NIO invests 2 billion to set up battery company

NIO’s battery strategy has landed

Relevant data shows that the business scope of NIO battery includes: battery manufacturing, battery sales, graphite and carbon products sales, new membrane material sales, new energy vehicle electrical accessories sales, artificial intelligence application software development, etc. Previously, NIO had made a number of preparations for its own batteries.

In September 2021, NIO launched the world’s first mass-produced ternary lithium + lithium iron phosphate hybrid battery, which has the high energy density and good low temperature performance of ternary lithium battery, it also takes into account the advantages of high safety and low cost of lithium iron phosphate batteries.

In January 2021, NIO launched the first hybrid solid-liquid battery, and is currently cooperating with Beijing Weilan New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to launch a hybrid solid-liquid battery with a range of 1,000 kilometers on a single charge.

According to the company’s official website, Beijing Weilan New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. focuses on the R&D and production of all-solid-state lithium batteries, and has a series of core patents and technologies. It is the only industrialization platform for solid-state battery technology in the Clean Energy Laboratory of the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Co-founded by Chen Liquan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and others, it focuses on all solid state battery products with high energy density, high safety, high power, wide temperature range and long life.

In May 2022, relevant information shows that NIO plans to build a new R&D project in Anting Town, Jiading District, Shanghai, including 31 R&D laboratories engaged in the research and development of lithium-ion cells and battery packs. As well as a trial production line of lithium-ion cells and a battery pack line, it is planned to invest 218.5 million RMB and is expected to be constructed from August to October 2022.

Among them, 31 R&D laboratories are engaged in lithium-ion battery charge and discharge test, temperature test, sealing test, sealing test, safety performance test, withstand voltage test and other tests. The information about the trial production line of lithium-ion cells and the battery pack line, site arrangement and product trial production scale has not been disclosed yet.

However, NIO said that it is expected that the construction of the trial production line of the project will be used for preliminary exploration of possible large-scale production in the subsequent development process, and the trial production samples will be used for subsequent in-depth development.

In the first half of 2022, NIO’s R&D expenses reached RMB 3.911 billion, a year-on-year increase of 149.7%. NIO disclosed that the increase in R&D expenses was mainly due to the increase in the cost of personnel in the R&D function and the increase in the design and development costs of new products and technologies.

Li Bin also said at the financial report that NIO will continue to increase investment in power battery-related fields, and has formed a battery-related team of more than 400 people.

NIO invests in Australian ore mining company – Greenwing

For power battery manufacturers represented by CATL, their business development is subject to rising prices and shortages of upstream raw materials. Li Bin previously appealed, “Upstream lithium mines, lithium salts and other manufacturers should proceed from long-term interests and not artificially increase prices, which is not a good thing for the industry.”

In this regard, NIO has further deployed upstream raw materials for batteries. Recently, NIO plans to invest in Greenwing Resources Ltd, an ore mining company headquartered in Australia, with a total amount of up to or exceeding 600 million RMB. Greenwing will use this to speed up the development of the lithium project in San Jorge, Argentina, and NIO will be a priority customer.

In August 2022, NIO Capital, a subsidiary of NIO, participated in the investment of Hubei Rongtong Hi-Tech Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Rongtong Hi-Tech”) in a round of financing exceeding RMB 5 billion. According to public information, Rongtong Hi-Tech’s main business is the research and development, production, recycling and utilization of cathode materials for lithium batteries, etc. As of the end of the first quarter of 2022, it has a market share of 11.1% in the field of lithium iron phosphate.

Car companies make batteries gradually become a trend

It is a bit helpless for car companies to intervene in the field of power batteries. In July 2022, Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, once said that car companies seem to have become workers in power battery factories. On August 25, 2022, GAC Group decided to set up a battery company with a total investment of 10.9 billion RMB to carry out battery industrialization construction.

At the same time, the joint-stock company Juwan Technology Research Co., Ltd. is building a battery production base project to mass-produce cells, modules and PACK systems for extremely fast charging power batteries, with a total investment of 3.69 billion RMB.

In June 2022, Li Bin mentioned that the core competitiveness of technology in the field of electric vehicles is mainly reflected in the three-electric technology, which is led by batteries. NIO has established a battery-related team of more than 400 people, deeply involved in the research and development of battery materials, battery cell and whole package design, battery management system, manufacturing process, etc., and comprehensively establish and enhance battery system research and development and industrialization capabilities.

To this end, NIO continues to increase its investment in power battery-related fields, and adopts the strategy of “self-made + external procurement” from a long-term planning perspective. In terms of investing in power battery companies, on February 24, 2022, NIO affiliated company Suzhou Weirui invested 250 million RMB to participate in the financing of Xinwangda’s automotive battery, holding a 2.01% stake.

Car companies are deploying the battery field upstream, aiming to enhance the voice of the industry chain, which is conducive to ensuring battery supply and reducing costs and increasing efficiency.