Will the large cylindrical batteries mass production

Tesla, BMW and other international OEMs have clearly promoted the application of large cylindrical batteries, and large cylindrical batteries have become one of the important directions for the upstream and downstream industrial chains of equipment, materials, and batteries to jointly tackle difficulties.

● On the one hand, the research and development of large cylindrical batteries has achieved performance breakthroughs in energy density, cruising range, charging anxiety, and safety after multiple rounds of material exploration and technological breakthroughs.

● On the other hand, the production of large cylinders has completed high-yield, high-consistency, and standardized research in terms of process and equipment verification.

Many companies increase the layout of large cylindrical batteries

Electric vehicles are accelerating to replace fuel vehicles. According to data, the penetration rate of electric vehicles will reach 26% in 2022. However, in terms of performance, electric vehicles still have shortcomings in comparison to fuel vehicles. Issues such as battery safety, mileage anxiety, charging inconvenience and low value retention rate still affect consumer decision-making.

Improving battery performance on the basis of existing platforms will pose challenges to safety and cost. In this context, many companies have set their sights on large cylindrical batteries.

In terms of safety, the large cylinder is the best pressure vessel based on its own advantages. In addition, BAK battery adopts the design of the pole side and the sealing part in the battery technology, which ensures zero spread of battery thermal runaway.

In terms of range anxiety, the products delivered by BAK Battery in 2021 can already be charged from 10% to 80% in just 12 minutes. In addition, in an environment of -20°C, the battery can still be charged to 80% within 15 minutes.

Far East Battery has been deeply involved in the field of cylindrical batteries for many years. Focusing on the ternary system and continuously extending the product line, a series of high specific energy and medium rate products have been developed, and a diversified and multi-applicability product matrix has been established, which has been able to fully cover the performance requirements of different application scenarios in the small power tool batteries market.

At present, Far East Battery capacity-type 18650 cylindrical cells have been upgraded from the earliest 18650-2.5Ah to 3.8Ah, and 21700 cylindrical cells have been upgraded from the initial 21700-4.0Ah to 5.5Ah. While the capacity is increased, the cycle life still meets the car-level standard of maintaining more than 80% of the capacity in 1000 cycles, and can support the maximum 3C discharge demand.

Mass production and application of large cylindrical batteries is coming soon

According to industry insiders, more than 10 leading power battery companies in the world are currently developing large cylinders. Among them, the production efficiency of the top-level enterprises has reached 300PPM, the yield rate has reached more than 90%, and the annual production capacity of a single line has reached 10GWh.

Leading car companies and battery companies generally believe that large cylindrical batteries, which have the advantages of high standardization, flexible production lines, high safety, and great potential for cost reduction, are expected to continue to expand their applications in electric vehicles, energy storage, and small power markets in the future.

BAK will launch a representative first-generation product, which will start mass production in 2024. Its energy density will reach more than 280Wh/kg, and it will also support 4C fast charging. This high-performance route will first iterate in the direction of lightweight and continuous optimization of the chemical system, reaching more than 300Wh/kg. At the same time, within 3 years, a quasi-solid-state product with an energy density of more than 330Wh/kg will be launched.

In addition, in order to meet the needs of the economical market, BAK Battery will also combine the advantages of good compatibility of cylindrical batteries to simultaneously launch low-cost series on the same platform.

In response to the performance requirements of the battery cells raised by the market and technology upgrades, Far East Battery has been continuously upgraded, leading the mass production of two high-capacity products of 18650-3800mAh and 21700-5500mAh. Breaking through the mass production capacity limit of 18650 battery and 21700 battery, they have become the new darling of the overseas light travel market.

Far East Battery has diversified products and rich technical reserves, and has done forward-looking research on sodium-ion batteries and (semi) solid-state new batteries. In the future, Far East Battery will adhere to technological innovation, continue to advance in small power markets such as light travel, electric tools, and smart homes, and meet new opportunities with product strength.

Large cylindrical mass production is fully prepared under intelligent manufacturing

In the current development and competition of the global power battery industry, large cylindrical power batteries obviously play an important role. As a key link connecting the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, large cylindrical batteries are giving full play to their advantages to drive the entire industrial chain to achieve high-quality development.

From the latest trends in the main materials, auxiliary materials and manufacturing equipment of large cylindrical batteries, it can be seen that the upstream of the industrial chain is undergoing a new change, and companies have laid out their plans one after another, and are fully prepared for the mass production of large cylindrical batteries.

According to relevant data, it is estimated that the bidding volume of 46 series large cylindrical battery equipment in 2023 is expected to reach 20~30GWh, and related lithium battery equipment companies are expected to be the first to benefit.

At present, the large cylinder manufacturing equipment has achieved intelligent transformation, including high-speed, wrinkle-resistant homogenate sheet production, high-speed, high-precision winding assembly, energy-saving and efficient chemical composition and artificial intelligence automatic inspection and packaging. Furthermore, the intelligentization of battery manufacturing will further reduce the cost of battery production.

At the same time, the industrialization of large cylindrical batteries will also promote the development and improvement of related intelligent solutions such as factory simulation, AI visual recognition, and big data process optimization. Professionals also said that large cylindrical power batteries are an important part of the high-quality development of the new energy industry chain.

Under the new situation of global electrification and intelligent acceleration, the new energy industry is seeking an effective high-quality development path, and large cylindrical power batteries will occupy a certain position in the mid-to-high-end market in the future.