Since 2022, the price of the power battery industry chain has continued to rise, and how to deal with the battery supply problem has become the focus of upstream and downstream enterprises.
CATL chief scientist Wu Kai announced at the "2022 8th China Electric Vehicle Hundred People's Meeting" forum held recently that the "Kirin Battery" will be officially released in April this year.
At the same time, after Tesla first released the 4680 battery (a large cylindrical battery with a diameter of 46 mm and a height of 80 mm) in September 2020, leading power battery companies have also begun to accelerate the deployment of large cylindrical batteries to seize the industry Get ahead.
Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the large cylindrical battery process is relatively standardized, and the manufacturing cost is lower than that of square and soft pack batteries. Battery companies will follow up the trend of 4680 battery structure innovation.
Longzhong Information lithium battery industry analyst Luo Xiaoli told reporters that the breakthrough in battery technology is not only a process of reducing costs, but also a process of finding batteries that are more suitable for different scenarios.
Many giants support large cylindrical batteries
As a leading company in new energy vehicles, after Tesla officially announced the large cylindrical battery as its main technical route, the 4680 battery will enter the mass production stage this year.
On February 19, Tesla announced that the Fremont factory had produced 1 million 4680 batteries in January, which are expected to be used in Model Y models in the first quarter of 2022. It is estimated that each vehicle is equipped with 1,000 batteries, and 1 million batteries can meet the production of 1,000 Model Ys.
According to official data, the energy density of the large cylindrical battery reaches 300kWh/kg, the single energy of the 4680 cell is increased by 5 times, the cruising range of the vehicle is increased by 16%, the output power is increased by 6 times, and the cost is reduced by 14%.
In addition to Tesla, Panasonic and LG New Energy both plan to mass-produce 4680 batteries in 2023. Panasonic’s factory in Wakayama, Japan is introducing 2 production lines, and LG New Energy has also begun to build a pilot production line.
Yuki Kusami, president of Panasonic Electric, also said at the Hundreds Forum that 4680 batteries will become the mainstream of cylindrical batteries in the future. The 4680 battery is a "double innovation" in battery structure and material: it adopts a large cylindrical structure, and its capacity is 5 times higher than that of the 2170 battery.
Driven by Tesla, leading domestic companies are also deploying large cylindrical batteries.
EVE has built a battery production capacity of 39GWh and is expected to expand to 225GWh in 2024. Its announcement shows that a ternary large cylindrical battery cell production line with an annual production capacity of 20GWh is planned to be put into operation in Jingmen, Hubei. Start supplying.
Liu Jincheng, chairman of Yiwei Lithium Energy, said that based on his understanding of battery safety and economy, large cylindrical batteries will become the main power battery form for mid-to-high-end new energy vehicles.
Fan Wenguang, vice president of BAK Power Battery, also believes that the 4680 battery is currently in the advancement stage from design verification to engineering verification. Large cylindrical batteries are the optimal solution for mid-to-high-end electric vehicles in the next 5 to 10 years. By 2025, the market share of large cylindrical batteries will exceed 30%, exceeding the total global demand in 2021.
In this regard, Mo Ke, chief analyst of True Lithium Research, told reporters that large cylindrical batteries can maintain high consistency, and the number of cells in a pack is much less than 18650 or 2170, which means that the battery management system is technically difficult. It is much smaller, and new materials and technologies such as silicon carbon anodes that make the battery energy density higher can be used.
The industry has entered a new round of reshuffle
Since the end of last year, many products in the power battery industry chain have been increasing in price due to the shortage of supply. The development of new energy vehicles is facing many problems, and many leading companies are tackling new battery technologies.
CATL Chief Scientist Wu Kai said at the Hundred People Forum that the company has launched the third-generation CTP technology through continuous technological iteration, which is called "Kirin Battery" internally, and its system weight, energy density and volumetric energy density continue to lead the industry's highest level. Under the same chemical system and the same battery pack size, the power of the "Kirin battery" pack can be increased by 13% compared to the 4680 system.
Whether it is CATL's "Kirin battery" or Tesla's 4680 battery, it will have a significant impact on the power battery industry.
Mo Ke said that the continuous increase in cost and price is conducive to breakthroughs in battery technology and material technology. At present, the development of the lithium battery industry has entered a new round of reshuffle due to the continuous increase in the price of resources, and companies with weak technical capabilities will be eliminated.
