Chapter 639 - 456: Orange Q1, 100,000 Units a Day! Diversified Scenarios, a New Channel for the Human Dao Fire

At the beginning of August, Emma and Yadea successively released their own long-range electric vehicles. Positioned for the high-end market, they were both priced above 4,000 yuan with a range of 100 kilometers.

They had no choice. The supply cost of the Deep Blue Battery was what it was; if the price were any lower, there would be no profit.

Phone manufacturers like Huawei, ZTE, Mountain Star, and LG all announced they would soon be launching ultra-thin flagship smartphones or high-endurance smartphones.

Canon and Sony’s camera products followed suit, announcing battery accessories with stronger endurance.

Driven by the Yaocheng X1 SE, the popularization of lithium-sulfur batteries was happening extremely fast.

Although other lithium batteries still dominated the mainstream, the high-end market was gradually being taken over by Deep Blue Batteries.

Meanwhile, at the entrance of an electric vehicle factory in Xicheng, a sign for ’Orange Car Industry Co., Ltd’ hung prominently.

For the past six months, the factory’s main task had been producing pedal-assist bikes for OFO and specialized electric vehicles for Cloud Speed and Kuai Pao couriers.

But after the Deep Blue Battery was introduced, Chen Yansen converted the original supporting battery factory into a Deep Blue Battery production line, dedicated to supplying the needs of Orange Car Industry.

After all, an electric vehicle’s range directly determined a delivery driver’s or courier’s delivery time and work efficiency.

Furthermore, using the OFO pedal-assist bike as a base, they upgraded its appearance and designed an electric vehicle, the Orange Q1, which they prepared to launch to the wider market.

The battery weighed 0.6 kilograms, and the entire vehicle weighed 29 kilograms. It had a range of 48 kilometers, a price tag of 999 yuan, and was mini and compact.

It wasn’t that Chen Yansen wanted to compete with Yadea and Emma. His core objective was to expand production capacity, provide more jobs, and in turn, obtain more Human Dao Fire.

If Yadea and Emma went bankrupt because of this, well, he could only say he was sorry.

At this moment, inside the vast production workshop, the assembly line workers were busy at work.

Orange Car Industry was formerly an electric vehicle contract manufacturer on the verge of bankruptcy. After being fully acquired by Senlian, its production lines were retooled, its workforce grew from over 100 to over 1,000 employees, and its monthly production capacity now exceeded 60,000 units.

The factory grounds were constantly expanding outward. Nearby defunct factories adjacent to Orange Car Industry had basically all been acquired by Senlian Capital. It was projected that by the end of Q3, production capacity would increase to 100,000 units per month.

At that time, another 800 employees would be hired.

During the height of summer, although it was scorching hot outside, the workshop was perfectly cool.

It was just air conditioning, but under Chen Yansen’s instruction, the factory director had always kept it running at full blast.

No matter how high the temperature was outside, the cool air inside was always maintained at a pleasant level. The moment any heat from the operating machinery began to build, it was suppressed by a constant stream of cold air.

The workers operated the machinery while wearing light jackets, without a single drop of sweat on their brows. The work they did with their hands was also much more efficient.

In President Chen’s view, this little bit of an electricity bill was nothing compared to the returns from increased efficiency.

Besides, every employee was precious to him—his Human Dao Fire Makers. ’What if they overheat?’

"Well, look at that, it’s twelve o’clock."

An assembly line worker turned to glance at the clock on the wall and said with a grin.

As soon as he spoke, a colleague from another team came to take over his shift.

A moment later, a dense crowd of people headed toward the factory campus cafeteria.

"Brother Gui, hurry up! They have sour soup with beef and braised chicken wings today. If we’re late, they’ll be all gone."

A fair-skinned young man wearing a pair of cheap, black-framed glasses urged his team’s senior craftsman.

"What’s the damn rush! You think Boss Chen is like that old Wang Bapi? When have they ever not had enough for everyone?"

Zhu Angui said dismissively, curling his lip.

He was from Beihu and had come to Xicheng to work five years ago. He had witnessed Zhixiang Electric Vehicle’s entire journey from glory to decline, with its workforce shrinking from a peak of over 800 to just around 100 at one point.

After Senlian Capital acquired the Zhixiang Electric Vehicle factory, he had originally planned to take the severance and leave. But when he heard the base salary was raised to 3,300 yuan and holiday overtime pay was as high as 75 yuan an hour, he decided on the spot not to leave.

’Leave?’

’Only an idiot would leave!’

After staying, he learned that besides the base salary, social security, and overtime pay, there were also quarterly bonuses four times a year, meal stipends, rent subsidies, transportation allowances, holiday bonuses, and other benefits.

He remembered it clearly. He had even foolishly gone to the new factory director and asked, "The big boss is paying such high wages. Isn’t he afraid of losing money?"

The new director replied, "What boss would ever run a losing business? I can tell all of you right now, the factory is profitable, and salaries are paid on the 1st of every month."

Zhu Angui had assumed that meant June’s salary would be paid on August 1st. ’They’re only holding back one month’s pay,’ he thought, ’so there probably aren’t any tricks.’

Later he found out that June’s salary was paid on July 1st. If the 1st fell on a weekend or holiday, the salary would be paid on the last working day before it.

After hearing the new director’s explanation, Zhu Angui was completely dumbfounded. In his dozen-plus years of working, it was the first time he’d ever encountered a factory that didn’t withhold wages.

’Work!’

’I’ll work my ass off!’

’I’ll work like my life depends on it!’

Many other workers felt the same as Zhu Angui. In the six months since the change, not a single person had quit this miracle of a factory.

Two months ago, a young man from the structural parts workshop injured himself while cutting pipes. He cried and begged his supervisor not to put him on sick leave, saying he could still work for the company.

First, he couldn’t bear to lose the overtime pay, and second, he was afraid the factory would fire him.

To everyone’s surprise, the supervisor reported it as a workplace injury. The factory gave him a 3,000 yuan recuperation subsidy and told him to go home and rest for a month to recover. His medical expenses were covered by supplementary medical insurance.

During his time off, his salary was paid at 60%. Although it was only his base pay, this was a benefit that millions of blue-collar workers would never experience in their entire lives.

In the factories in the south, you weren’t even guaranteed compensation for a workplace injury like losing a hand or a foot.

If you ran into a kind boss, you might get twenty or thirty thousand yuan. If you ran into a ruthless one, you’d be lucky just to avoid a beating.

"Brother Gui, a full man doesn’t know a hungry man’s plight. You have no idea how much we college students suffer! The food in our school cafeteria isn’t even worthy of shining the shoes of our factory’s food."

The fair-faced young man was named Huang Rui. He had just graduated from a junior college this year with a degree in animation design, having idled away his three years of university.

He wasn’t even proficient with Photoshop, let alone Maya, Blender, or ZBrush. Even the roadside print shop back in his hometown thought his skills were garbage.

His older brother was a Cloud Speed Courier. After seeing the company’s internal benefits, he immediately signed Huang Rui up and got him a job at Orange Car Industry.

Room and board were covered, and he made over 6,000 yuan a month.

It wasn’t considered a high salary in Xicheng, but since he was cooped up in the factory all day, he had managed to save nearly 20,000 yuan in three months. It was much better than being a freeloader at home.

"You punk, at least you went to college. I don’t even know which way the high school gate faces."

Zhu Angui said with a sigh.

Huang Rui envied him for being a senior craftsman who could earn eight or nine thousand a month; he, in turn, envied Huang Rui for being educated and knowing how to use computers and smartphones.

Unlike himself, who had bought a Qingcheng D2 and still had to ask Huang Rui how to download porn.

They were both loyal fans of "Teacher" Boduo and "Teacher" Okita. They would occasionally "watch the game" together. Despite their age gap, they often called each other "brother" and were thick as thieves.

"School is useless. If I’d known a factory like Orange Car Industry existed, I would’ve come here right after my college entrance exams."

Huang Rui said with a sly grin.

"You and the big boss are the same age. When you finished your exams, he hadn’t even started his business yet. What the hell kind of job would you have gotten?" Zhu Angui said, rolling his eyes.

"Huh? I guess you’re right." Huang Rui scratched his head.

The two of them chatted idly as they walked and soon entered the cafeteria. They grabbed clean trays at the entrance and looked for the shortest line.

The cafeteria was run by the factory itself, not outsourced. The prices were low: vegetable dishes were two to three yuan, half-meat dishes were four to five yuan, full-meat dishes were six to eight yuan, and a bowl of rice was 0.4 yuan.

The five hundred yuan monthly meal stipend was more than enough.

Many of the employees had healthy, glowing complexions from eating well, and they were full of vigor.

"Director Cheng!"

"Hello, Director!"

"Director, you even come here to eat in person?"

The workers joked lightheartedly when they saw Cheng Zilong.

"I also take a shit in person, what about it?" Cheng Zilong retorted grumpily, holding his tray.

He was previously the vice director of Tai Ling Electric Vehicle’s Shencheng City branch. He had toiled in the manufacturing industry for over a decade and was quite capable, but he lacked the support of a powerful benefactor.

Seeing that his prospects for promotion at Tai Ling were dim, he happened to hear that Senlian Capital had bought an electric vehicle factory. It wasn’t large, with only about 100 employees.

But he submitted his resume without hesitation. After four rounds of interviews, he was personally selected by Chen Yansen and ultimately became the CEO and factory director of Orange Car Industry.

As he put it when reassuring his wife: "Orange Car Industry might be a little small, but it’s still a subsidiary of Senlian Capital. The salary and benefits are about the same. After all this time, your husband has finally made it into a big company."

As it turned out, his choice was the right one.

His job at Orange Car Industry was even easier than he had imagined. For the first six months, they were constantly producing electric vehicles for Kuai Pao, OFO, and Cloud Speed Express, so there was no sales pressure at all.

The upcoming Orange Q1 was equipped with the world’s latest Deep Blue Battery. Plus, the company had no shortage of sales channels, so he had even less reason to worry about sales.

The workers who had been on the receiving end of Cheng Zilong’s retort weren’t scared or angry. Instead, they just laughed, wiped their mouths, and gave him the seats they were sitting in.

The other employees weren’t surprised. Outside of work hours, Director Cheng never put on airs with the staff.

...

...

「Three days later, on August 5th.」

The pre-order link for the Orange Q1 went live on the Orange Mall, Pinbei’s "Ten Billion Subsidy" program, and the flagship stores on platforms like Tmall and Jingdong.

It was compact and lightweight. The battery was only 600 grams, yet its range was an impressive 48 kilometers.

Most importantly, the price was only 999 yuan!

"The Orange family has a new member. Did Chen Yansen switch careers to sell electric vehicles?"

"Gotta say, that price is amazing!"

"It’s too small. It can fit two people at most."

"And two people isn’t enough? Hey, guy above me, are you from Tianzhu or something?"

"Mom will never have to worry about my battery getting stolen again. It’s only 600 grams, so it’s much safer to just carry it home with me."

"Safe? Are you kidding me? A month ago in our neighborhood, someone carried their battery home to charge it. A family of three, all gone, just like that."

There was a lot of discussion online, but even more people were placing orders.

Because the Orange Q1 had a built-in GPS locator, you could find the vehicle’s location through an app, which was like an extra layer of insurance.

In addition, the app would also record information for every trip, such as the route, distance, and speed.

Chen Yansen didn’t intend to make much of a hardware profit from the Orange Q1; big data was his real objective.

By leveraging external power, the route planning for Kuai Pao, Cloud Speed, and Gaode Map would become more precise, building a stronger technological barrier.

Even the local Central Bureau would pay to purchase the relevant data when planning elevated highways, roads, and national highways.

He wasn’t making money on the surface, but he was raking it in behind the scenes.

On the day of its release, the Orange Q1 sold 94,000 units. The officially announced number was 100,000.

These sales figures gave Yadea and Emma a huge shock.

Senlian Capital succeeded in every industry it entered, which also made competitors in the air conditioning industry tremble in fear. After all, just a month ago, Chen Yansen had acquired Xinke’s air conditioner and television businesses in Changzhou.

Who could guarantee that Orange Air Conditioners wouldn’t have a negative impact on their sales?

Dong Mingzhu was also worried, but this time she didn’t dare provoke Chen Yansen again. The moment she posted on Weibo, the comments section would be flooded with demands for her to extend Gree’s air conditioner warranty period.

Changing it from 6 years to 10 years sounded like just a few simple words.

But it would result in billions in additional costs each year. How could it be that easy?

She didn’t understand.

’Where did Chen Yansen get the courage to promise a ten-year warranty!’