Ternary lithium battery (NCM/NCA) and lithium iron phosphate battery (LFP) are the two most mainstream technical routes in the field of electric vehicle power batteries at this stage. As the price of battery raw materials continues to rise, lithium iron phosphate batteries with cost advantages have begun to be adopted by more car companies. In the first quarter of 2022, the installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries has fully surpassed that of ternary lithium batteries, and the market share has gradually increased.
Following Tesla's announcement of the use of lithium iron phosphate batteries in entry-level models such as the Model 3 and Model Y, another American car company, Ford Motor, plans to launch electric models equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Ford said at a recent meeting that Ford has accumulated a certain amount of technology for lithium iron phosphate batteries, and plans to install lithium iron phosphate batteries in two low-cost entry-level pure electric SUV Mustang Mach-E and pure electric pickup F-150 Lightning in the future. On the model, but has not disclosed the specific listing time and more details.
According to Ford, the annual output of the F-150 Lightning model in the United States will reach 150,000 units by 2023, while the annual output of the Mustang Mach-E model in Mexico in 2021 will only be 50,000 units. It's no small challenge for Ford. The adoption of lithium iron phosphate batteries can not only maintain the price attractiveness of entry-level models under the trend of rising raw material prices, but also better allocate ternary lithium battery production to high-end long-range models, thereby slowing down the shortage of ternary lithium batteries The supply pressure brought by it will further expand the overall production capacity of electric vehicles.
In addition to the confirmed Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning, Ford may also be equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries on the pure electric commercial van E-Transit.
A lithium iron phosphate battery is a lithium ion battery that uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) as the positive electrode material and carbon as the negative electrode material. Compared with ternary lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries have stronger safety and stability, longer cycle life, and are only slightly inferior in energy density and cruising range. The positive electrode of the ternary lithium battery contains a "ternary precursor" composed of three elements, nickel, cobalt and manganese. Therefore, it has performance advantages in terms of battery energy density and is also greatly affected by the increase in the price of key materials. The lithium iron phosphate battery does not contain nickel and cobalt, the supply of raw materials is more stable, and it has a stronger cost advantage than the ternary lithium battery.
In addition, the two types of batteries also differ in charge and discharge performance. Tesla CEO Musk publicly stated that Tesla models equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries can be charged to 100%, while models equipped with ternary lithium batteries need to consider their cycle life, and it is recommended to only charge to 90%.
The global electric vehicle leader Tesla is the first car company to adopt lithium iron phosphate batteries on a large scale. Nearly 50% of the electric vehicles produced by the company in the first quarter of 2022 use lithium iron phosphate batteries. In addition to Tesla and Ford, some electric car manufacturers have also added lithium iron phosphate battery versions to some models. Rivian previously announced the launch of lithium iron phosphate battery versions for R1T pickups, R1S SUVs and EDV vans. Volkswagen Group, Xiaopeng Motors and other companies are also promoting battery models equipped with lithium iron phosphate.
It is estimated that the global shipments of lithium iron phosphate batteries will reach 480.1GWh by 2025. In the future, China is expected to become the largest producer of lithium iron phosphate batteries. The world's largest supplier of lithium iron phosphate batteries is China's leading power battery CATL, and 6 of the world's top ten power battery companies are from China.
It is worth noting that BYD, another Chinese power battery giant, surpassed CATL with a loading volume of 4.19GWh and became the first domestic lithium iron phosphate power battery company in April. The "blade battery" launched by BYD in March 2020 adopts lithium iron phosphate technology, and through structural innovation, the battery volume utilization rate has been increased by more than 50%, reaching the same level of high energy density ternary lithium batteries. At present, BYD is the only Chinese battery supplier for the Ford Mustang mach-E, which is equipped with ternary high nickel 811 batteries produced by BYD's Xi'an plant. Judging from the partnership between the two parties on the Mustang mach-E model, Ford may use BYD's "blade battery" as part of its lithium iron phosphate battery solution in the future.
