New lithium battery materials developments in China
With the increasing market demand of the electric vehicle industry and energy storage, the lithium battery industry is developing rapidly.
The following will introduce the latest developments in China’s lithium battery material industry.
There are also new developments in the development and application of new technologies for negative electrode material manufacturers.At the same time, in order to ensure a stable supply of raw materials, companies have also begun to strengthen their mineral resource development capabilities.
A number of lithium battery material companies have begun to buy lithium ore resources through acquisitions and investments. Many lithium battery material companies are also speeding up the process of building factories to better meet market demand.
The development of negative electrode materials
Under the fierce market competition, mining market growth has become the main force of various enterprises. As the next generation of “negative electrode materials”, silicon-based negative electrode materials are becoming more and more popular in recent years, whether it is production capacity, capital market or application.
Starting from 2022, in line with the trend of fast charging and high energy density, among the top 10 power battery companies in the world, leading battery companies such as CATL, CALB, Gotion High-Tech, and EVE will innovate in battery material systems and regard the application of silicon-based negative electrodes as the key direction.
As a mainstream technology iteration route, silicon-based anodes have been developed from laboratories in the 1990s to the present, and have seen the dawn of industrial applications.
The minimum application volume of silicon-based negative electrodes also confirms that the demand for material performance in the power and energy storage markets has entered a new stage.
Performance requirements such as high specific energy, fast charging, low temperature resistance, and long cycle have led to a rise in the market for auxiliary materials for negative electrode materials.
Furthermore, the PAA binder is becoming the focus of interest.
PAA has excellent conductivity and can be evenly distributed in the pole piece. It can form a SEI-like coating on the Si surface, inhibit electrolyte decomposition, and enhance the stability of the electrode structure for the easy expansion of silicon-based negative electrode materials.
The difficulty is that the PAA material itself is relatively brittle and needs to be mixed with other binders. In the future, with the large-scale application of silicon-based anode materials, the market demand for PAA will further increase.
Mining and investing in Africa
Against the backdrop of limited global lithium resources, competition on the lithium resource side is still fierce, and the unstable price of lithium carbonate has made upstream lithium mines even more popular. Africa is becoming the main arena for the next round of lithium expansion.
On the one hand, Africa itself has abundant reserves of lithium resources, which are basically greenfield mines newly explored in recent years and have great potential for development.
The proven lithium resources are mainly distributed in five countries including Congo (Kinshasa), Mali, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Namibia. Among them, Manono Lithium Mine, Goulamina Lithium Mine and Arcadia Lithium Mine are all world-class lithium resources.
According to the data, the total amount of lithium resources in Africa is about 25.75 million tons LCE, and the total proven lithium reserves are 4.94 million tons (metal volume).
Among them, Congo (Kinshasa) has proven lithium reserves of 3 million metal tons, accounting for 69.1% of Africa; followed by Mali, with proven lithium reserves of 700,000 metal tons, accounting for 16.1% of Africa.
With many convenient conditions such as low input cost and friendly investment environment, Africa has become a new hot spot for investment and mining.
Recently, many enterprises in China, including Gangfeng Lithium Industry, Chengxin Lithium Energy, SINOMINE RESOURCE GROUP, Yahua Group, etc., have begun to accelerate the deployment of lithium mines in Africa.
Materials companies build factories globally
Many lithium battery material companies have established production plants in Europe, Southeast Asia and other places.
Top 10 lithium ion battery manufacturers such as CATL, CALB, BYD, SVOLT, Gotion High-Tech and other companies have planned and deployed production bases in many places around the world.
As the world’s second largest electric vehicle market in Europe, there is an obvious shortage in the power battery market.
It is predicted that by 2023, the demand for electric vehicle batteries in Europe is expected to reach 406GWh, and the supply of power batteries is expected to be 335GWh. It is estimated that by 2025, the supply gap will further expand to about 40%.
The establishment of Chinese lithium battery material enterprises in Europe has played a key role in strengthening the chain and supplementing the chain, forming a complete industrial chain, making lithium batteries in China more competitive in terms of cost control and supply security.
Southeast Asia is in a critical period of electrification transformation. Although the penetration rate of electric vehicles is only slightly higher than 1%, the prospect of the renewable energy market is bright with the blessing of the demographic dividend period and the gradual maturity of the battery swapping station business model.
Under the background that power battery companies continue to increase their presence in the global market, material companies set up factories in these areas, which can effectively meet the supply chain management and order needs of downstream customers.
Challenges in the global layout of lithium battery materials
It is worth noting that the supply competitiveness of Chinese lithium battery material enterprises in the global renewable energy industry is constantly increasing, but the global construction of factories also faces risks and challenges.
At present, many places in Europe and the United States have introduced bills to support the autonomy of the battery supply chain, and vigorously support the construction of the local lithium battery industry chain.
At the same time, as the European renewable energy industry chain actively supports localized supply chains, Chinese material companies will also face direct competition with local companies in terms of technology, performance, and supply.
Similarly, the lithium battery material market will be affected by local macroeconomic fluctuations, upstream raw material production capacity and prices, downstream electric vehicle market demand and related industrial policies.
In terms of business management, due to certain differences in legal systems, policy systems, business environments, and cultural characteristics, Chinese companies will face many challenges in global market competition, such as talent team building and internal operation management.
In the event of a major change in the local market conditions, the sales price of material companies will be lower than expected or the production progress will be lower than expected.
