Wu Feng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: Lithium battery materials will face a shortage of resources and need to take precautions

On December 14, at the "Sixth International Summit on Power Battery Application (CBIS2021)" held in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Wu Feng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that with the development of intelligent networked vehicles, power battery energy density, power density, safety, life, cost, intelligence and other aspects are still facing new problems and challenges, and it is necessary to continue to increase research on battery materials, monomers, systems and related basic sciences to promote the development of global industries.

Wu Feng said that the popularity of the new energy vehicle market in 2021 exceeded industry expectations. According to the data of the Association of Passenger Vehicles, from January to October this year, the domestic retail sales of new energy vehicles were 2.139 million units, an increase of 191.9% year-on-year. The "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" mentions that the sales volume of new energy vehicles and new vehicles in 2025 will reach about 20% of the total sales of new vehicles, and this goal is expected to be completed ahead of schedule.

In terms of installed capacity, data from the Power Battery Application Branch shows that from January to October this year, the cumulative installed capacity of power batteries in China reached 113.1GWh, an increase of 173.3% year-on-year. Among them, the cumulative loading volume of ternary batteries was 57.3GWh, accounting for 50.6% of the total installed vehicles, an increase of 102.1% year-on-year; the cumulative loading of lithium iron phosphate batteries was 55.6GWh, accounting for 49.2% of the total installed vehicles, an increase of 334.2% year-on-year.

"These concerning things also have a major impact on the pattern of industrial development." Wu Feng said. In his view, driven by the sales growth of new energy vehicles and the demand for power batteries, since this year, the demand for various materials for power lithium-ion batteries has also increased significantly, prices have generally risen, and the contradiction between supply and demand has become prominent, causing great cost pressure to battery companies, which is not conducive to the demands of the new energy automobile industry for overall cost reduction. ”