The first batch of nickel-iron alkaline batteries began to be put on the market only a month after the completion of the test in the real room. And the response is not bad, but because there are no other car manufacturers in the United States except McDonald, this battery naturally cannot be used to power the starting motor and lights of the car engine as originally planned. But even so, it is still quite marketable, and under the impetus of Morgan, this thing began to be used as a backup power source for various power equipment.

Because in those days, the stability of the power supply could not be compared with modern times, and power outages were a common occurrence at the time. In modern times, you don't necessarily experience that many power outages in a year, and you'll be notified before almost every power outage. But in this day and age, if you don't stop powering for a week, people will feel that it is simply abnormal. However, people are becoming more accustomed to the convenience that electricity brings. This is true in life and production. Therefore, at that time, many businesses or families (of course, wealthy families) would take some measures to deal with power outages. For example, most factories at that time would equip themselves with a generator, as for the family, although the MacDonald consortium has launched a small generator based on the gasoline engine, but the price of that thing is still a little higher, the average person cannot afford it, and the family who can afford it will think that it is too noisy to run. In contrast, they prefer to use battery packs. Dealing with power outages has become an important direction for Morgan and Edison to promote their batteries. Although it is more expensive than the average lead-acid battery, Edison and Morgan thought of a good way to promote it, that is, to promote its safety and convenience.

General lead-acid batteries need to be replenished with electrolyte frequently, which is very troublesome to maintain. And because the electrolyte in the lead-acid battery is sulfuric acid, it must be opened on the battery in order to facilitate the replenishment of the electrolyte. Once overused, it is easy to leak and leak gas (volatile sulfuric acid gas), so it will naturally have a certain danger. In addition, there is no shortage of some extremely dangerous saboteurs in the human race at almost all times - bear children. In any era, accidents caused by bear children are always indispensable every year. In modern times, bears throw firecrackers into small holes in manhole covers, and use homemade thermite to burn through the concrete floor slabs of their homes. In that era, the bears would also connect the positive and negative electrodes of the battery pack, or add non-pure water to the battery.

Such a messy approach naturally led to a series of disasters. You can often read in the newspapers about fires, explosions, and all sorts of articles on how to use lead-acid batteries safely.

So Morgan and Edison began to advertise the safety advantages of their new batteries. For example, even if there is an occasional short circuit, there will not be a lot of hydrogen gas explosions (of course, a short circuit will also lead to other problems, such as overheating and fire, but neither Morgan nor Edison is very disciplined and did not mention this). In addition, it does not need to be replenished with electrolyte as often as lead-acid batteries, which naturally reduces the chance of accidents.

Of course, the price of this battery is much more expensive than the general lead-acid battery, but for those wealthy families, there are still many people who will choose the latter when it comes to choosing between a little more expensive and safer. This is especially true of the kind that has a group of bear children at home. So the sales of Edison's batteries are really good.

Edison also developed an electric car based on this, which was fully charged and ran a full 100-mile range at the time of the presentation. However, because almost all of the car's load is used to load batteries, this thing has a limited future compared to cars, and it is just a gimmick to prove the performance of the battery. Nowadays, Edison attaches the most importance to the development of gasoline engines that have just begun.

……

"Morgan's new battery seems to be selling very well." Scrooge said to Dorothea with a grin.

"Well, to say, Edison's level is really good. This battery does have its own uniqueness. Dorothea also praised Edison very generously. Being able to objectively look at the strengths of others is exactly what is necessary for those in a position of position. Those who are in a position of higher power can be biased, but may not be fair everywhere, because partiality and injustice can sometimes better protect their own interests. But if you can't even look at people objectively, how can you know when to be partial and when to be fair? Therefore, according to the superior people, such as in the past, Han Gaozu let Chen Ping manage the appointment and promotion of officials, Chen Ping accepted bribes and wantonly used power for personal gain, but did not let a mediocre person take the position; Zhang Juzheng is the first assistant, and bribery is parallel, but it does not prevent him from using more virtuous abilities. On the other hand, who are the few people who are dragged into the water by their subordinates? If you can't look at people fairly in your heart and see everyone's strengths and weaknesses, how can you become a qualified person in the upper position?

"Edison was an amazing talent." Scrooge replied. Edison, the king of inventories in history, was not only a brilliant inventor, but also a good businessman. Compared with another genius of the same name - Nikola Tesla, Edison may not be better than him in science, especially when science and technology are further advanced, Edison's lack of academic foundation is a lot of hindrance, at least compared with Tesla, Edison's scientific level is obviously inferior. But Tesla was almost suppressed by Edison for most of his life. The reason for this is that Edison was not only an inventor, but also a business-minded businessman, while Tesla was much worse off in this regard, and many of his research projects were too derived from his own hobbies and interests rather than market sensitivity. Moreover, Edison was not as rebellious as Tesla, for example, in history, Tesla had a good thing that could make a lot of money such as the patent right of alternating current, but because it was unwilling to be exploited by Morgan, the workers announced that they would abandon the patent for alternating current. It also declared that the progress of science and technology should be shared by the people of the world. In contrast, Edison was also exploited by Morgan, and it can even be said that he was almost played by Morgan all his life, and most of the benefits of his epoch-making inventions also fell into the hands of the Morgan consortium. But Edison will not be like Tesla, and announced that he would give up his patent on electric lights and make him belong to the world.

"In this time and space, Edison was actually controlled by Morgan again, is this considered the inertia of history?" Scrooge even had time to think so.

"In a few months, Edison's battery problems will pop up." Scrooge said to Dorothea with a smile.

"Oh? What did you do? Dorothea was immediately interested.

"I didn't do anything. It's just that there is a problem with their battery itself. Scrooge said.

The so-called problem of the battery itself refers to the problem that the nickel-iron alkaline battery is extremely affected by temperature and does not perform well under low temperature conditions. Although Scrooge came through time, he didn't know much about the weaknesses of this battery. He only knew that this kind of battery was not widely used in later generations, and believed that it was definitely not without reason.

After Edison's new battery was put on the market, the McDonald consortium naturally bought some to do a test, so the weakness of this battery was exposed to Scrooge.

"Their low-temperature performance is terrible, much worse than lead-acid batteries. It won't be long before the first cold snap arrives, maybe in a month or so. And by that time, our electric heaters will be available. At that time, as long as we pull the switch normally, everyone will immediately find out the problem with their battery. Now, let them succeed a little longer, and it will make Morgan more willing to invest in their other projects. Scrooge concluded.

……

"Mr. Morgan, recently our battery factory has brought us more than $30,000 in profits." Edison said to Morgan proudly, "It's not a big number, but it's close to recouping our investment in this project, but I think it's going to be very promising in the future, and the benefits we can get in the end will definitely be much greater than that." Of course, this is still very insignificant compared to the whole real yàn room. But I think it will definitely greatly increase the confidence of those who are concerned about the real room. ”

"Thomas, we've always had a lot of confidence in you and your team." Morgan smiled kindly at Edison, "It's a good start, but the more important project is the gasoline engine." How's the project going? ”

"We've managed to make a replica of one, and now it's a little bit bit different from McDonald's in terms of performance, but I think it's easy to fix. Of course, because of some patent issues, it is impossible for us to directly copy MacDonald's gasoline engine, but I already have some ideas to bypass MacDonald's patent barriers. However, these practices can compromise the balance of engine performance or increase costs. Edison replied.

"Balance that affects performance? What does that mean? Morgan asked.

"That's it...... For example, with some technical means, we should be able to make our engines as powerful as McDonald's, or even slightly better, but we will probably have to pay the price of reliability, or fuel economy. Edison explained.

"In other words, in terms of overall performance, it is difficult for us to surpass the MacDonald's engine?" Morgan asked, "In that case, should we simply be paranoid about a certain performance in order to gain an advantage in that performance." For example, power or something. I remember when Scrooge was promoting his rear-loading gun, he had a shooting contest or something, and it turned out that his step. The gun became famous in one fell swoop. We can do something like this. For example, if we have a particularly powerful engine, we'll do a speed car or something. Do you have confidence in this requirement? ”

"It's not a problem, it's just that the cost of such an engine is definitely high. The market outlook may not be very good. Edison said.

"Make a name for yourself before you can think about making a fortune. So we can sell this type of vehicle at cost price. With my support, you don't have to worry about funding. Morgan said.

This argument persuaded Edison, but in fact, Edison did not understand Morgan's thoughts. In fact, at least for a short time, Morgan didn't think about making too much money with cars. But he can use this kind of disruptive behavior to reduce the profit margin of the entire car market. Of course, there is no need to say much about this purpose with Edison. Because, this is not exactly in line with Edison's interests. In the original history, Edison has been accused by Morgan to death, not without reason.