"Assisted bicycle?" Lin Youde, Zhong Guangwei, Zhu Wenbin and others were stunned. They had never heard of this name before.

Zhou Yujie smiled and said to Ge Jialei, who had never expressed his opinion: "Old Ge, you should know, right?"

Ge Jialei nodded and said, "I know, the electric power-assisted bicycle."

"Then you can introduce it to them." Zhou Yujie said.

Ge Jialei nodded and then briefly introduced the content of assisting the bicycle.

The earliest power-assisted bicycle was born in the 1930s, but it was not a battery, but a small internal combustion engine. This kind of thing was once popular, but later, with the improvement of the Western economic level, motorcycles gradually replaced internal combustion engine-style power-assisted bicycles.

In the 1980s, the Japanese government introduced a policy to restrict motorcycles. Therefore, Japanese companies at that time invented electric power bicycles, which provided kinetic energy while riding, and reduced the kinetic energy output of car owners.

The most core technology here is a power assist system. China has also tried to introduce this kind of power assist bicycle, but it was limited to the technology at that time and could not be developed by itself. The price of purchasing supporting spare parts was extremely expensive, so it gradually improved in the direction of motorcycles, and eventually formed the later electric bikes, and even the pedals were cancelled later.

"Is this technology available in China now?" Lin Youde asked after hearing this.

Ge Jialei said: "Jiante already has mature technology and they also have this kind of product, but they are all sold overseas and not sold in China. It is currently the market for electric cars in China."

Zhou Yujie said: "With pure civil function, electric bikes are much more convenient than electric power-assisted bicycles. What I want to do is share electric bikes. Using electric bikes is too luxurious, and we will lose all our money. Moreover, the battery bikes nowadays do not last enough, and the charging time is long, which does not meet our requirements.

Electric power-assisted bicycles are much more convenient. Although the battery life is not much stronger than that of electric cars when riding, the battery is small enough and the charging time will be fast, which will also reduce our quantity and manual charging costs. However, I need an electric power-assisted bicycle with lithium batteries as the core."

Currently, electric bikes can ride about 20 kilometers under normal conditions. If you want to spend more, you have to go to a large battery car, and the price must be above 3,000 yuan. Generally, individuals have to feel sorry for buying it, let alone shared bicycle projects that require batch purchase. Moreover, large battery cars are too heavy and have too low convenience, not to mention that batteries are very attractive to some people...

The electric energy of electric bicycles is mainly semi-assisted. The main energy when riding still comes from the user himself. The electric energy only makes him feel a little easier, which leads to low requirements for power. If the power is small, that means the charging speed is very fast, which will increase the turnover rate of the electric bicycle and reduce the demand for labor.

Ge Jialei said: "There are many electric power bicycles with lithium batteries in the market, but the price is much more expensive than electric cars."

Zhou Yujie nodded and said, "I know this, but this is also because the market demand for such bicycles is very small, which makes it expensive. Our demand is large, which can completely reduce costs. However, in this area, the electronic control system is very important. This area cannot be choked by others. You can outsource this area, or you can acquire one by yourself. Let's take a look at this time."

Generally, bicycles have too low technical content, so Toutiao just sets the styles and then lets you manufacture them. However, electric power-assisted bicycles still have some technical content, that is, the hardware and software involved in human resources and power conversion.

Ge Jialei said: "Mr. Zhou, when will we start getting on this electric power-assisted bicycle?"

"No hurry, at least one or two years later." Zhou Yujie thought for a while and said.

In the early publicity model of shared bicycles, they are all about convenient travel and physical exercise. Ideals are good, but reality is very skinny. Just like many people spend thousands of dollars to apply for fitness cards, but they never go again after three minutes of popularity.

Most of the workers in the city are very tired after get off work, whether in factories or office buildings, but some are physically and some are in their hearts. At this time, who is willing to do any exercise?

When shared bicycles are bicycles, this is naturally not a problem, and everyone doesn’t think it’s bad. But if electric power-assisted bicycles appear, no one will deliberately ride a bicycle, because those who don’t want to exercise will choose a more relaxed travel mode, while those who want to exercise will be better when walking or running.

Zhou Yujie continued: "The core problem in this project is to work hard to increase battery life. The higher the battery life, the lower our operating costs will be in the future. However, there are two factors to control battery life. One is the battery capacity, which will also involve procurement costs. The second is the power assist system, which will affect the user experience, so there is a balance here, and you must master it well.

For lithium batteries, you can purchase them from CATL, and our electric vehicle project has also designated them to become our suppliers, and you can get very low prices."

Toutiao's electric vehicle project is only in its infancy, and its name has not been confirmed. After all, this is a car manufacturing, not an Internet project. In the past six months, the main task is to recruit corresponding personnel. The design team has just been established. However, the choice of major spare parts suppliers, such as batteries, motors, OEM manufacturers, etc., has already started negotiations. Only battery suppliers have decided on these, because there are only a few options available.

Ge Jialei nodded and said, "Okay, if the cost of the battery can be reduced, it will be much simpler. The rest is the test problem."

Zhong Guangwei said: "Actually, I don't think it is necessary to set a fixed auxiliary system specifically. It can be set according to the user's body shape and riding strength. If the user has enough strength, we can provide less power assistance. If the user has little power, we can provide more. In this way, at least the user experience and total power can be optimal."

Zhou Yujie said: "Good way, I didn't expect this."

"Mr. Zhou just didn't care about this, otherwise he would have thought of it long ago." Zhong Guangwei laughed and laughed.

Ge Jialei also said: "This is very good, but it requires strong software development capabilities."

Lin Youde smiled and said, "This is not a problem. The most important thing Toutiao lacks is software developers. I will arrange 20 engineers to report to you tomorrow."

Ge Jialei smiled and said, "That's really great."

Zhou Yujie nodded and said, "Okay, then let's do it first, try to make samples as soon as possible."
Chapter completed!