Rising raw material prices, the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the curtain on the "double carbon" action, the recurrence of the COVID-19 epidemic, the obstruction of supply chains... In 2022, the auto industry seems to be facing an even tougher test. Even so, the promotion of new energy vehicles is still rolling out around the world, bringing a glimmer of hope to the troubled automobile market.
The latest data shows that global electric vehicle sales doubled to 4.6 million units in 2021, for the first time, fueled by strong demand in China and Europe. In the upstream of the supply chain, the power battery industry is under pressure, not only rapidly increasing production capacity, but also new technologies.
All along, reducing costs and seizing market share through technological innovation has been the foundation of enterprises. The reporter learned that in the new stage of the new energy automobile industry towards marketization, the competition between power battery companies is to some extent manifested as a dispute between different technical routes. Among them, there are mass-produced products with clear market prospects and promising prospects, innovative technologies that are about to be put into mass production and whose application effects are yet to be tested, as well as cutting-edge achievements with a better vision and a very attractive future. Grasping the present is very critical, the layout of the future is also important, the power battery industry multi-technical route "dark war" is constantly upgrading.
1
Ningde era: CTP3.0 "Kirin battery" iteratively out
As the leading boss in the power battery industry, CATL has been using technological innovation to promote the development of automobile electrification. On the official website, it highlights CTP, CTC, high nickel and high voltage technologies.
Compared with the traditional battery packs currently on the market, CATL has pioneered the CTP (CelltoPack) high-efficiency group technology in the industry. By simplifying the module structure, this technology can increase the volume utilization rate of the battery pack by 20% to 30%, reduce the number of parts by 40%, increase the production efficiency by 50%, and greatly reduce the manufacturing cost of the power battery after being put into use. It is reported that the energy density of traditional battery packs averages 140 to 150Wh/kg, and the CTP battery packs reach more than 200Wh/kg. CATL debuted the CTP battery pack at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, and then cooperated with BAIC BJEV to achieve the first mass production model application.
After several years of rapid development, CTP technology in the Ningde era has been continuously updated. In March this year, Wu Kai, chief scientist of CATL, said that the company has developed a third-generation CTP technology through technical iteration, which can be applied to its lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries, also known as "Kirin batteries". It is reported that CTP3.0 technology has been mass-produced and is expected to be officially launched in April this year. According to the data, CTP3.0 is composed of a platform cell module, an expandable electrical module, a flexible expandable thermal management module and a flexible expandable box module, of which the battery module still uses the form of a square battery, which can better utilize the space of the entire battery pack.
Wu Kai said that the system weight, energy density and volume energy density of Kirin batteries will continue to lead the industry at the highest level. "2023 will be a key time node for electric vehicles to exceed 1,000km and enter large-scale mass production, and the importance of the latest CTP technology will be greatly increased in the future." According to him, the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries using CTP3.0 technology can reach 160Wh/kg, and ternary lithium batteries can reach 250Wh/kg. It is worth mentioning that under the same conditions, products using CTP3.0 technology can be 13% more powerful than 4680 battery systems.
In addition, CATL also proposed CTC (CelltoChassis) technology, which integrates the battery cell with the body, chassis, electric drive, thermal management and various high and low voltage control modules, which can make the vehicle mileage exceed 1000km; and through the intelligent power domain controller, optimize power distribution and reduce energy consumption, and reduce the power consumption of 100 kilometers to less than 12kWh. It is reported that CATL will officially launch a highly integrated CTC battery around 2025.
2
BYD: "Blade battery" is full of thorns
Growing up in the competition with the Ningde era is BYD, which has always adhered to the route of lithium iron phosphate technology. BYD not only realizes the self-sufficiency of power batteries, but also relies on its own strength to cut through thorns and thorns with "blade batteries" and broaden the road to external distribution.
In March 2020, BYD officially released the blade battery. The blade battery adopts a large battery cell with a length greater than 0.6m developed by BYD, and the battery cell also evolves to a large capacity, but the shape of the cell is more flat and narrow (the long side can be customized, and the maximum stable length of the single body can reach 2100mm), which is arranged together through the array, just like the "blade" inserted into the battery pack. Through a series of structural innovations, the blade battery has achieved super strength while greatly improving safety performance, increasing volume utilization by more than 50%, and reducing cost by 30%.
In June 2020, the first new CAR equipped with blade batteries, BYD "Han", was launched, with a driving range of 605km. There are constant rumors that blade batteries will be supported by other car companies, involving Tesla, Hyundai, Weilai, Xiaomi and so on.
Entering 2022, the pace of BYD power battery capacity expansion is still fast. In January, the BYD Industrial Park project officially landed in Xiangyang, Hubei Province, and will build a 30GWh power battery and parts project. In February, the groundbreaking ceremony of the power battery project of FAW Fordi New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was held in Changchun. It is reported that after the plant reaches full production, it will achieve an annual output of 45GWh of power battery production capacity and supply blade batteries for more than 1 million cars. In March, BYD Wuhan Huangpi Base began construction, and the second phase of the power battery Yancheng Base project "Cloud Signing" was held. In April, BYD signed an investment cooperation agreement with the Guiyang Municipal People's Government, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Xianju County, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, in the form of "cloud signing", with an annual output of 22GWh blade battery project settled in the local area.
At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum (2022), Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, proposed that BYD continues to adhere to the "two legs, walk together" strategy of plug-in hybrid and pure electric, and adheres to the lithium iron phosphate battery as the correct development path. He said: "Safety is the cornerstone of the development of new energy vehicles, and cost is an important indicator that must be faced. When the performance of the power battery crosses a certain threshold, the importance of energy density is decreasing, and the importance of safety, cost, cycle life and other indicators is improving. The blade battery launched by BYD not only solves the safety pain point, but also realizes that the energy density of the package is comparable to that of the ternary lithium battery, and the cycle life and safety factor are stronger. At the same time, he also pointed out that lithium iron phosphate batteries do not contain rare metals cobalt and nickel, which can avoid being "stuck neck" by foreign capital and better match the tolerance of social resources.
3
Hive Energy: "Short knife battery" breaks the world
Hive Energy publicly demonstrated a short knife battery with a length of 600mm at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show. At the end of 2021, Hive Energy released the "Lead Bee 600" strategy, proposing to increase the production capacity target to 600GWh in 2025 and accelerate the commercialization process of new categories of short knife batteries.
"The market is not short of power battery production capacity, what is missing is the production capacity of high-quality power batteries at the vehicle level." Hive Energy will implement electric global short knife. Yang Hongxin, chairman and CEO of Hive Energy, said that the company's layout of L300~L600 full-size short-knife batteries covers a global charging range of 1.6~4C, which is suitable for global use scenarios such as passenger cars, energy storage, commercial vehicles, construction machinery, and non-high-speed trams, involving global chemical systems from cobalt-free, ternary to lithium iron phosphate.
According to Yang Hongxin, the long and thin structure of the battery cell is the industry consensus of the evolution of power batteries, and it is also one of the directions that Hive Energy has focused on at the beginning of its establishment. As for the reasons for choosing global short knife, he believes that the short knife battery is a scientific choice based on the first principle, with high compatibility and adapting to different scenarios and platforms. For application-side enterprises, short-knife batteries can meet the needs of high group rate, low cost and high safety, while for battery companies themselves, they have obvious advantages in yield control and large-scale industrial mass production, and at the same time, global short-knife can avoid the investment risk of large-scale factory construction. It is reported that in terms of loading equipment, in 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a batch of 345 announcements, a model of Great Wall Euler is equipped with the L600 short knife lithium iron phosphate battery cell of Hive Energy. In terms of manufacturing, in October 2021, The first short knife production line of Hive Energy was officially put into operation at the second phase of the factory in Jintan, Changzhou, and the full production capacity of the production line will reach 2.5GWh.
Liu Xiaoan, director of Hive Energy and senior director of the process, told reporters that the homogenization, coating, roll pressing, die cutting, lamination and assembly of the Changzhou Jintan factory are the main links in the production process of short knife batteries, and the company has made a series of exclusive innovations around these six processes. For example, for the production of batteries using lamination process, lamination speed has always been a pain point in the industry, and Hive Energy currently uses double-station lamination with an efficiency of up to 0.4s/piece; the next generation of ultra-high-speed blade-type battery pole composition equipment that has been developed can achieve a lamination efficiency of 0.125s/piece.
It is understood that Hive Energy has planned 11 production bases around the world, and Changzhou Jintan Factory has built the first vehicle-grade power battery AI super factory for it, which is built in four phases with a total planned production capacity of 68GWh. At present, the first and second phases of the factory have been officially put into operation, and the first "short knife" battery mass production line has been built in the second phase of the factory, and the full production capacity will reach 2.5GWh. On this basis, Hive Energy will build a short knife battery super factory, and eventually achieve a production capacity of 20GWh.
4
Ewell Lithium Energy: "Bet" on the large cylindrical battery
At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum (2022), Liu Jincheng, chairman of Yiwei Lithium Energy, said in an interview with reporters that from the perspective of chemical system or structure, power batteries with different technical routes have their own advantages, but long-term development is to see the adaptability of the future market and whether it can fundamentally meet the needs of the industry. He believes that lithium iron phosphate batteries with large cylinder and laminated solutions will be the main development direction of the industry. The ternary lithium battery of the large cylinder has an absolute advantage in terms of safety and will be the mainstream technical route supporting the middle and high-end models; the lithium iron phosphate battery of the laminated scheme is economical and will be the mainstream technical route supporting the mass-market model.
Liu Jincheng also used the "four extremes" to describe the advantages of large cylindrical batteries: one is the ultimate standard, which can achieve the standardization of design, manufacturing and recycling; the second is the ultimate reliability, its structure is stable, the whole life cycle has zero stress, and the full size is not deformed; the third is the ultimate manufacturing, the process is shortened by 30%, and the production efficiency is higher; the fourth is the extreme system, the large cylindrical battery of Ewell lithium energy has achieved a nickel content of 90%, and the chemical system containing carbon silicon.
Due to the consideration of cost reduction, the new domestic car-making forces have shown interest in large cylindrical batteries. At the same time, they are also watching the effect of Tesla's actual use of large cylindrical batteries after loading the car. In this market background, Ewell Lithium energy is ready to give it a go and announce the production capacity construction plan of large cylinder and square power batteries. It is reported that the new production project of Ewell lithium energy will be completed at the end of 2022, put into operation in the first half of 2023, and the overall production capacity will reach about 200GWh by 2023.
5
BAK Battery: 46 Series and 26 Series Large Cylindrical Battery "Counter-Offensive"
As early as 2015, BAK Battery took the lead in mass production of high-nickel ternary 811 + 18650 cells containing silicon anodes. It is reported that the current mass production of Cylindrical batteries of BAK batteries generally uses ternary lithium cathodes with a nickel content of 88% or more, and the negative electrode with a silicon complex content of up to 15%, while the large cylindrical batteries under development will use a more advanced system.
At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum (2022), Fan Wenguang, vice president of Shenzhen BAK Power Battery Co., Ltd., brought a keynote speech on "The Future of Large Cylindrical Power Batteries". In the view of BAK Battery, the "big" of the large cylindrical battery is not only in the size, but also in the size of the steps, the great prospects and the great challenges. As the optimal solution for high-end electric vehicles in the next 5 to 10 years and the breakthrough of electric vehicle penetration, cylindrical batteries are the most secure category in the current mainstream battery form: first, its single body is the smallest, which can spread risks; second, each single body is protected by a steel shell or aluminum shell, and has an independent pressure relief device; third, the use of honeycomb arrangement, there is a natural gap between the cells, and there is also a large heat exchange area between the cell monomer and the outside, which can ensure the absolute safety of the battery pack. It is said that at present, many new energy vehicle companies have finalized the power battery plan for the next 5 to 10 years, the mass-market model uses square or blade lithium iron phosphate batteries, and the high-end models use ternary lithium + large cylindrical battery layout.
Fan Wenguang said that BAK batteries currently have two series of 46 series and 26 series of full pole ear large cylindrical battery products. Specifically, the 46 series batteries began to have samples delivered in batches last year, and the performance was in line with expectations. The 26 series is based on 26105 aluminum shell battery core, B sample stage product energy density of 270Wh/kg, power density greater than 2000W/kg, the driving range of supporting models can reach more than 700 km; 12 minutes of charging, can last more than 500 km, 5 minutes of fast charging, can continue to drive more than 280km, pure fast charging cycle life of more than 800 times. According to the plan, the battery will be mass-produced in 2024, when the energy density will reach 285Wh/kg.
"According to the customer needs we understand, combined with industry information, the large cylindrical battery cell will account for at least 30% of the global power battery market by 2025, exceeding the total demand for global power batteries in 2021." Fan Wenguang said. It is reported that in the next few years, BAK Battery will expand the battery production capacity of 80GWh in the domestic and international markets in two stages, and continue to exert efforts.
6
Weilan New Energy: Mixed solid-liquid battery mass production is imminent
At the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum (2022), Li Hong, chief scientist and founder of Weilan New Energy, revealed that the company is cooperating with WEILAI Automobile to launch a hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte battery with a single charge of 1000km based on the ET7 model, with a battery pack capacity of 150kWh and a monomer energy density of 360Wh/kg. The hybrid solid-liquid battery is expected to start mass production at the end of this year or the first half of next year.
According to reports, Weilan New Energy has developed a series of products, including 150Wh/kg hybrid solid-liquid energy storage batteries for large-scale energy storage, 270Wh/kg high-specific energy hybrid solid-liquid batteries for unmanned aerial vehicles and 300Wh/kg hybrid solid-liquid power batteries. On this basis, the company has further developed a 360Wh/kg hybrid solid-liquid power battery, which can meet the requirements of electric vehicles through safety tests such as needle punching, overcharge, and extrusion.
Weilan New Energy believes that in the future, power batteries will develop in the direction of higher specific energy, while the battery cell will develop from liquid to safer mixed solid-liquid and all-solid state. In the future, the development route of power batteries and energy storage batteries includes: positive electrodes based on high nickel and lithium-rich manganese bases, and cells with nano-silicon carbon anodes and lithium-carbon composite anodes, which can meet the requirements of electric passenger cars and electric aircraft with a driving range of 1000km; cathode materials based on modified lithium manganate, lithium iron phosphate, and nickel-manganese spinel, matched with high-capacity anode materials, and solutions for pure electric vehicles with a driving range of 600km Solutions for sodium-ion batteries and solid-state lithium iron phosphate batteries for lower-cost energy storage applications.
It should be pointed out that in order to achieve mass production of solid-state batteries, related enterprises need to further forge the industrial chain, optimize and develop new cathode materials, anode materials, electrolyte materials, pre-lithium materials, super binders, conductive additives, and a new generation of metal deposition of fluid collection, while developing new front, middle and rear stage processes to achieve factory intelligence.
At present, the largest shareholder of Weilan New Energy is Hefei Blue Mileage Venture Capital Partnership, with a shareholding ratio of 19.2%. Among them, the investors of Blue Mileage include Li Bin, the founder of Weilai Automobile. In addition, other investors in Weilan New Energy include companies such as Xiaomi, Geely and Huawei.
7
SES: Hybrid lithium metal batteries battle tomorrow
The power battery may be one distance away from achieving "transcendence" in the electrochemical system. Founded in 2012, SES Battery is about to realize this vision.
According to Hu Qichao, founder and CEO of SES, its lithium metal battery technology includes three parts, one is Hermes, a new material research and development platform; the other is Apollo, the engineering manufacturing capability of lithium metal batteries for automobiles; and the third is Avatar, artificial intelligence safety monitoring software. In 2021, SES showed off the first vehicle-grade lithium metal battery, which, according to preliminary test data, has a capacity of 107Ah, an energy density of 417Wh/kg, 935Wh/L, and a weight of less than 1kg. It is said that this is the world's first lithium metal battery above 100Ah, and it is also the world's largest lithium metal battery.
In 2015, SES made an important technical route adjustment, from the all-solid-state lithium metal battery route to the current hybrid lithium metal battery route. Since then, the commercialization process of SES has been accelerating. At present, SES is working with GM, Hyundai, and Honda to jointly develop A samples, which is also the world's first A sample for lithium metal vehicles. According to the current plan, next year into the B sample, the following year C sample, 2025 officially put into mass production.
SES claims that the hybrid lithium metal battery developed by SES has three major advantages: one is the material innovation of the lithium metal anode, so that the battery energy density can reach 400 ~ 500Wh / kg; the second is the electrolyte, hoping to fundamentally change the growth mode of lithium dendrites and improve the safety of the battery; the third is the algorithm, using artificial intelligence to monitor the health status of the battery cell in the entire production and operation process, and establish a model through a large number of detailed data to accurately predict the risk.
As an important part of SES's global strategic layout, SES established a production and R&D center in Jiading, Shanghai in 2018, and now this center is being upgraded to the world's first 1GWh lithium metal battery super factory. In March this year, SES officially launched the production and testing of the first A-sample lithium metal battery in Shanghai. At present, SES is constantly expanding the R&D team at its headquarters in Boston, while building a second production base in South Korea to respond to the needs of more car companies. In China, SES investors include SAIC, Geely, Foxconn, Tianqi Lithium and so on.
Text: Zhao Qiong Editor: Pang Guoxia Layout: Zhao Fangting Image source: the company's official website