Under the high growth of power batteries, cost constraints have become a development bottleneck-Henan Solid Lithium Battery Technology Co., Ltd.

Under the high growth of power batteries, cost constraints have become a development bottleneck

Date：2020-12-19 Sources： Beijing News Author: Wei Shuai Clicknum：389

At the International Summit Forum on the New Energy Industry of Lithium Battery, known as the 'Davos' of lithium battery, many experts said that under the influence of cost and other issues, the industry''s deep reshuffle period is about to come, and how to seize the opportunity to survive and develop , Breaking through is currently the top priority for domestic power battery companies to think about.

With the expansion of the new energy vehicle market, the demand for power batteries has also risen. But it is worth noting that the cost of power batteries as a key component is still a key factor hindering most Chinese companies from achieving industry expansion.

According to the latest data released by the Travel Association, the demand for batteries from January to October 2018 was 35.93 million kWh, a year-on-year increase of 110%. The power battery cost report issued by the international investment agency UBS stated that the cost of CATL, which has advantages of scale in China, ranks fourth after Panasonic, LG Chem and Samsung SDI, and its cost exceeds US$150/kWh. Panasonic is only $111/kWh. With scale expansion, how can power battery companies achieve cost breakthroughs?

Demand growth power battery capacity expansion

Under the multilateral support of policies and the market, new energy vehicles have achieved a 75% rise against the trend in the situation of negative growth in the auto market, followed by a substantial increase in battery demand by 110%.

The Beijing News reporter noted that at the beginning of this year, the International Energy Agency predicted that, driven by the policy of encouraging the purchase of clean energy vehicles, the number of electric vehicles is expected to jump to around 125 million by 2030. Compared with the result that the agency predicted in 2017 that there were approximately 3.1 million electric vehicles in use worldwide, this is another leap in growth.

It is understood that many mainstream companies are also expanding their production capacity. On November 29, CATL issued an announcement stating that the total planned investment will not exceed RMB 7.4 billion, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jiangsu Times New Energy Technology, to invest in the construction of Jiangsu Times Power and Energy Storage lithium battery R&D and production projects. BYD expanded the production capacity of 24Gwh ternary batteries in Qinghai. The first phase was put into operation in June this year, and it is expected to reach full production by the end of next year.

High manufacturing cost in Ningde era

But while power batteries are growing and expanding at the same time, some insiders believe that on the one hand, it shows the rapid development of the battery industry, on the other hand, it also shows obvious defects and deficiencies, especially in competition with foreign companies.

UBS analysts dismantled and analyzed the lithium-ion batteries of four mainstream power battery companies in Tesla/Panasonic, LG Chem, Samsung SDI, and CATL. The cost of Panasonic 21700 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries is $111/kWh, LG The cost of the chemical company was US$148/kWh, and the cost of Samsung SDI and CATL was more than US$150/kWh. CATL was slightly inferior to Samsung SDI and ranked fourth.

Prior to this, the 'Action Plan to Promote the Development of the Automotive Power Battery Industry' released in March 2017 clearly stated that by 2020, the goal of achieving the specific energy of power battery cells exceeds 300Wh/kg, and the specific energy of the system will strive to reach 260Wh/kg. Therefore, updating battery technology and increasing battery energy density are the core competitiveness of power battery companies. However, domestic companies have obvious disadvantages in the key raw materials for achieving high energy density, while Japanese and South Korean representative companies Panasonic and Samsung have natural advantages.

According to industry research institutions, nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) materials have been widely used abroad, and domestic mainstream battery companies are still stuck in nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) materials such as 532, 622, and 811. The cost of the Panasonic 21700 cylindrical lithium-ion battery is 111 US dollars/kWh, while the CATL is more than 150 US dollars/kWh. Whether it is materials or prices, foreign companies are more abundant and cheaper.

The agency also predicts that after the policy is completely regressed, the competition between foreign-funded enterprises and Chinese enterprises will become obvious. 'If the former has low prices and good products, new energy companies have no reason not to choose.'

Experts face deep reshuffle of power batteries under cost pressure

Liang Rui, vice president of Xinwangda Group and president of the power battery sector, also stated at the International Summit Forum on the New Energy Industry of Lithium Battery on November 23 this year that under the 'double attack' of the upstream raw material price increase and the downstream demand price reduction, the power battery If a company does not have a cost competitive advantage, it can only get out. Power battery companies must practice their 'internal strength', promote product technology upgrades, and seize high-end market shares.

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Under the high growth of power batteries, cost constraints have become a development bottleneck