(Report Producer/Author: Changjiang Securities, Zhao Zhiyong, Ma Jun, Wu Bohua)
1 The overseas new energy vehicle market continues to exert strength
Europe: Sales in 2021 are in line with expectations, replicating the rise of consumption
In the past two years, the European new energy vehicle market has cashed in on the high growth driven by carbon emissions. In 2020, sales of new energy vehicles in the European market reached 1.261 million units, an increase of 126% year-on-year. Sales totaled 1.732 million units from January to November 2021, up 70% year-on-year, and are expected to maintain a growth rate of 50% in 2021, that is, about 2 million units in the whole year.
However, the policy logic of the European market will weaken in 2022, one is that the subsidy policy has begun to enter a period of decline, and the pace of decline is relatively flat; the second is that the carbon emission policy is the most binding in 2020-2021, and the marginal policy change in 2022 is relatively small. It is expected that the sales volume of new energy vehicles in the European market will reach 4.65 million units in 2025, maintaining a compound growth rate of about 23% compared with 2021.
The European market in 2022 is similar to China in 2020, while the policy logic is gradually weakening, the driving force of the consumer side will gradually undertake, the new models of the pure electric platform of European car companies are accelerating the landing, the product strength and quantity are expected to be rapidly optimized, and the sales targets for 2025 and 2030 will continue to rise. In addition, according to Volkswagen's planning, the profitability of new energy vehicles in 2023-2024 is expected to surpass that of fuel vehicles, and the European consumer side is expected to exceed expectations.
United States: Policies resonate with models, or double the growth continuously
Previously, Tesla was the dominant new energy vehicle market in the United States, and its new energy vehicle sales accounted for 64% of the US market in 2020, so the change in the sales of new energy vehicles in the United States is essentially Tesla's model cycle. Since 2021, traditional car companies have begun to exert efforts, and sales of new energy vehicles have continued to reach new highs. In 2020, the sales of new energy vehicles in the US market exceeded 300,000 units; from January to November 2021, the sales of new energy vehicles in the United States totaled 550,000 units, and it is expected to reach more than 600,000 units in the whole year.
The increase in tax credit policy is an important driver of the growth of new energy vehicles in the United States, which is based on the "Rebuilding The Beautiful Act" passed the House of Representatives in November this year, and is currently in the Senate review stage, based on the most optimistic expectations of Democratic majority leaders, it is to promote the implementation of the bill before Christmas. However, the recent divergent voices of individual legislators within the Democratic Party (in line with the entire reconstruction of the beautiful bill, not a separate target of the new energy sector) will lead to the postponement of the implementation of the tax credit policy.
In fact, even if the increase in the tax credit policy is not considered, the new energy vehicles in the United States will most likely maintain rapid growth in the next few years, one is due to the recent landing of a more stringent CAF fuel consumption economic policy, and the other is that the United States car companies will usher in a new new energy model cycle next year.
In terms of fuel economy, on December 20, the U.S. Environment Agency (EPA) released the final version of the CAF Fuel Consumption Economic Policy Update, which is significantly stricter than the 2020 Trump version and exceeds expectations from the August plan: 1) The EPA final plan determines that it will reach 55.0 mpg and 161 g/mph carbon emissions by 2026 (43.4 mpg/gn, 208 g/mph carbon emissions in the 2020 version; 52.0 mpg/g yn, 173 g/mph carbon emissions in august proposal) And the 2023 standard is 10% stricter than 2022, and 5%, 7%, and 10% per year from 2024 to 2026 (the August proposal is 5% stricter in 2024-2026). 2) The incentive standard for advanced technologies was not adjusted in the August proposal, and the final rule adjusted the 2022 coefficient to 1, 2023-2025 to EV 1.5, PHEV 1.3, and the 2025 coefficient to 1, which is more stringent than the existing scheme and plan, and more importantly, the adjustment of the rule will also have an impact on 2022.
Comparing the 2021 version of the US plan and the existing EU carbon emission policy, it can be seen that the policy requirements of the United States in 2023 are stricter than those of the EU in 2020, close to the EU policy standards in 2021, and are expected to support the penetration rate of 13-14% in the United States in 2023, corresponding to 2.3-2.5 million vehicles. At the same time, in 2025, passenger car emissions under EPA conditions are required to be reduced to 92.6g/km, which is expected to correspond to NEDC emissions of about 80g/km, which is close to the EU 2025 NEDC emissions target of 81g/km, and it is expected that the corresponding new energy vehicle penetration compliance requirements in the United States will reach about 25%, and the corresponding new energy vehicle demand in the United States is also expected to reach more than 4 million units, maintaining a compound growth of about 60% compared with 2021.
In terms of the new energy model cycle, car companies in the United States of new energy models are in the accelerated landing stage, on the one hand, for the United States demand for pickup trucks and other segments of the market, there have been Tesla Cybertruck, Ford F150, Rivian R1T and other models released, and in 2021 have achieved very considerable order performance, next year is the year of the ramp-up of these models, naturally will contribute to high production growth. On the other hand, under the constraints of policy, car companies began to accelerate the transformation, and GM, Ford, etc. have successively raised their sales targets in the United States to further accelerate consumption drive.
2 Overseas lithium battery factories expand production and combing
The overseas market is mainly occupied by Japanese and Korean battery factories. According to SNE Research statistics, the top five companies in the global power battery market installed in January-October 2021 are CATL, LG New Energy, Panasonic, BYD, and SKI, accounting for 31.2%, 21.2%, 13.2%, 8.5%, and 5.8% of the market share, accounting for about 80% of the total. From January to May 2021, the top four companies in the overseas power battery market are LG, Panasonic, Samsung SDI and SKI, with a combined share of more than 80%, and the Cataline Era ranks 5th and the growth rate is very high, mainly relying on the export of batteries produced in China.
At present, the expansion or planning of overseas lithium battery factories is mainly divided into the following four categories: (1) mature battery factories: battery factories that have mature capacity operations overseas, mainly including LG, SKI, Samsung SDI and Panasonic; (2) emerging battery factories: newly emerging battery manufacturers in overseas local markets, such as Northvolt, ACC, Britishvolt, InoBat, etc.; (3) domestic sea Battery factories: Excellent domestic battery factories to build factories overseas or acquire overseas battery factories to gradually participate in global competition, such as Ningde times, Fu Neng Technology, Hive Energy, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Envision Power, etc.; (4) Vehicle factories: the use of self-built or joint venture factories to ensure their own battery supply.
Mature battery factories: LG and SKI production expansion is imminent, Samsung SDI and Panasonic are relatively conservative
LG New Energy IPO is imminent, and it is expected to enter the peak of expansion in the next two years
LG New Energy currently operates research, development, manufacturing, and sales of battery-related products for EVs, ESS, power tools, LEV, etc., and is comprised of the Energy Solutions Division. Previously, its power battery was mainly soft packs, and it supplied cylindrical power batteries for Tesla, but the follow-up will increase the expansion of cylindrical batteries, and it is expected that the production capacity of cylindrical batteries will reach 110GWh. As of the end of September 2021, LG New Energy has a capacity of 155GWh. Among them, Europe 70GWh, China 62GWh, South Korea 18GWh, the United States 5GWh.
According to LG New Energy's IPO prospectus (2012.12.08), the company will expand production in North America, Europe, South Korea and China:
North America: A total of 5.6 trillion won will be invested in North America by 2024. 1) Expand EV and ESS battery capacity to approximately 25GWh at the Holland, Michigan plant in 2025; 2) Further investment in Ultium Cells, a joint venture with General Motors, to 80GWh by 2025; 3) New production facilities in North America to add more than 55GWh. Total capacity in North America will reach more than 160GWh by 2025.
Europe: KRW 1.4 trillion will be invested in Europe by 2024. 1) Expand EV battery capacity at the Wroclaw plant in Poland to 85GWh by 2025; 2) Establish a new production site in Europe to add more than 15GWh capacity. By 2025, the total production capacity in Europe will reach more than 100GWh.
China: It plans to invest KRW 1.2 trillion in the Nanjing plant by 2024 to ensure cylindrical battery production capacity of more than 60 GWh by 2025. According to the plan, including EV batteries, ESS batteries, etc., by 2025, the total production capacity of LG New Energy in China will exceed 110GWh.
South Korea: By 2023, the Company plans to invest KRW 645 billion in the Okura plant in South Korea to increase the production line for cylindrical batteries for EVs, and the cylindrical production capacity of the Rokkura plant in South Korea will reach 22GWh by 2025.
In addition, in September 2021, LG New Energy and Hyundai Motor built a lithium-ion battery plant in Indonesia, which is located in Karawang, near Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023 and achieve mass production of battery cells in the first half of 2024. According to the plan, the initial stage will have 10GWh of NCMA lithium-ion battery cell production capacity per year, which will be expanded to 30GWh per year in the future.
According to LG's new energy planning, it is expected that LG's production capacity will reach 155GWh, 250-260GWh and 430GWh in 2021, 2023 and 2025, respectively. It is expected that LG expansion bidding will increase year by year from 2022, and the expansion bidding for 2022-2024 will be about 60GWh, 90GWh and 90GWh respectively. Among them, the largest increase in production expansion comes from the United States, and the Chinese market will mainly increase cylindrical capacity. (Source: Future Think Tank)
SKI raises plans to 220GWh by 2025
SKI's power batteries are mainly soft packs, and the company has maintained cooperation with Ford, Volkswagen, Daimler and Hyundai Kia and others and obtained new orders. Following a settlement with LG Chem's LG Energy Solution, SKI reopened its expansion, mainly in the United States, with gradual global expansion. According to the latest plan, it is expected to reach 85GWh in 2023, 220GWh in 2025, and more than 500GWh in 2030. 220GWh in 2025 is up 76% from the previously announced 125GWh target.
SKI expansion areas mainly include Europe Hungary, China, the United States, the specific expansion plan is:
Hungary, Europe: The second plant is scheduled to be put into operation in 2022Q1, with a planned capacity of 10GWh, which is expected to expand to 16GWh in the future; the third plant is expected to start operation in 2024, with a planned capacity of 30GWh.
China: There are dynamic battery factories with annual production capacity of 7GWh, 10GWh and 10GWh in Changzhou, Yancheng and Huizhou. Among them, changzhou plant and BAIC joint venture, Yancheng plant and Huizhou plant and Yiwei lithium energy joint venture. The latest plan will be to invest 3 trillion won (about 16.2 billion yuan) in Yancheng to build a fourth factory in China, with an annual production capacity of more than 10GWh. According to the company's plan, it is expected that the production capacity in China will reach 75GWh by 2025.
U.S. Region: The first plant in Georgia (9.8 GWh) is expected to be operational in Q1 2022 and the second plant (11.7 GWh) in Q1 2023.
In addition, SKI and Ford Motor Corporation announced a joint venture to establish a BlueOvalSK battery production plant, which will become the largest battery factory in the United States when completed. Among them, the annual production capacity of the tennessee plant is 43GWh, and the annual production capacity of the kentucky plant is 86GWh, and the production capacity is expected to reach 129GWh, which is a substantial increase compared with the annual production capacity of 60GWh announced by the two companies. It is expected that SKI will enter the peak of expansion in 2023, and the future increase will mainly come from the United States and Hungary.
Samsung SDI and Panasonic expansion are relatively conservative
Samsung SDI is dominated by square batteries, in addition to some cylindrical capacity. In 1999, Samsung SDI successfully developed a 1800mAh round lithium-ion battery, officially entering the field of lithium batteries; in 2008, Samsung SDI and Bosch jointly established a power battery company SB Limotive, officially entered the field of power batteries; in 2015, Samsung SDI wholly acquired the international battery company MSBS. Samsung SDI's power battery plants are mainly located in Ulsan, South Korea, Xi'an, China, Hungary, and tianjin, China, and cylindrical battery production capacity for consumption. Previously, Samsung SDI's capacity expansion was slightly conservative and will become more active starting in 2022:
Asia: Samsung SDI is expected to increase investment in expanding battery production capacity in China and Malaysia. Samsung SDI plans to invest 200 billion won (about 1.146 billion yuan) to expand the production capacity of cylindrical lithium batteries in Malaysia, which is expected to reach 2GWh per year. In addition, the company is also considering increasing the battery capacity of the Malayan plant to 4GWh per year in the future.
Europe: Approximately US$890 million expansion of the Hungarian site doubled its production capacity to 20 GWh. As of August 2021, Samsung SDI has four production lines in the Hungarian plant, all square batteries, and once the new production line is completed, the plant will have a total of eight square battery production lines, and the production capacity will increase from 30GWh to 50GWh.
U.S.: Samsung SDI and Stellantis will build a joint venture plant that is expected to start production in the first half of 2025 with an initial annual production capacity of 23GWh and is expected to expand to 40GWh in the future. Samsung SDI's main customers include Volkswagen, BMW, Stellantis and so on.
Panasonic and Tesla's joint venture battery factory is mainly cylindrical, but also has square production capacity in Dalian, China and the joint venture with Toyota; Panasonic and Tesla joint venture battery factory currently has a production capacity of about 35GWh, which is expected to increase to 38GWh by the end of 2021, and the follow-up plan may increase to 50GWh. It is expected that panasonic will build a 4680 battery for Tesla.
Emerging battery factories overseas: Northvolt and ACC lead the trend of expansion
Sweden's Northvolt received $2.75 billion in financing from Volkswagen and others in June, raising more than $6.5 billion so far. Northvolt's battery plant in northern Sweden Northvolt Ett's capacity plan will be expanded from the earlier 40GWh to 60GWh; as one of Volkswagen's factory construction plans, Northvolt will build a joint venture with Volkswagen in Germany, with an estimated capacity of 40GWh; and Volvo to build a 50GWh battery plant in Europe, which is expected to start production in 2026; the total capacity plan is more than 150GWh so far.
On December 28, 2021, Northvolt produced the first battery at Northvolt Ett, a battery factory in northern Sweden, which is a square battery, the first battery to be fully designed, developed and manufactured by a local European battery company, and northvolt Ett's production line commissioning and upgrade will continue until 2022. Northvolt Ett will manufacture batteries of different shapes and begin commercial deliveries in 2022.
Northvolt has secured $30 billion in orders from major customers including BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars and Polestar, as well as Volvo's targets.
French Automotive Cell Company (ACC), a joint venture between PSA and Saft, a subsidiary of French energy giant Total, plans to invest 5 billion euros, with 50% of each side's equity, and Saft's shareholding in ACC will be reduced to 33% in the commercial production stage, followed by direct control by PSA; in September 2021, Daimler became the third largest shareholder. ACC plans to start construction of its first battery plant in mid-2021, which is expected to start production in 2023; and will start construction in the northern part of France in 2023, which will gradually increase its capacity from the initial 8GWh to 24GWh, and the total annual production of batteries in the two plants is expected to be 48GWh in 2030. PSA merged with FCA to form Stellantis, and its battery day announced that it would increase its ACC plan to 80GWh and Daimler's expansion plan to 120GWh after it took a stake.
In addition to Northvolt and ACC, there are a number of emerging battery factories in Europe. According to BMI forecasts, by 2030, at least 16 battery super factories in Europe will be put into production at an annual output of 446GWh, which will make Europe the second largest lithium-ion battery production base after China, and these projects are expected to be released around 2024-2025.
Domestic battery factories: successively going to sea, overseas expansion gradually increased
CATL's German plant plans to invest 1.8 billion euros. In July 2018, CATL decided to invest in the establishment of a European production R&D base, Germany Times, located in Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany, with an initial planned investment of 240 million euros, which will be increased to 1.8 billion euros in June 2019, mainly for European automakers. German Times officially started construction in October 2019, according to the plan, it will be built in two phases, planned to start production in 2021, is expected to achieve 14GWh annual battery production capacity by 2022. CATL is increasing the development of overseas markets, and has cooperated with toyota, Tesla, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Volvo and other international car brands in depth, and has obtained the fixed point of many important projects.
Battery factories such as Fu Neng Technology, Hive Energy, and Guoxuan Hi-Tech have more in-depth cooperation and orders with Daimler, Stellantis, Volkswagen, etc., and have accelerated the pace of going to sea with the support of orders.
Hive Energy: In November 2020, the construction of a battery plant in Saarland was officially selected. A total of 2 billion euros will be invested in Europe to build two plants for battery modules and module PACK. Among them, the battery cell module factory will be completed and put into operation at the end of 2023, and the module PACK factory can be put into operation as early as mid-2022.
Guoxuan Hi-Tech: In 2020, it will introduce Volkswagen's strategic investment to establish a R&D center in Hanover, Germany; in 2021, the acquisition of Bosch's Göttingen plant in Germany will establish its first production and operation base in Europe, and it will become a technical partner of volkswagen group's Salzgitter battery plant, or will build a 40GWh battery plant with Volkswagen. On December 20, 2021, the Company announced that its wholly-owned overseas subsidiary, GOTION, INC. ("A.S., Guoxuan" is a supplier of a large listed automobile company in the United States, and the Company and the Customer have recently signed a Strategic Supply and Localization Agreement, and the two sides hope to reach a strategic cooperation in the supply and procurement of lithium iron phosphate batteries ("LFP batteries"). The agreement states that the number of batteries required by the customer will be met in 2023-2028, and the customer expects the total amount of battery purchased in 2023-2028 to be no less than 200GWh. In addition, the agreement proposes that Guoxuan agrees to meet the customer's battery procurement needs by negotiating the allocation of the company's existing or new domestic production capacity and new production capacity in the United States; the two parties will conduct friendly negotiations on the joint establishment of a joint venture or other cooperative efforts to jointly explore the possibility of establishing a joint venture.
Envision AESC: Formerly known as AESC, a joint venture between Nissan and NEC in 2007, Envision Group acquired in 2018. AESC has a capacity of 7.5 GWh in Kanagawa, Japan, Tennessee in the United States, and Sunderland in the United Kingdom. At present, Envision Power is building a battery factory with a capacity of 20GWh in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, and is expected to supply batteries to more than 400,000 new energy vehicles around the world every year. In terms of overseas expansion, Envision Dynamics will jointly operate a new plant with Nissan in Ibaraki, Japan, with an initial investment of 50 billion yen (about 456 million US dollars) and an annual production capacity of 6GWh by 2023, and an investment of 100 billion yen and an annual production capacity of 18GWh five years later. In addition, Envision Power has reached a comprehensive strategic cooperation with Renault of France to build a super battery factory in Douai, France, with an annual production capacity of 24GWh by 2030 and the potential to expand capacity by 40GWh. Construction of the UK's first power battery gigafactory in Sunderland, UK, with a production capacity of 25GWh by 2030. According to the company's latest planning, in the long run, the future production capacity of AESC will exceed 100GWh.
Overseas OEMs: Joint venture or sole proprietorship to plan the production capacity of battery plants
In addition to battery manufacturers actively layout overseas markets, overseas OEMs have also planned battery plant capacity through various means. Traditional overseas car companies have accelerated their electrification layout and gradually planned the electrification ratio of vehicles in 2025, 2030 and even 2050. According to the planning of major car companies, overseas automakers mainly adopt the following strategies:
Select leading battery companies LG, SKI, Panasonic, CATL, etc. as the main partners of the supply chain. For example, Tesla's suppliers are LG, Panasonic, CATL, etc.; GM's suppliers are LG; and the majority suppliers are SKI.
Cooperate with second-tier battery factories Northvolt, ACC, Fu Neng Technology, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, etc., and adopt methods including investment to support them. For example, Volkswagen invested in Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Northvolt, and Daimler invested in Fu energy technology and invested in ACC.
Planning your own battery plant, including joint ventures with battery factories and self-built two ways, to ensure controllable battery capacity in major markets. For example, Volkswagen will build six 40GWh battery factories in Europe, the first three of which may cooperate with Northvolt, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Samsung SDI, and the company also has plans to build its own battery factory.
In addition, Volkswagen, Daimler and other car companies are planning their own standard batteries, through standardization to achieve large-scale mass production to reduce costs. Overall, Volkswagen, Daimler, Stellantis through investment in battery factories, joint ventures, self-built battery factories and other ways to plan a large production capacity, is expected to be the next two years these projects will gradually land.
3 Domestic lithium battery equipment has global competitiveness
The gross profit margin of overseas market orders is higher than that of domestic orders
Overseas due to the relatively small labor force, labor costs are high, so the degree of automation of lithium battery production lines is higher, and the cost of equipment is usually higher. In addition, due to the lack of competitive local equipment suppliers overseas, overseas market competition is usually not as fierce as domestic competition, and overseas customers have higher requirements for equipment quality and relatively low price sensitivity, so the gross profit margin of overseas orders is usually higher. Taking Hangke Technology as an example, from 2017 to 2020, the gross profit margin of the company's overseas business remained above 50%, and the company's overseas business in 2020 was 61.40%, far exceeding the domestic gross profit margin of 39.62%. The higher gross profit margin has prompted domestic equipment companies to actively layout overseas markets and strive for orders.
There is still a gap between the front and overseas, and the middle and back sections have achieved transcendence
Most of the overseas lithium battery equipment companies belong to the "small and fine" type. Japanese lithium battery equipment companies were mostly founded in the 1940s to 60s of the last century, with the rise of the Japanese lithium battery industry in the 80s and 90s of the last century and growth; most of the Korean lithium battery equipment companies were established around 2003, with LG Chemical, Samsung SDI and other Korean companies developed lithium batteries around 2000 and grew; most of the domestic lithium battery companies were established or developed around 2010, with the rapid development of domestic lithium battery manufacturers in recent years.
Overseas lithium battery equipment companies are mainly in Japan and South Korea, and the product structure of such enterprises is relatively single. South Korea PNT, South Korea CIS, Japan Hirano products are mainly for the front stage equipment; Youil, South Korea DA, mPLUS mainly supply middle-end equipment; South Korea PNE, A-pro, Japan Kataoka mainly supply rear stage equipment. The number of employees in overseas lithium battery equipment enterprises is relatively small, mainly due to factors such as high labor costs, stable work and cautious business style, and the expansion of equipment enterprise personnel is slow.
The first stage of equipment: domestic equipment and overseas companies still have a certain gap, Yinghe, Haoneng, Xinjiatuo in the domestic battery factory has achieved domestic substitution, the three volumes are similar, but has not yet entered the Japanese and Korean battery enterprise supply chain; middle section equipment: pilot intelligence in the field of winding machine has achieved overseas transcendence, and entered the supply chain of foreign battery factories, laminating machine is currently at a similar level with foreign equipment; rear stage equipment: Hangke Technology and the pilot intelligent subsidiary Titan in terms of revenue volume, technical level and other aspects have surpassed overseas companies, And entered the supply chain of overseas battery factories; Leading Intelligence (including Titan) and Hangke Technology took the lead in going abroad and becoming the global leader in lithium battery equipment. (Source: Future Think Tank)
Cost advantage + engineer dividend + strong research and development, domestic equipment advantages highlighted
In recent years, the engineer dividend has continued to become apparent. From a macro point of view, it is manifested in the continuous growth of the talent team, the continuous improvement of the overall research and development level of the manufacturing industry, and the continuous enrichment of technology accumulation.
In 2020, the number of graduate students and doctoral graduates in higher education nationwide reached 662,500 and 66,200 respectively. The number of graduate students and doctoral students has increased year by year, continuously exporting professional talents to the society, and the talent team has continued to expand.
The R&D investment of manufacturing enterprises has increased significantly, and it has gradually transitioned from extensive competition with scale effects to core technology competition that enhances industrial added value. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the total R&D expenditure on basic research, applied research, experimental development, government funds, and corporate funds has reached 4.81 trillion yuan in 2020.
National policies continue to provide support for the release of engineer dividends and the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. In 2016, the Ministry of Science and Technology formed a national key research and development plan, and continued to provide continuous support and guidance for strategic, basic and forward-looking major scientific issues, major common key technologies and products. At the industrial end, we provide generous incubation and support policies for emerging industries to promote the further release of engineer dividends.
In the cost of lithium battery equipment, direct materials account for more than 70%. Direct materials mainly include machine sheet metal parts, electrical components, complete sets of modules, transmission components, pneumatic components, etc., including standard parts and non-standard parts. Among them, the cost of domestic equipment companies in non-standard parts is much lower than that of overseas companies.
Thanks to the cost advantage, engineer dividend, and low manufacturing and processing costs, the gross profit margin of domestic equipment is significantly higher than that of overseas equipment. The comprehensive gross profit margin of domestic lithium battery equipment enterprises or the gross profit margin of lithium battery equipment related businesses is basically maintained at more than 30%, while the gross profit margin of Japanese and Korean enterprises is relatively low. Taking 2020 as an example, the gross profit margins of Japanese and Korean enterprises PNT, PNE, CIS and DA were 18.9%, 28.8%, 17.6%, and -4.4%, respectively, and the gross profit margins of domestic enterprises Leading Intelligence, Yinghe Technology, Hangke Technology, and Li Yuanheng were 34.3%, 30.9%, 48.4%, and 38.3%, respectively, far exceeding the gross profit margins of overseas enterprises.
In recent years, the R& D investment of domestic equipment companies is much higher than that of overseas lithium battery equipment companies. In recent years, the annual R&D investment of Japanese and Korean lithium battery equipment enterprises is less than 50 million yuan, while the R& D expenses of domestic lithium battery equipment companies led by pilot intelligence have increased year by year, and the R & D expenses in 2020 are dozens of times that of Japanese and Korean enterprises.
Japanese and Korean enterprises lag behind domestic equipment in terms of the number of employees, R&D investment, product innovation, etc., and Pilot Intelligence and Hangke Technology will maintain their advantages. In addition, compared with Japanese and Korean enterprises, domestic lithium battery equipment companies have the advantage of response speed.
The share of lithium battery equipment of major manufacturers varies greatly between domestic and overseas
The downstream customers of lithium battery equipment going to sea are mainly overseas mature battery factories and emerging battery factories. Overseas mature battery factories are mainly in Japan and South Korea, battery factories are relatively conservative in their choice of suppliers, have a high entry threshold, and domestic equipment is more difficult to enter. Hangke Technology entered earlier, occupying a large share in the korean battery factory LG, Samsung SDI, SKI and other back-end equipment, which is more beneficial; the pilot intelligence entered the LG supply chain and will also benefit. With Northvolt, ACC as the representative of overseas emerging battery factories, battery technology is relatively weak, dependence on equipment is large, more willing to use the whole line or the whole section of equipment, domestic manufacturers have the ability to provide a whole line or a whole section of equipment, so in the process of competition with Japanese and Korean equipment manufacturers have a greater advantage, especially the pilot intelligence can win more full line equipment.
(This article is for informational purposes only and does not represent any of our investment advice.) For usage information, see the original report. ）
Featured report source: [Future Think Tank].