Taek-gyu and I flew to Michigan on a private jet and met with Governor Hubble Butler.
Governor Butler is a Democrat, but he supported Ronald during the presidential election. This was because Ronald had promised to create jobs here.
At the time, he was pointed at as a traitor within the Democratic Party, but his choice proved correct. Because now, his approval rating is over 70 percent.
We sat down and chatted comfortably.
Currently, Detroit was experiencing an unprecedented boom. Attracting the game industry here, including OTK Games, was another feather in his cap. FaceIt also decided to build a research center to study VR technology and car infotainment.
At this point, re-election was practically in the bag. It would also be a great help when he ran for other offices later.
Perhaps because of this, Governor Butler welcomed us enthusiastically.
"Welcome."
Businesspeople who invest money and create jobs are always welcomed wherever they go.
We discussed matters related to state government support. The major framework of the negotiation had been settled before we met; this meeting was to confirm it.
Governor Butler expressed his anticipation and promised active support regarding administrative procedures and taxes.
Next, we visited the CarOS headquarters.
Daryl looked utterly exhausted, as always. As soon as he saw us, he said with mock complaint:
"Cars selling too well is also a problem, you know."
As production got into full swing, US sales proceeded smoothly. Fortunately, they had escaped the production hell they had feared.
If you buy ingredients for 10 servings to sell food, you break even after selling 5 servings. The 6th serving turns a profit, and the 7th doubles that profit.
Comparing selling 6 servings to 10, the difference in sales volume is less than double, but the difference in profit is fivefold.
In other words, if there are two companies in the same industry with double the sales revenue difference, the actual net profit difference is several times greater.
With the factory running non-stop, CarOS's profits literally skyrocketed. By using this to invest in new industries and technological development, they could continuously widen the gap with latecomers.
CarOS had now become a standard in self-driving and electric vehicles. Not only the US government but also governments of various countries used CarOS vehicles as a benchmark when issuing related permits.
While they were at it, they planned to cooperate with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to create international standards for self-driving and electric vehicles. The ISO, as its name suggests, is an organization that creates international standards. Once standards are set here, most companies follow them.
"Right now, the electric vehicle market is divided into high-end models using OTK Batteries and equipped with self-driving features, and mid-to-low-end models using NCM batteries."
Thanks to the emergence of OTK Batteries and the operation of TS Company, global battery production volume had increased significantly. The price of cobalt, which once accounted for over 30 percent of battery costs, plummeted, and the price of NCM batteries dropped sharply.
The price drop led to increased demand.
Companies that felt they couldn't compete with CarOS in terms of technology anyway started churning out low-cost EVs utilizing the plummeted NCM batteries.
However, the rapid expansion of EV adoption brought about one serious problem.
I sighed inwardly.
When we released the targeted self-driving EVs, AD3 and AD4, I thought everything was finished....
"It's practically just the beginning now."
At my words, Daryl gave a wry smile.
"Probably, after we solve this issue, another one will begin."
Having a lot to do means there's more room for growth. I should think positively, right?
***
Taek-gyu and I headed to the OTK Research Lab in an AD4.
Even without holding the steering wheel, the car sped smoothly along the lane. When it stopped at a signal, nearby drivers stared with curiosity.
Only 300 units of the AD3 and AD4 had entered Korea. Since they weren't officially sold in Korea yet, their rarity alone surpassed that of a Ferrari.
Although not for sale, you could rent one through car-sharing services. But there were so many applicants that even if you applied now, you'd have to wait two or three months.
Professor Kim Ho-min greeted us warmly.
"You went through trouble coming here."
"Trouble? We just relaxed on the way."
As we sat down, Professor Kim Ho-min poured hot water into mix coffee packets [instant coffee mix popular in Korea] and served them to us.
Taek-gyu usually doesn't drink coffee, but he occasionally drinks mix coffee. He took a sip and exclaimed in admiration.
"Wow! For coffee and magazines, Maxim is definitely the best." [Maxim is a famous coffee brand and a men's magazine in Korea]
"..."
He could film a commercial.
About 200 researchers were actively conducting research at the OTK Research Lab. Half of these researchers were foreigners.
Professor Kim Ho-min was currently the foremost authority in the battery industry. Perhaps thanks to him, many researchers from around the world wanted to work with him. And since the lab operated on OTK Battery patent royalties, the compensation was top-tier.
Even after receiving the Nobel Prize, Professor Kim Ho-min was incredibly busy. He developed technology related to wireless vehicle charging and began commercialization with Seoseong SB.
And now, he was developing another type of battery.
"More like a battery center, perhaps? I'm developing batteries that can store electricity generated by small power plants."
Professor Kim Ho-min explained while sipping his coffee.
For the past few decades, the world had tolerated environmental destruction for the sake of economic growth. But now, the situation had changed somewhat.
Because the environment had been destroyed to the point where further economic growth was difficult.
Factories emit smoke. For economic growth, one had to endure some discomfort. But if that smoke reached a level where people couldn't even breathe, the factories had to stop operating. Or, build factories that emit no smoke or less smoke.
Environmental problems cannot be solved by the efforts of just one or two countries. Developed nations recognized this problem seriously and established international treaties to address it.
Representative examples are the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Climate Agreement.
Taek-gyu, who was listening, said.
"Didn't President Ronald withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement?"
Professor Kim Ho-min nodded.
"Unfortunately, President Ronald seems uninterested in environmental issues. He even openly calls global warming a story concocted by conspiracy theorists."
Unlike other developed countries, the US has historically not been proactive in solving environmental problems. That's why they withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol too.
Anyway, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is now a global goal. So, various countries focused on increasing the proportion of energy sources with low greenhouse gas emissions.
Germany is the country most actively leading this effort.
The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 once again reminded the world of the dangers of nuclear power plants.
Consequently, Japan, the directly affected country, and several others declared a nuclear phase-out, and many countries decided to reduce their reliance on nuclear power.
Germany phased out nuclear power while significantly increasing the share of renewable energy like solar and wind power.
"The most important thing in electricity is reliability. But with solar or wind power, you can't even predict the production amount five minutes later."
Sometimes it's overproduced, sometimes underproduced. If you hold onto excess electricity, the power grid breaks down. Therefore, it needs to be sent immediately to areas where it's needed.
To achieve this, Germany built a power exchange system with neighboring countries. When the weather is good and power production increases, they send it to other countries; when it's insufficient, they draw electricity from other countries.
The problem is, they sell it cheap but have to buy it back at full price. Because whether selling or buying, Germany is the one in need.
The German government was aware of this problem and was researching ways to store the produced energy in batteries.
"For batteries used in cars or electronics, weight and volume are important. But for energy storage, you don't need to worry much about that, so the cost can be significantly lowered. The problematic part is that the maximum charge capacity decreases with repeated charging and discharging, so I'm researching ways to delay that as much as possible."
The idea is to build battery centers near wind turbines or solar panels to automatically charge when electricity is suddenly overproduced, and then release the stored electricity when production drops.
This would pave the way for using renewable energy more efficiently.
"That's amazing."
When I expressed admiration, Professor Kim Ho-min gave a wry smile.
"Even so, this is just a stopgap measure. It only helps make renewable energy more efficient; it doesn't increase the power generation capacity itself."
I nodded.
"Actually, Daryl was also concerned about that point."
Electricity consumption is increasing sharply year by year. There are several factors contributing to this.
First, due to technological advancements, the number of electronic devices we use is constantly increasing. In addition to existing household appliances, new ones like air purifiers, clothing care systems, dryers, and AI speakers have emerged. All these run on electricity.
Climate change is also a problem. Globally, summers are getting hotter and winters colder. Electricity use for cooling and heating due to this has been hitting record highs every year. The amount of electricity used by businesses, such as data centers and servers, is also continuously increasing.
A problem bigger than all these combined is electric vehicles.
Unlike conventional internal combustion engine cars that burn gasoline and diesel to move the engine, EVs use electricity to move the motor.
EVs are significantly more energy-efficient than internal combustion engine cars. Therefore, they have the effect of reducing overall energy consumption, but in return, they cause an explosive increase in electricity consumption.
Due to these issues, there was once speculation that hydrogen cars would dominate the future car market. However, thanks to the development of the OTK Battery, EVs completely pushed out hydrogen cars.
Most experts predicted that EVs would begin to seriously replace internal combustion engine cars in about three years at the earliest, and various countries were preparing accordingly.
But with CarOS releasing self-driving EVs, that timeline was pulled forward much faster than expected.
This year is practically year zero for electric vehicles.
This year alone, 1 out of every 10 new cars sold is expected to be an EV. And next year, this ratio will likely rise above 30 percent.
In other words, more than 10 million EVs pour onto the roads each year. However, compared to the explosive increase in EVs, the expansion of power plants and the power grid has been slow.
Concerned that the rate of increase in power generation could not keep up with the speed of EV growth, some countries showed動き to reduce the EV supply by cutting subsidies or benefits.
But EV prices are falling faster than subsidies are being reduced. If the electricity problem isn't solved, a situation might arise where EV sales have to be restricted.
"Is Korea okay?"
At Taek-gyu's question, Professor Kim Ho-min shook his head.
"Not really okay. Starting from the second half of this year, electricity consumption will significantly exceed government forecasts. Power generation must match the peak load. For example, if you normally use 50, but use 100 even for a single moment, you need facilities capable of generating at least 110. Even if we manage to get through this year somehow, the next year is the problem."
Following Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and others, Korea also declared a nuclear phase-out. Plans for new nuclear power plant construction were halted, and extending the lifespan of aging plants was banned. Instead, they decided to significantly increase the proportion of renewable energy.
The government announced that, based on the trend of electricity demand increase, stopping aging plants and not building new ones wouldn't pose a problem for the power reserve margin, but this plan overlooked the variable of expanding EV adoption.
Taek-gyu blinked.
"What? Then isn't this your fault?"
"...To be precise, isn't it our fault?"
If we hadn't invested, EVs wouldn't have spread this quickly. Then this problem would also have been postponed a bit longer.
If electricity demand continues to increase, will phasing out nuclear power be okay?
Nuclear power handles the base load power generation. Base load refers to operating 24 hours a day to provide the foundation of electricity supply.
This part is filled by nuclear power plants and coal-fired power plants, which have low generation costs. Then, when demand increases, LNG power plants and others are run at full capacity.
"What if you still can't meet the electricity demand even after doing that?"
"Then a blackout occurs... a massive power outage."
Electricity is the foundation of modern civilization. No civilization can exist without electricity.
The conclusion is that electricity consumption will increase explosively in the future, and power generation capacity must be increased. How to increase it will surely be a point of contention among people.
Taek-gyu said.
"In movies or novels, some amazing energy source like nuclear fusion appears and solves all problems in one go."
Professor Kim Ho-min chuckled.
"Maybe someday that will really happen. But it's impossible right now. New technology doesn't suddenly pop out of nowhere; it's built upon existing technology."
Not to mention laptops or smartphones, even simple machines like toasters can only be made once society's overall technological level reaches a certain point.
Creating the OTK Battery was possible because the technologies of existing LFP and NCM batteries served as a foundation.
"Professor, what are your thoughts on the nuclear phase-out?"
At my question, Professor Kim Ho-min scratched his head and said.
"I agree with increasing the share of renewable energy. But I oppose stopping nuclear power generation. As of now, there's no other alternative."