Leading battery companies talk about the new trend of lithium battery

In a recent industry event, industry companies including CATL, BYD, Panasonic, EVE, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, BAK Battery, Sunwoda, Weilan New Energy, SES and other industry companies have given “Huashan Lunjian”. opportunity. Here you can refer to Top 10 power battery companies.

LFP will still be the mainstream battery material for economical car companies

According to data from the Power Battery Application Branch, the installed capacity of power batteries in the Chinese market in 2021 is about 159.6GWh, of which lithium iron phosphate batteries are installed at 81.7GWh, accounting for 51.2%.

The installed capacity of ternary batteries is 77.6GWh, accounting for 48.6%. The installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate has completely reversed the ternary battery and occupies the mainstream.

Based on the advantages of abundant sources of lithium iron phosphate materials, low cost, high safety, and good cycle performance, companies including CATL, BYD, EVE, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, SVOLT, BAK Battery and other companies almost unanimously believe that the mainstream status of this technology in the future cannot be shaken.

BYD even believes that “adhering to lithium iron phosphate is the correct development path”. Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, bluntly stated that safety is the cornerstone of the development of new energy vehicles, and cost is an important indicator that must be faced. When performance crosses a certain threshold, the importance of energy density decreases.

According to Battery China, the current energy density of BYD’s lithium iron phosphate blade battery system has increased from 140Wh/kg in 2020 to 150Wh/kg. The increase in system energy density and group efficiency has once again increased the power of the same battery pack. Achieve longer cruising range.

Li Zhen, chairman of Guoxuan Hi-Tech, believes that “the proportion of iron-lithium and ternary battery production will gradually evolve to 6:4 in the future.” According to him, Guoxuan Hi-Tech’s lithium iron phosphate battery with a single energy density of 210Wh/kg has been mass-produced, and a 230Wh/kg lithium iron phosphate battery will be mass-produced by the end of this year. It will replace the ternary battery in a wider range.”

Liu Jincheng, chairman of EVE, said that the lithium iron phosphate battery has a stable structure and good weather resistance, and if a flat electrode is used, the response of the battery is more balanced, the life is very good, it can do 4000 or even 8000 cycles, It provides cheap and high-quality batteries for popular models and long-term use. “Square laminated lithium iron phosphate will be the mainstream technical route for economical models.”

Fan Wenguang, vice president of BAK Battery, holds the same view. Fan Wenguang believes that, the square lithium iron phosphate battery will be the mainstream material and technical route for economical vehicles.

In addition, SVOLT has also deployed a standardized “short knife” iron-lithium battery, relying on economy, compatibility, high energy density and high safety to focus on the economical vehicle market.

Large cylindrical battery may become one of the important forms of mid-to-high-end models

Tesla proposed 4680 large cylindrical batteries on “Battery Day”. In just two years, the advantages of large cylindrical batteries such as safety, manufacturing efficiency, cost, and performance have been gradually verified.

Yuki Nanami, president of Panasonic, said recently that 4680 batteries will become the mainstream of cylindrical batteries in the future，”The 4680 battery is a ‘double innovation’ work in battery structure and material: using a large cylindrical structure, the capacity is 5 times higher than that of the 2170 battery.”

In the past, EVE adhered to the strategy of diversified technical routes in the field of power batteries, with square, soft pack, and cylinder layouts, and materials also covered ternary and lithium iron phosphate（cylindrical lithium ion battery）.

However, recently, Liu Jincheng’s statement that “cylindrical batteries have become a hot spot in industry research and vaguely become the ultimate technical direction of power batteries” seems to indirectly confirm the main technical direction of EVE in the power field.

Liu Jincheng said that large cylindrical batteries have absolute safety and cost advantages, which are mainly reflected in the following four dimensions:
One is the ultimate standard, design, manufacture and even recycling can be standardized.
The second is extremely reliable, the structure is stable in the whole life cycle, there is zero stress between the batteries, and there is no change from the beginning of use to the end of the battery.

The third is the ultimate manufacturing, which can achieve the ultimate manufacturing, the process path is shortened by 30%, and the GWh production efficiency is higher.
The fourth is the ultimate system, which realizes a chemical system with a nickel content of 90% and uses silicon carbon materials. “Three tests at the cell level, module level, and system level have verified that large cylindrical batteries will become the main power source for future high-end models.”

Fan Wenguang said that the current power battery market has formed a situation of three forms of square shell/blade, soft pack, and cylinder. The performance advantages of various aspects determine that the large cylindrical power battery will be the most suitable for mid-to-high-end electric vehicles in the next 5-10 years. optimal solution.

In terms of the layout of large cylindrical products, it is reported that Yiwei Lithium Energy has laid out two main models of 4680 and 4695, and has started the construction of the 20GWh passenger car large cylindrical battery project, and the production capacity is expected to continue to grow in the future.

BAK Battery’s 46 series of large cylindrical batteries are planned for products ranging from 80-120mm and with an energy density of 275-300Wh/kg. It is planned to produce small batches in the second half of this year and mass production in 2023. The production capacity will be expanded to 80GWh in the next few years. .

An important driving force behind the active layout of companies such as Panasonic, Yiwei and BAK in the field of large cylinders is the recognition of their domestic and foreign customers.

Panasonic is currently determined to supply Tesla, and Yiwei Lithium Energy also said that it will provide support for international leading car companies. BAK has also actively verified and connected with mainstream car companies at home and abroad.

Judging from the current research and development of cylindrical batteries by various companies, the design of electrodeless tabs (full tabs), high-nickel materials, silicon anode materials, and process innovation are important factors to achieve the outstanding performance of large cylinders.

According to Fan Wenguang, for the large cylinder process, in addition to the different ways of handling the current collector, the other processes are basically the same.
“The difficulty of the current process is the welding technology. In the manufacturing process of the large cylinder, the consistency of the welding technology directly determines the quality and consistency of the cells.”

It is worth noting that the Ningde era has iterated the CTP technology to the third generation, which is called “Kirin battery” internally. “Under the same chemical system and the same battery pack size, the power of the Kirin battery pack can be increased by 13% compared to the 4680 system.” The chief scientist of CATL said that it means to challenge the 4680. However, it is still not convincing only in terms of group efficiency, and PK in terms of safety, cost, and manufacturing efficiency also requires relevant data verification.

The research and development of solid-liquid hybrid battery technology is accelerated

It is reported that Weilan New Energy is cooperating with Weilai Automobile and plans to launch a solid-liquid hybrid electrolyte battery with a range of 1,000 kilometers on a single charge based on the ET7 model. This solid-state battery is expected to start mass production at the end of this year or the first half of next year.

Hu Qichao, founder and CEO of SES, recently revealed that the company has officially started the production and testing of the first A-sample lithium metal battery in Shanghai, and has jointly developed A-samples with GM, Hyundai and Honda.

This is also the world’s first development product of an automotive A sample in lithium metal. It is reported that this battery adopts solid-liquid mixed state technology, and according to the plan, the product will be officially mass-produced in 2025.

In addition, Li Zhen also revealed that Guoxuan Hi-Tech’s 360Wh/kg ternary semi-solid battery is rapidly moving towards industrialization.