Of the three carriers, China Mobile is a relatively big adopter of lithium-iron phosphate batteries, while China Telecom and China Unicom are more cautious. High prices and reliability concerns are the main reasons for the widespread use of lithium-iron phosphate batteries.
Lithium-iron phosphate batteries are becoming increasingly popular because they are more efficient and energy efficient than lead-acid batteries. At present, lithium iron phosphate batteries are mainly used in electric vehicles, and have gradually entered the communications industry in the past two years. Of the three carriers, China Mobile is a relatively big adopter of lithium-iron phosphate batteries, while China Telecom and China Unicom are more cautious. High prices and reliability concerns are the main reasons for the widespread use of lithium-iron phosphate batteries.
Mobile first bidding prospects are broad
From the point of view of performance, lithium-iron phosphate battery life is much longer than lead-acid battery, lead-acid battery average cycle life in charge and discharge of about 300 times, and lithium-iron battery can reach more than 2000 times. In addition, lithium-iron batteries are safer, do not explode, and can be charged and discharged quickly with large currents. At the same time, the lithium iron phosphate battery is more resistant to high temperature, electric heating peak can reach 350℃ to 500℃, in practical applications, you can cancel the use of battery thermostat.
At the end of 2010, Henan Company of China Mobile Group launched the centralized procurement bidding for lithium iron phosphate batteries, which is also the first centralized bidding for this product within the scope of China Mobile. Zhang Le, the network operation and maintenance department of Henan Mobile, said the company had conducted a small-scale trial of lithium iron phosphate batteries and "the results were good". It is understood that the bidding for lithium iron phosphate batteries is actually commissioned by China Mobile Henan Mobile, the purchase of products will not be limited to the application of Henan Mobile.
This is a fat piece of meat.
According to their previous market research, if China Mobile replaced all of its existing ordinary lead-acid batteries with lithium-iron phosphate batteries, the market size would be as high as 800 billion yuan, the agency said.
"There will be at least two to three years of trial." A person in charge of a battery manufacturer that was selected for the bidding by Henan Mobile said, "If the trial effect after the centralized procurement by China Mobile is good, then it will be applied on a large scale in 2-3 years; If it doesn't work out, you'll have to wait."
The price is high network application time is insufficient
At present, the primary factor affecting the large-scale use of lithium-iron phosphate batteries is the price. The current mainstream lithium iron phosphate batteries on the market are on average two to three times more expensive than lead-acid batteries, and even more than five times more expensive. If lithium-iron batteries do achieve a life of 10 years, the return on investment is not too bad, compared with two years for lead-acid batteries. But in practice, operators still find current prices too expensive.
"If the price is double that of lead-acid batteries, it's acceptable, but any higher is not." China telecom group network department product support Department Du Min said. Several of China Telecom's provincial companies are testing lithium-iron phosphate batteries on a relatively modest scale, ranging from a few hundred to a thousand cells, each with a capacity of no more than 50 ampere-hours.
Apart from the price, the lack of sufficient actual data is another important reason why operators are reluctant to use lithium-iron phosphate batteries on a large scale.
Mr Du says there are at least three stages before a new product is put into mass use. First of all, the theory can't be wrong. Secondly, data support of aging test is needed. Third, the need for a certain time and scale of the current network trial.
Theoretically, lithium-iron phosphate batteries are safer and more reliable than lead-acid batteries. The cycle charge-discharge life can reach 10 years, which can solve the problems of high pollution and short life of the latter. However, in terms of aging test data, the current lithium iron phosphate battery can not provide enough credible data support. As for the current network application, the longest trial time of lithium iron phosphate battery in the communication industry is only about two years, and it can not be concluded that it can be used on a large scale.
Chen does not agree that the lack of adequate data is the main reason for operators to use lithium-iron phosphate batteries. "They don't want to use it for 'political' reasons." "With new technology, what happens if something goes wrong? If you use old technology, you don't have to take responsibility if something goes wrong."
Chen Mingjun is the chairman of Shenzhen Shanmu Battery Group. Shanmu Battery is the first enterprise in China to achieve mass production of lithium-iron phosphate batteries. At present, the daily output can reach 100,000 amph. He said that there has been sufficient data to prove that the performance of lithium-iron phosphate batteries far better than lead-acid batteries, can replace lead acid batteries.
As for the operators' concern that the price of lead-acid batteries is too high, Chen doesn't think it's a problem either. "Double the price of lead-acid batteries is not a problem at all. Give me a big order and I can make it 0.5 times higher." Chen said.
It is understood that although the domestic reserves of lithium ore is very rich, but the raw materials needed for lithium iron phosphate batteries belong to synthetic materials, and the production equipment and process of domestic suppliers can not keep up, good lithium iron phosphate battery manufacturers are imported raw materials from abroad. At present, the price of imported raw materials from abroad is more than 120,000 yuan per ton, while domestic raw materials are relatively cheap, only 70,000 to 90,000 yuan per ton, but the quality of the batteries produced is not as good as the former.
In addition to raw materials, the price of production equipment also varies. In the case of the coater, this is the second step in the production of lithium iron phosphate batteries. The price of a set of domestic coater is about one million, and if the imported equipment is used, the price will be tens of millions.
Waiting for the electric car
Zhang Shuzhi, professorship senior engineer of China Mobile Group Design Institute, believes that lithium iron phosphate batteries are difficult to obtain large-scale applications in the communications industry in the short term. Although Henan Mobile has started centralized procurement, Mr Zhang points out that it is still an experimental application. "The price of centralized procurement is strictly fixed, so large-scale procurement is not possible yet." "Said Zhang Shuzhi.
In fact, the current operators do not even for lithium-iron phosphate batteries into the network testing standards. The lack of a standard is another confirmation that no operator is ready to introduce lithium-iron phosphate batteries on a large scale.
For now, manufacturers of lithium-iron phosphate batteries are focused on the electric car market. The national support policy for electric vehicles has been quite obvious, electric vehicles "Twelfth Five-Year" special plan draft has been drawn up, the pilot of electric vehicles have been launched in various places. At the just-concluded Tianjin International Automotive Forum, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang made it clear that the next five years will be a critical period for the transition of electric vehicles from scientific research to industrialization, as well as for China's ability to make this strategic emerging industry bigger and stronger.
For the communications industry, this may be a good thing. The high demand for lithium-iron batteries for electric vehicles will lead to a rapid improvement in technology and a rapid drop in price, as well as a significant increase in the number of manufacturers entering the field. By then, the communications industry has accumulated sufficient experience in the trial of lithium-iron phosphate batteries, and an affordable lithium-iron battery and a large number of alternative manufacturers will be "readily available." After all, for the communications industry hundreds of billions or even trillions of potential market, savvy vendors will not give up no matter what.
