When it comes to the power lithium-ion battery market, people always have to talk about its "three worlds" pattern: due to the differences in shape and materials, cylindrical, square and soft pack batteries have their own distinctive features, leading companies to stand in line, each according to the side.
The cylindrical battery is the former boss, because of the relatively low cost and mature production process, once dominated the market, but now gradually declined; square battery is currently the most popular, in terms of cost, energy density and other aspects of good performance, by Ningde Time (300750), BYD (002594) and other leading widely promoted; and soft pack battery, like a rising star, all aspects of performance is very good, but It is also not easy to "master", and few companies can use its technology in a mature way.
For the company, choosing a camp to stand on is no less than a "bet" on fate. The company that embraced the square battery technology ten years ago may have become a great success today; the company that chose the cylindrical battery may lament the bad luck. But the choice of soft pack battery this route, extremely consuming R & D efforts, here the company can be said to be a rare, but is standing in the beginning of the upward channel.
VN Technology is one of them. Few companies in the industry are as determined to take the soft pack battery a technical route from the very beginning, convinced that soft pack batteries will eventually take the market by storm. Today, this persistence has finally paid off. VOLUNE battery has become the market leader of soft pack battery, continued to be the first in the country in shipments for two years, is the first choice of cooperation with a number of well-known car companies such as BAIC, Mercedes-Benz, Great Wall.
After harnessing the soft pack battery technology, how does the technical superiority of VN Technology compare with the companies in the square battery camp? Can its product cost performance surpass the latter? And how to promote the emerging technology of soft pack battery to the whole market?
Strong position in soft pack batteries
VN Technology's forward-looking judgment on soft pack batteries is due to the founders' deep scientific background. Dr. Wang Yu and Dr. Keith were already senior lithium-ion battery scientists worldwide before founding VN Technology, and had a strong track record of researching high-energy density power lithium batteries. 2009, after returning to China, the two founded VN Technology, daring to be the "first to eat the crab" and establishing the technical route of the soft pack structure.
"High energy density" is the core direction of technology research and development of VN Technology. Soft pack structure, ternary material power lithium battery, perfectly meets this characteristic: compared with square or cylindrical battery using the technology of "high energy density".
Compared to the steel or aluminum hard shell used in square or cylindrical batteries, the soft pack battery shell is a thin and light aluminum plastic film. Under the same capacity, the overall mass of soft pack is 20% lighter than cylindrical, and more than 30% lighter than square hard shell. Therefore, in terms of energy density, soft pack batteries are enough to "beat" the other two.
The addition of ternary materials adds to the deep "internal strength" of the soft pack battery. Combining the three elements of cobalt, nickel and manganese, the ternary material combines the advantages of each element in one. Not only is the energy density greater, but also higher stability and longer cycle life.
Choosing the right camp, VNPT technology stands out in the market. At present, the company can mass produce single cell energy density up to 285Wh/kg power lithium battery, can be comparable to the company in the global scope of only a few, Ningde Time, Panasonic is also less than it. In terms of safety performance, cycle life and other indicators, the company's product performance are in the industry leading position.
With excellent technology, what is the future of VN Technology?
Looking at the whole market, in recent years, the field of power lithium battery presents a rather "contradictory" situation: on the one hand, in China's more than 100 power lithium batteries, the company's products are in the leading position.
On the one hand, in more than 100 power lithium battery companies in China, the top five companies have a market share of more than 85%, but only occupy less than 45% of the output. A large number of small and medium-sized companies production utilization rate is below 35% for a long time, and the supply is in a serious surplus. On the other hand, the high-end market is in short supply. The industry's top five manufacturers contribute more than 70% of the installed capacity, and often in full production and full sales state. Audi, Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and other manufacturers are repeatedly trapped by the lack of battery production and other problems, delaying the delivery of vehicles.
The special situation of "insufficient high-end production and excess low-end production" brings huge growth opportunities for high-performance battery manufacturers. As one of the few manufacturers that can mass produce ternary soft pack batteries, VN Technology's advantages stand out.
New energy vehicles have increasingly urgent demand for long range and high safety performance, and more and more car companies are turning their attention to soft pack batteries. In the world's top ten car companies, seven have mass production of soft pack battery passenger cars, including more Nissan Leaf, including four explosive cars is a firm defender of soft pack batteries. 2018, China's soft pack battery shipments have reached 10.1GWh, up 48% from the previous year. It is expected that soft pack battery shipments will also rise at a high compound annual rate of 36% in the seven years to 2025.
Under this background, VN Technology has become the first choice for cooperation with car companies. In the field of soft pack batteries, the company's product shipments and installed capacity have been the first in the country for three years, with a market share of 20%. As of 2019, the company has supplied battery products for more than 125,000 new energy vehicles. With its outstanding performance, VN Technology sits firmly on the industry leading throne.
However, as a high-end battery supplier, the problem of insufficient production also plagues VNPT.
Its potential order size is expected to be 220Gwh, while the current annual effective production is still less than 2.5Gwh, far from matching the demand. For the past 4 years, the production utilization rate of VN Technology is above 90%, basically in full production.
The problems brought by the limited production are becoming more and more obvious: on the one hand, the bottleneck of production leads to the rising operating income facing the ceiling, on the other hand, the raw materials are expensive and the scale effect cannot be fully released, resulting in profit contraction. Performance, is the VN Technology 2018 revenue rose sharply down, gross profit margin "cut", net profit is "turn win for loss".
How to expand production? Fu can technology for this fire, take the powerful measures is to raise 3.44 billion to expand Fu can Zhenjiang production base.
At that time, Zhenjiang Phase III project will enable VN Technology to have an annual average of 24GWh battery production capacity. It is expected that by 2020, the completion and commissioning of the first two phases of the Zhenjiang project will raise the company's effective output to 7GWh, bringing an average annual operating income of $3 billion, up 33% from $2 billion in 2018. The scale effect will also further improve the company's gross margin profile. It is expected that by 2021, VNPT's Zhenjiang project will supply Daimler with a stable annual average of 20GWh scale products, and the gross margin will increase to 21.8%.
The lithium market is accelerating to the head manufacturers concentration, as the leader of VN Technology, if the expansion of production is smooth, will be invincible, pull the leading edge.
Famous enterprises "halo" under the accelerated leap
Power lithium battery big factory growth road, always lack of large car companies such as "good partner" support. BMW Brilliance used to use 700 pages of battery standard specification book, so Ningde Time's first single power lithium battery business will experience up to two years of "painful" integration. After going through the whole process from R&D to mass production, Ningde Times has since entered the supply chain of multinational car companies and has finally become a generation of domination.
The joint venture between VN Technology and BAIC, a Fortune 500 company, is the second "good story" in the industry, and is as hot as the cooperation case between Ningde Times and BMW, which is still being talked about.
In 2017, the two signed a 5-year 1 million units of new energy vehicles strategic cooperation agreement, achieving the largest order ever in the industry. That year, VN Technology broke into the top five camps of the power lithium battery market, leaping from an obscure soft pack battery manufacturer to a leader.
The identity of VN Technology as a supplier to BAIC, in fact, was already available as early as 2015. Before accepting the huge "olive branch" thrown by BAIC, VN Technology's batteries have supported all of its models, driving over 10,000 kilometers in a single vehicle, but never a safety accident. The excellent product quality for the VN Technology brand endorsement, and finally get the famous enterprise's attention.
After the cooperation between the two launched the BAIC EC series of new energy vehicles, but also become the industry explosion, in 2018, BAIC EC series sales of more than 90,000 units, ahead of the industry's second sales nearly double, in the pure electric vehicle market a ride.
In 2018, the company beat LG Chemical, Ningde Times and other outstanding manufacturers to take hundreds of millions of orders from Daimler of Mercedes-Benz, becoming another "highlight moment" in the history of the automobile.
According to the contract, from 2021 to 2027, VN Technology will supply a total of 140GWh products to Mercedes-Benz, equivalent to the installed capacity of 2.8 million pure electric vehicles. However, according to the current production of less than 2.5GWh, to meet the annual average of 20GWh of battery supply, VN Technology expansion is already imminent, and is in urgent need of capital to lend a hand.
Among the luxury car suppliers of multinational car companies, VN Technology has achieved a "qualitative leap" in its development history. With the cooperation of high-end car companies backing, Fu can technology may be able to copy the past Ningde Time for BMW's achievements of the road, into a new generation of power lithium battery dominant.
Power lithium battery first echelon, VN Technology appears to be unusually "dedicated": founded 11 years only firm soft pack battery a technical route. Hindsight proves that this "specialization" is very insightful. High energy density soft pack batteries are being favored by more and more car companies, and the leading technology of Vonergy battery is its first choice for cooperation. Following the "marriage" with BAIC to create a good story in the industry, VOLUME battery and Dahlem "hand in hand", will help it to increase its advantage in the international market, into a new generation of domination.
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