Homo Sapiens

The Hongsawaddy Branch was still adjusting its plans to adapt to the new materials.

Meanwhile, at the Luzon Branch, many new materials had already been incorporated into applied projects.

Take the gas turbine project Li Qingye was currently inspecting, for instance.

The gas turbine project in Luzon had begun long ago. The project was initiated back when the Homo Sapiens Company had first started making substantial profits.

The Gas Turbine Research Institute, established for over two years, had not only completed the R&D and mass production of small and medium-sized gas turbines but had also developed several relatively subpar large-scale models.

The head of the institute, Ada (who also served as the General Manager of Luzon Electric Company), and Chief Technical Officer Zhang Chengyu were nervously presenting their research findings to Li Qingye.

Although Zhang Chengyu possessed the pride typical of a technical expert, he couldn’t afford to be arrogant in front of Li Qingye. He began his presentation with utmost respect:

"Chairman, our company is now capable of producing various models of gas turbines. Especially after incorporating the new materials, the weight, energy efficiency, and service life of our large-scale gas turbines have all seen significant improvements."

Li Qingye flipped through their product specifications and compared them with the data on gas turbines from General Electric, Siemens, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in his database. The gap between them was no longer significant.

In the production workshop before them, a heavy-duty gas turbine was being assembled.

"What model is this gas turbine?"

Ada quickly replied, "It’s our ZX-200. It’s primarily used for thermal power generation, with a power output of 200 megawatts, a thermal efficiency of 58.6%, and a combustion chamber operating temperature of 1600 degrees Celsius."

"Not bad. You need to scale up production. In the future, thermal power plants, large ships, nuclear power plants, and even cars and trains will all require gas turbines," Li Qingye said, nodding with satisfaction.

Although it was a bit behind Siemens’ 63% thermal efficiency, compared to the gas turbines from Huaguo’s Eastern Gas Turbine Company, which only had about 50% thermal efficiency, Luzon Electric Company was already doing exceptionally well.

Besides, Siemens had been cultivating the gas turbine industry for over a hundred years. It was only natural that a gap existed.

"We will definitely continue to work hard and strive to produce even better gas turbines for the company," Ada said, her voice tinged with excitement.

Hearing the mention of gas turbines for the automotive industry, Zhang Chengyu recalled the company’s recent plans to invest in building a factory in Siam. He asked cautiously:

"Chairman, we can now produce all our own materials and components. For the production of micro-turbines in Siam, what level of technology should we use?"

He asked this because some of the materials used within the Homo Sapiens Company were highly classified.

When used in power plants and ships, it was relatively easy to maintain secrecy.

But it was much harder to maintain secrecy with automobiles, as they would inevitably be sold to the civilian market.

Li Qingye stroked his chin, then gave his instruction: "Use primarily Grade C materials, with a small amount of Grade B materials."

"I understand." Zhang Chengyu now had a clear direction.

Luzon Electric Company was definitely going to enter the gas-powered automobile market.

Previously, many of the gas-powered car engines used internally by the Homo Sapiens Company were just modified gasoline engines—a stopgap measure.

Because these modified engines weren’t specifically designed for gas, their thermal efficiency was low, and they also posed certain safety risks.

Therefore, designing dedicated micro-turbines had become the core factor in advancing the development of gas-powered cars.

Zhang Chengyu did a rough calculation. Although using Grade B and C materials would reduce the service life, this was one of the unwritten rules for civilian products.

Using the Homo Sapiens Company’s current Grade A materials, a gas turbine could have a service life of around thirty to forty years. With proper maintenance, that could even be doubled.

Civilian vehicles clearly didn’t require such a long service life.

Their engines only needed a service life of about 15 years.

Of course, this was just the designed service life. It didn’t mean the engine would only last for 15 years, but rather that its thermal efficiency would remain stable within that period. Beyond that, its thermal efficiency would decline and its failure rate would increase.

According to Zhang Chengyu’s estimates, a gas turbine for a civilian car only needed to achieve about 50% thermal efficiency with a 15-year service life.

Currently, the thermal efficiencies of typical civilian gasoline, diesel, and natural gas engines were between 30–35%, 35–45%, and 40–50%, respectively.

A micro-turbine from Luzon Electric Company for a civilian car, achieving 50% thermal efficiency, would already be considered a mid-to-high-end product on the market.

It could be improved further, but there was no need.

When manufacturing a product, one must consider cost-effectiveness, not blindly pursue high performance.

If they used a micro-turbine with 58% thermal efficiency, production costs could increase two to three times over.

For a typical civilian car with a service life of only ten-odd years, it simply wasn’t worth the cost.

Li Qingye wasn’t particularly concerned with economic efficiency within their internal ecosystem.

But the automotive industry was destined to enter the external circulation of the global market, which meant it had to prioritize economic efficiency.

"Ada."

"Yes, Chairman. Your orders?"

"Arrange for the Siam factory as soon as possible. You can establish a joint venture brand with the Chiang Mai Group, and then bring the products back to Luzon for sale."

Ada nodded. "Yes, I’ll see to it immediately."

"Oh, and for now, don’t produce core components in Siam. The situation there isn’t stable yet." Li Qingye’s subtext was that the place hadn’t been "cleaned up" yet, and there was a risk of leaks.

"I will personally oversee this and guarantee that no company secrets are leaked."

Li Qingye then had the two lead the way. "Let’s go see the production area for marine gas turbines."

"Please follow me."

Riding an electric tour cart, they passed through a large, park-like partition zone before arriving at another production workshop.

This workshop produced various models of marine gas turbines, as well as their matching marine bearings and propellers.

「Inside the workshop.」

"Chairman, this is the C-20 gas turbine. It has a maximum power output of 20 megawatts, a single-unit maximum horsepower of 27,000, and a thermal efficiency of 42.2%."

"And the weight?"

Zhang Chengyu explained, "It was 37 tons before. Now it’s 18.6 tons."

"The material bonus is quite significant!" Li Qingye said, shaking his head with a smile.

"It’s all because the new materials developed by you, Chairman, are so outstanding. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult for us to reduce the weight. In fact, we still haven’t fully unleashed the materials’ potential," Zhang Chengyu replied respectfully.

Li Qingye waved his hand. "Then keep tapping that potential. As long as our designs keep up, we won’t lose to any company."

"Of course. We’re confident about that," Zhang Chengyu said, full of confidence.

If they were holding such amazing materials and still performed like they were completely useless, Li Qingye would probably send them to be reforged from scratch.

"The C-20’s power is still a bit low. Marine gas turbines from Europe and America are already reaching the 30-40 megawatt range. You all need to keep pushing."

Zhang Chengyu nodded. "The research institute has already initiated projects to develop the next-generation C-30 and C-40."

After his thorough inspection of Luzon Electric’s gas turbine industry, Li Qingye was generally satisfied.

Although their products hadn’t surpassed those of European and American Enterprises, their overall level was rapidly closing the gap.

As long as Ada, Zhang Chengyu, and the others didn’t do something stupid in the future, this subsidiary could basically become self-sufficient. It would no longer need the secret production subsidies it had relied on before.

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