.

In 2015, Zhang Huakun and Li Kerui successfully developed the first batch of hybrid mining loader prototypes in China. Although this prototype has advantages and disadvantages, the reloaded fuel vehicles of Yatong were very profitable at that time, and they had no time to consider electrified products. Zhang Huakun and Li Kerui are not absolute major shareholders, so they did not continue to develop electrified and intelligent mining construction machinery.

“When we started our business again at the end of 2016 and early 2017, the domestic passenger car market had already emerged, and we built a segment of pure electric passenger cars,” said Zhang Huakun.

According to data from the China Automobile Association, in 2016, domestic passenger car sales exceeded 24 million for the first time, and Chinese brand passenger car sales exceeded 10 million for the first time.

This year, domestic new energy vehicle sales also ushered in a substantial increase, and Chinese brand new energy vehicles can receive high subsidies and a series of policy dividends.

Years of entrepreneurial acumen, Zhang Huakun quickly decided to cut into the new energy vehicle industry, and in March 2016, Tsinghua classmate Li Kerui and another Tsinghua classmate jointly established Qingxing Automobile.

However, due to the impact of the subsidy decline, Qingxing Automobile came to an end at the end of 2019.

However, Zhang Huakun has a clearer understanding of the overall entrepreneurial direction.

“For example, like the passenger car system, we have all personally worked on it. There are many restrictions in some administrative regulations, including subsidies, which are indeed not particularly suitable for small start-up companies.“Zhang Huakun said frankly.

In Zhang Huakun’s business logic, delivering products to customers can create huge value, and customers are willing to pay. “I created a value of 10 yuan for the customer, and he was willing to give me 5 yuan. We still went in this direction, so we focused on the mine again.“

He hopes to bring some new opportunities to the entire industry, and at the same time, he hopes to be able to rapidly increase in the industry and truly survive.

In July 2021, three Tsinghua students, Zhang Huakun, Li Kerui and Zhou Yi, co-founded Iridium Molybdenum Intelligence. The company’s core technical team has followed Zhang Huakun and Li Kerui to start businesses for many years. The team covers the entire chain from design to sales and has rich experience in products and engineering. And strong market development capabilities.

Iridium and molybdenum intelligence mainly produces large-scale construction machinery in mining areas. Its first product is not a pure electric mining truck, but an electric drive, equipped with 8×8 all-wheel drive, equipped with a 1,000-degree battery pack and a 300-kilowatt fuel range extender , opened a new era of 200 tons of domestic electric mining trucks.

“Only with such a configuration can it be run on a large scale in the mining area.” Zhang Huakun said.

In-depth understanding of the industry, choose heavy assets to start a business

Zhang Huakun did not choose the asset-light model from the automatic driving system, but chose the asset-heavy entrepreneurial model of producing complete vehicles.

Currently, there are three types of companies in the mining scene. The first category is traditional OEMs such as Sany and XCMG, as well as private enterprises such as Tongli and Lingong; the second category is start-up enterprises that develop driverless systems, such as Huituo, Tage, Yikong Zhijia, etc.; the third category is It is a new OEM that focuses on the concept of new energy, such as Brayton and Skechers.

Zhang Huakun’s iridium and molybdenum intelligence clearly belongs to the third category. As a business with heavy assets, its start-up capital is particularly important.

“First of all, we have some funds ourselves, plus the full support of some resources in the industry. For example, some well-connected customers can make payments in advance, and we will do some designs for them.” Zhang Huakun said.

In the domestic mining construction machinery industry, there are many companies whose models are designed from iridium and molybdenum intelligence. Through the design of vehicle models and other means, Iridium Molybdenum Smart has adjusted the direction of the entire enterprise to the mine and started rapid iteration.

Although the development fee obtained is not much, the iridium molybdenum intelligent team has also accumulated a lot of experience when developing complete vehicles for other companies.

In Zhang Huakun’s view,The choice to start a business with heavy assets is based on the understanding of the mining industry. On the one hand, the self-developed model can control the entire chain by itself, and on the other hand, it is easier and faster to spread the volume, and it can expand while making profits.

That is to say, iridium and molybdenum intelligence is more concerned with the business model that can be implemented quickly, including insisting on doing its own production instead of OEM, which is more conducive to controlling the entire production process and quality system.

The significance of this is that it can be quickly iterated in the early stage, and when the volume is desired, the volume can be quickly spread, and the product can be quickly responded to when there is a problem.

“So when you look at our model, you feel that it is relatively heavy. This is also an experience we have acquired for so many years. The company model of making unmanned driving systems in mining areas seems to be very light, but light has its difficulties.” Zhang Huakun emphasized.

The core strategy for advancing the whole system of iridium and molybdenum intelligence is that although the current vehicle is also equipped with an unmanned system, it will be able to achieve fully automatic driving in 3 to 5 years, but in the age of people, the vehicle can already be compared with the existing fuel vehicles. Easy to open, easy to use, and can create actual value for customers. That is to say, at different stages of the development of the entire enterprise, it can make a large profit or quickly break through the scale.

“It seems that my assets are a bit heavier in the early stage, but in fact, what I get in exchange is the entire time, including unmanned driving. We are doing software and hardware at the same time.” Zhang Huakun believes.

At present, the software part of unmanned driving and the system software and hardware of the entire wire-controlled chassis are developed by Iridium Molybdenum Intelligence. Therefore, in the process of subsequent iterations, iridium and molybdenum intelligence may be like Wei Xiaoli and other new car-making forces, and the unmanned version or intelligent iteration speed will be very fast.

“So on the whole we have taken a relatively difficult road, but this difficult road is particularly stable.” Zhang Huakun said.

He believes that every car sold is profitable. Of course, it is gross profit in the early stage, but the entire system can quickly pass through this kind of commercialization in the future, and there is no need to buy other people’s cars for testing in the early stage.

He judged that Iridium and Molybdenum Intelligence is actually similar to a company that does unmanned driving in mining areas. After five years, if everyone still exists, the work is similar, and they are all about unmanned operation and professional services in mining areas.

It ran for three years and accumulated the first batch of customers

At present, there are two main customers of iridium and molybdenum intelligence. The first type is large-scale mining enterprises, that is, B-end customers, such as Shenhua Guoneng Group and China Coal Energy.

The second type is the service team of the specialized company of mining services to contract, and then use its own engineering equipment to operate.

“We do have a good relationship with these two types of customers. We have also done some tests on the price of the product. The high-end model can be sold for more than 5 million yuan, and the customer does recognize it.” Zhang Huakun said that with the customer’s existing system Compared with products, as long as there is a large improvement in efficiency, customers are naturally willing to pay.

However, the story behind dealing with coal bosses and mine owners is not ordinary.

Zhang Huakun’s style of play is:First of all, we will build a few benchmark mining areas, so that seeing is believing, and the car must be really easy to use, in order to really impress customers. The second is to quickly break through the coal boss or mine owner.

In 2010, when Zhang Huakun and Li Kerui started to mine, all customers had to drive their own cars, during which they met all kinds of bosses in the mining industry.

Through eating and drinking, Zhang Huakun and Li Kerui gradually became familiar with their customers, but what really impresses customers is the solutions they provide to customers, including some technical or parameter requirements raised by customers.

“We have adopted some alternative methods, such as meeting the needs of customers to make this car more important. In the process, we have gained some hardcore customers, and then use these customers to break through other Some mine owners.” Zhang Huakun recalled.

He believes that the entire process must be hands-on for founders, there are no shortcuts, and it is essential to do homework before communicating with customers.

At that time, the state stipulated that the mine manager of the mine should be on duty. The mine manager had to leave the mine after the morning meeting in the morning.

Therefore, Zhang Huakun’s idea of ​​running customers is to grasp two nodes,One is to stand guard in front of the mine manager’s office building very early, waiting for him to communicate with him before the morning meeting. The second is to wait until the mine manager comes down from the mine, and communicate when the night shift is handed over.

In order to grasp these nodes, Zhang Huakun often rushes to the next mining area overnight after communicating with one mining area in the evening, no matter how late it is.

“After we went, we had to know what time the mine manager went to work for the morning meeting every morning. We would wait at his door early. This is just a small example. Many customers come here like this,” said Zhang Huakun.

In his opinion, if you want to win the mine manager, firstly, you need to be sincere, and secondly, no matter how you want to meet and talk, it is not easy to make a phone call. “The main reason is to meet other people. I often guard him at the time of his shift. Maybe I can’t feel it in the city. What’s so difficult about this?”

In fact, the distance between many mines is very long, and there is no place to live around. Zhang Huakun will go to the mine early at 6:30 in the morning from a place with accommodation closest to the mine to wait for the mine manager.

Zhang Huakun has been running heavily on the mine for three years, almost non-stop. This is the most normal situation.

In his eyes, there are no particularly difficult customers, they just don’t know much about the product. If the customer really needs it, he will try his best to explain the product clearly to him.

The main person in charge of the mining area, and even the team leader and driver, Zhang Huakun, led the team to have in-depth communication. Often, it takes a year to follow up for a bid or a single customer.

Zhang Huakun pointed out that it is not easy after the customer is confirmed. Selling mining vehicles is not like selling passenger cars. Look at the car today and make payment tomorrow. Mining vehicles are in the mining stage or operation stage, and it is defined what the car is to do, what parameters and configurations to use, and very in-depth communication is required in the early stage.

Of course, Zhang Huakun will also choose to give up for some customers who have bad repayment or other problems. In the continuous exploration, iridium and molybdenum intelligent customer management system has gradually formed its own characteristics.

To be a new force in the field of construction machinery

A pragmatic approach, coupled with a stable customer management system, has allowed iridium and molybdenum smart products to break through the technological monopoly of foreign industry giants on high-end products with ultra-high load capacity.

Zhang Huakun said that the ability to break the foreign technology monopoly is due to the large-scale distributed electric drive chassis development technology + multi-module electrical and control algorithm architecture technology, as well as the forward self-developed electric system.

Electrification brings opportunities for iridium and molybdenum intelligence to break the monopoly of foreign products. Previously, a vehicle of the same tonnage was usually a drive axle, and the core components such as the engine, gearbox, and drive axle of the vehicle could only be derived from the conventional fuel vehicle system of foreign companies. After electrification, through distributed drive technology,Iridium molybdenum intelligence adopts the driving mode of multiple drive axles, which gets rid of the traditional chassis layout, breaks through the limitation of powertrain and the dependence on imported parts, which is the core technology of iridium molybdenum intelligence at present.

After electrification, the entire power parameters of the iridium-molybdenum smart vehicle have been greatly improved, regardless of whether it uses pure electricity or extended range, and the vehicle can easily reach 800 kW to more than 1,000 kW. At present, many electrified vehicles are difficult to increase the weight of the oil to electric load, but the entire chassis of the iridium molybdenum intelligent is completely redesigned, and the single-axle drive of imported vehicles is changed to 4-axle drive. The rated load of the whole vehicle has reached 140 tons, reaching the load level of imported products.

Zhou Yi believes that in the era of new energy, new forces will rise in the field of construction machinery to subvert or PK Caterpillar and other traditional players.

At present, the market prospects in the field of mining construction machinery are very broad, creating opportunities for rapid development for new forces such as iridium and molybdenum intelligence.

From the perspective of 2021, the domestic mining wide-body truck market will increase by about 20,000 units and export about 3,000 units. The export market of such vehicles has almost doubled in recent years.

Zhang Huakun believes that the domestic market space for mining-specific trucks is estimated to reach an annual increment of 25,000 to 30,000 units. At present, the product maturity of the overseas market is still uncertain, and the subsequent scale may exceed that of the domestic market.

The huge market increment has given startups such as iridium and molybdenum smart the opportunity to replace fuel mining cards with electric mining cards and become a new force in the field of construction machinery.

Zhang Huakun said that regardless of the size of the mining area, as long as the ordinary 3.5-meter wide-body truck can run, our vehicles can run. The Molybdenum Smart 200-ton mine cart is compatible with almost all mines.

In addition, the iridium-molybdenum intelligent EM200 mining truck has 7 different configurations. It adopts the same platform design system. Through different combinations of battery packs, engines and range extenders, the vehicle can cope with mining areas with different working conditions. Such as large mining area, small mining area, heavy load uphill, heavy load downhill, flat road and charging conditions, etc.

In the future, Iridium Molybdenum Intelligence will also launch a 300-ton vehicle platform for extra-large mines.

For Zhang Huakun, it is his last life goal to make some breakthrough products and be recognized by the market.

And now the goal has gone a step further, not only to do a good job in the product system, but also hope that the members of the entrepreneurial team around him can gain something.

Perhaps as he said, entrepreneurship is a matter of human effort. Sometimes after you have walked a long way forward, when you look back, you don’t quite believe that you will come over.

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