Dialogue with Bicker Battery Vice President Fan Wenguang: The performance of the 4680 battery is balanced, and it can be mass-produced next year

Car stuff (public number: chedongxi)

Author | Juice

Edited by | Xiaohan

Chedongxi March 27 news, today, the eighth session of the Electric Vehicle 100 Forum continued to be held, this 100 forum with the theme of "greeting the new stage of market-oriented development of new energy vehicles", the new stage of smart city intelligent networked vehicle new policies, carbon neutrality under the goal of global automotive transportation energy transformation, power batteries and other topics were discussed.

As the most important core component of new energy vehicles, power batteries are a very hot topic, and many big names in the field of power batteries have participated in the forum of the 100 people.

Fan Wenguang, vice president of Shenzhen BAK Power Battery Co., Ltd., also accepted interviews with the media such as Che Dongxi, and shared some of the situation of BAK batteries and hot issues in the battery market.

▲Fan Wenguang, Vice President of BAK Power Battery Co., Ltd. (first from the right)

1. Cylindrical batteries are the core products, and they are also making power for square lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Fan Wenguang said that BAK batteries are a diversified and continuous layout in terms of products. Square, soft pack, and cylindrical batteries all have layouts, and these products will face different market segments.

Cylindrical batteries are the most distinctive products of BAK batteries. The traditional 18650 and 21700 battery cells are in the layout, and these products are mainly aimed at the consumer side, such as power tools, smart homes and two-wheeled travel small power application areas. At present, the new platform is developing a new generation of large cylindrical batteries, mainly aiming at the mid-to-high-end new energy vehicle market.

BAK battery this year will also concentrate on square batteries, BAK's latest production base in Fuzhou, the main production is lithium iron phosphate square cells and modules, mainly for outdoor energy storage, communication base stations, microgrids, solar street lights, will also aim at the field of vehicles.

In addition, BAK Battery is also making some polymer products, both for consumer electronics, but also to undertake the heavy responsibility of solid-state battery technology in the future.

The 2.4680 battery has balanced performance and will be mass-produced next year.

When it comes to the Cylindrical battery of the BAK battery, it cannot avoid the 4680 battery cell that is currently working on it.

Fan Wenguang said that the current 4680 battery is in the promotion stage from design verification to engineering verification. When car companies choose power batteries, from development to mass production and landing, there are very strict verifications, so BAK batteries do not pursue faster but more stable when promoting 4680 batteries.

However, Fan Wenguang is also very confident in the 4680 battery cell. He said that the safety limit of the large cylindrical battery of BAK batteries is very high, and all aspects are relatively balanced, which can be called "hexagonal" players. In the mid-to-high-end market from 2025 to 2030, large cylindrical batteries will occupy an absolute dominant position.

BAK batteries have a first-mover advantage. He said that BAK Battery has been introducing new products to some high-end core customers since the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, and some customers have also expressed interest. After 2020, it has successively set up projects with many customers and is in the process of research and development.

After Tesla released the 4680 battery, the entire industry was paying attention to this product. After a whole year of design in 2021, including the mass production and delivery of samples, BAK batteries are already in the process of batch delivery of samples, and the verification results of performance have also come out, and the performance of the product is very in line with or even exceeds expectations.

In the second half of this year, BAK Battery will carry out small-batch mass production for 4680 batteries, and next year will carry out large-scale mass production.

BAK Battery has also made capacity planning for mass production, and it is expected to expand its 80GWh production capacity at home and abroad in the next few years.

3. There are already plans to deal with battery price increases, and battery recycling will continue to be improved.

In response to the problem of rising prices of raw materials for power batteries, Fan Wenguang said that the large amount of demand on the demand side in recent times will itself push up the price of raw materials, on the other hand, the global epidemic and tension situation have further caused a negative impact on the raw material market.

These two factors have led to a certain stampede effect in the supply chain field, some peers and friends have locked in production capacity out of panic, and there are also individual players hoarding, fueling the waves, resulting in the crazy rise of raw materials in the entire industry.

This also poses a challenge to power battery companies, and the company's research and development capabilities and supply chain integration capabilities have borne certain pressure.

At present, BAK batteries have a complete set of coping programs, first of all, close cooperation with upstream suppliers, reasonable adjustment of procurement rhythm, slow buying and selling at high prices, and second, to transfer the pressure of price increases to customers, and another very important point is that upstream suppliers strengthen the use of raw material recycling.

Most of the raw materials used in BAK batteries are recycled, and will continue to increase in the future, even reaching 100% of the proportion.

In addition, BAK Battery is also carrying out some R&D substitution, selecting new suppliers and technical routes, etc., and is also strengthening equity investment in the outside world, seeking a safe supply chain through acquisitions or joint ventures.

4. Power exchange is a very important technical path, cylindrical battery in the power exchange has more advantages.

At present, BAK batteries are undergoing some layout in the field of power exchange, and Fan Wenguang also explained in the interview. He believes that power exchange is a very important part of the national policy, and BAK Battery has also maintained very close cooperation with some power exchange suppliers. Some time ago, BAK Battery and a power exchange giant reached a deep cooperation agreement in Hainan.

Fan Wenguang said that power exchange is also a new technical route in the current mileage anxiety and charging difficulties, and BAK batteries will take power exchange as a very important technical route in the future.

However, he also talked about the current problems in power exchange, such as insufficient flexibility, high construction costs, and inconsistent industry standards. Therefore, before the real large-scale landing of power exchange, it is necessary for car companies, power exchange operators, and power battery companies to work together to overcome difficulties and explore a solution that is more suitable for the current industrial development and market demand.

Fan Wenguang also emphasized the advantages of BAK batteries in power exchange, he believes that cylindrical batteries are very suitable for power exchange technology routes, because it is small, the shape is relatively regular, very suitable for matching a variety of power exchange modes.