Leading battery companies comes in - cylindrical battery market competition intensifies

Northvolt has also adopted brand names for its existing square and new cylindrical products – “Ling on Berry Power” for cylindrical batteries and “Ling on Berry Life” for prismatic products.

Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt develops cylindrical batteries

Northvolt was founded by former Tesla executives and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Its main business includes the manufacturing of power batteries and the production and recycling of cathode materials for batteries. Its customers include Volkswagen, BMW and Volvo.

Founded just six years ago, Northvolt has already received investment from BMW, Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs, Spotify, and other well-known companies and institutions.In July this year, signed 1.1 billion USD convertible notes, including Volkswagen Group, Goldman Sachs asset Management and other 15 enterprises or investment institutions participated in the financing.

Northvolt aims to compete with Asian companies such as CATL in top 10 lithium ion battery manufacturers in China and LG Chem, and aims to take a 25 percent market share in Europe by 2030.To that end, the company is expanding battery capacity:

In February, Northvolt and Volvo announced that the two companies would jointly build a battery manufacturing plant in Gothenburg, western Sweden, which would open in 2023 and start production in 2025.In late February, Northvolt said in a statement that it planned to convert a shut-down paper mill in Sweden into a battery material plant.When fully operational, the new plant will be able to produce more than 100GWh of cathode material for batteries per year, in addition to making cells.

In march, it was announced that Northvolt had chosen to build a new 60GWh plant in heide, in the northern German state of schleswig-holstein, with an estimated investment of around 4 billion euros.In May, Northvolt delivered its first battery products to customers, becoming the first battery company in Europe to supply a car company commercially. Northvolt also plans to go public in the next two years, and the company is “well positioned” for an initial public offering.

Other companies competing for orders

So how does Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt’s announcement of the 2170 have implications for other cylindrical battery manufacturers?

According to data, in 2021, the cylindrical battery shipments of Panasonic, LG and Samsung SDI, three Battery manufacturers from Japan and South Korea, will occupy 80% of the global market share, and the pattern is highly concentrated.However, according to industry insiders in South Korea, the mass production of The Northvolt 2170 cylindrical battery will not shake the market position of LG, Samsung SDI and Panasonic in the short term, but Northvolt will compete with other battery industry companies for orders.It is worth noting that competition between Northvolt and Samsung SDI may intensify, as many of the two companies’ customers are the same.

Leading companies scramble to expand cylindrical batteries

Cylindrical battery is a kind of battery with high capacity, long cycle life and wide ambient temperature. It is widely used in solar lamps, backup energy, power tools, photovoltaic energy and other fields.More common cylindrical lithium battery models are 10400, 14500, 16340, 18650, 21700, 26650, 32650 and so on.Back in 2017, Tesla and Panasonic jointly developed and launched the 2170 battery, which was used in the Model 3.

At present, the cylindrical battery gradually develops towards larger size, especially 4680 battery will occupy more and more market share.The president of BAK battery predicts that by 2025, large cylindrical cells will account for at least 30% of the global power battery market share, exceeding the total global power battery demand in 2021.

Compared with the traditional 18650 and small cylindrical 21700 battery, the 4680 battery has the advantages of reducing the use of structural parts and production procedures, and reducing the cost;Effectively improve the overall space utilization rate of the battery system;Energy efficiency and safety performance can be considered.

Many car companies and battery companies have arranged large cylindrical batteries and expanded their production:

Chinese companies, EVE lithium said 4680 battery is the main direction of its future development, they are confident that 4680 battery will become the company’s flagship product.At present, Ev lithium is laying out two 4680 batteries, 46800 and 46950, which are expected to release 20GWh in 2023 and 40GWh in 2024.The ev Lithium 4680 battery project for passenger cars is also progressing as planned.BAK cylinder currently has two series of products, namely 46 series and 26 series. The 4680 battery with an energy density of 285Wh/kg is expected to be mass-produced in 2024.Meanwhile, BAK will expand its global battery capacity of 80GWh in two phases over the next few years.

Globally, Samsung SDI will develop 4695 and 46120 batteries in addition to 4680 batteries for Tesla.BMW plans to use a new cylindrical battery in its new Neue Klasse pure electric vehicle platform, a technology solution that could reduce the cost of its battery by 30%.

Panasonic said on its website in March that its energy unit would build a new production facility at its Wakayama plant in western Japan to produce 4680 batteries.The company plans to begin production of the 4680 battery in 2023 and mass production by March 2024.

In May, it was reported that Tesla had emailed people who had pre-ordered the Model Y to change their orders to the all-wheel-drive version, which will have a 4680 battery pack.The new Model Y is the first Tesla car equipped with 4680 battery pack. Compared with the original 2170, the battery energy density is increased by 5 times, the output power is increased by 6 times, the battery life is increased by 16%, and the production cost is reduced by 16%.

LG New Energy will reportedly expand its 4680 cylindrical battery capacity by 9GWh at its Ochang 2 plant in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea, with mass production expected to begin in the second half of 2023.LG new energy also announced that it will expand the production capacity of 2,170 cylindrical batteries by 4GWh at its ochang no. 1 plant.

It can be predicted that in the future, with more and more enterprises pouring into the cylindrical battery circuit, the industrialization process of cylindrical battery will be further advanced while accepting the test of the market.