502030 battery.Technological innovation is the direct driving force for the development of the power battery industry

　　Technological innovation is the direct driving force for the development of the power battery industry.

　　In terms of the mid-term goal, the application of high-nickel, lithium-rich manganese, and lithium supplementation will be accelerated; in terms of the long-term goal, the critical point of industrialization of the solid-state battery and fuel cell markets is approaching. "The more turbulent the situation, the more calm and composed we must be." After nearly ten months of industry hailstorm in 2018, we can see that companies in the entire new energy vehicle power battery industry chain are quietly undergoing some subtle changes. Pressures coexist and are shared, and survival issues come first.

　　Those who are calm and collected calm down to research and develop, do not follow blindly, and are trying to use the cornerstone of "technological innovation" to leverage their own strength, waiting for a counterattack in the post-subsidy era.

　　➤Vehicle companies: Exploring the balance point of safety/performance/cost

　　Judging from the 2018 semi-annual report, accounts receivable ranging from billions to tens of billions have become an unbearable burden for many new energy bus companies, and the market reshuffle will further accelerate. It is expected that the number of new energy bus companies will drop by more than 80% in the next few years.

　　OEMs also face many operational difficulties in the passenger car and special-purpose vehicle markets, especially in the logistics vehicle market. For example, the sharing economy became very popular last year, and a large number of players entered the time-sharing rental field. But judging from this year, problems such as high operating costs and difficult maintenance have also forced many car companies to retreat.

　　After experiencing the policy of declining subsidies again, although the number of new energy vehicle companies has decreased, the market-oriented atmosphere has become stronger and stronger. How to achieve a perfect balance between safety issues that cannot be ignored and quality improvement and cost reduction? New energy vehicle companies all choose to start with technological innovation.

　　First of all, safety issues are raised again and again, and the status is respected. Especially high-energy power batteries will face more severe safety technical challenges. As a top priority for car companies, a series of car companies including BYD, SAIC, BAIC, GAC, Geely, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan have all reached strategic cooperation with domestic and foreign universities on battery thermal runaway management.

　　At the "Global New Energy Vehicle Innovation Conference" in Hangzhou on September 20, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and executive vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicles Association of 100, said: "The high specific energy of lithium-ion power batteries is a worldwide ( The development direction and trend of new energy vehicles (new energy vehicles), we cannot not develop high-specific energy batteries because of safety issues, the key is to grasp the balance between high-specific energy and safety."

　　Specifically, many car companies currently adopt liquid cooling technology in the pack link within an affordable cost range. Dr. She Peiliang, chief engineer of Shuangdeng Fulante, once told Gaogong Lithium Battery: "Ternary materials are prone to oxygen evolution when overcharged, and are prone to self-catalytic reactions when thermally out of control. The speed is too fast to avoid risks such as explosions and fires. Therefore, , its operating temperature range must be controlled."

　　In order to avoid the above problems, battery companies, pack companies and car companies that make ternary material batteries for passenger cars (there are also individual lithium iron phosphate batteries) systems will definitely use liquid cooling systems; some logistics vehicles use cylindrical ternary systems The material battery system will also use liquid cooling technology.

　　➤Power battery companies: new challenges under the trend of high nickel technology and high nickel

　　Faced with the inherent safety issues of high-nickel ternary power batteries, Ouyang Minggao believes that the mechanism is that the positive electrode releases oxygen. Battery companies can delay the oxygen release of the positive electrode and improve stability through interface modification. Another way is to develop the next generation. The solid electrolyte fundamentally solves the problem of electrolyte combustion.

　　At present, domestic power battery companies including CATL, BYD, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Funeng, Lishen, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Jiewei and other power battery companies are increasing the pace of technology research and development teams to tackle difficult problems. CATL and BYD both plan to launch high-nickel NCM811 batteries in 2019.

　　On the next-generation technology route, solid-state batteries are the most recognized route, and hydrogen fuel cells are also emerging.

　　Although domestic and foreign car companies and battery companies such as BMW, Toyota, Samsung, CATL, and Wanxiang 123 are currently increasing investment in solid-state batteries, their application in new energy vehicles is still mostly academic and is expected to It will be the first to realize large-scale mass production and application of digital lithium batteries, and electric vehicles will be the earliest in 2020 (optimistic estimate).

　　On the other hand, the progress of domestic hydrogen fuel cells is faster. Starting from the seventh batch of recommended catalogs, there are more and more models equipped with hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen refueling/refueling joint station projects are quietly increasing in first-tier cities such as Shanghai and Guangdong. Even on September 27 this year, Shanghai’s first hydrogen fuel cell bus line was put into operation.

　　➤Lithium battery material companies: It is the right way to insist on not relaxing technology research and development

　　Some power battery companies choose to switch from square to soft packaging, while others are taking a different approach, aiming at solid-state batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and other routes. In order to keep up with the pace of battery companies, materials companies naturally do their best.

　　The writing is limited and only electrolyte and diaphragm companies are taken as examples. Power battery safety and performance improvement is a systematic project, which is also the fundamental reason why the industrialization progress of power battery companies varies with the introduction of high-nickel cathodes.

　　The introduction of high-nickel positive electrodes or silicon-carbon negative electrodes can theoretically improve the high specific energy performance of power batteries, but there are also many system problems that come with it, which requires the cooperation of other materials. For example, how to solve the problems of poor wettability and reduced liquid retention capacity of the electrolyte in the high-nickel and high-voltage cathode material system; after the separator is thinned, how to take into account safety while ensuring the puncture strength, thermal performance, porosity, etc.? These require collaborative solutions between materials companies and battery companies.

　　At present, Xinzhoubang is working on high-nickel electrolyte additives; senior separator veterans such as Xingyuan Materials, Cangzhou Mingzhu, and Zhongxing New Materials have also provided new solutions for battery companies.

　　➤Lithium battery equipment companies: moving forward under the pressure of R&D and accounts receivable

　　Compared with material companies, the changes in equipment companies are mainly concentrated in a few key process sections, but the integration trend of coating roller dividing, cutting and stacking, chemical composition and warehousing and logistics is gradually emerging.

　　In terms of equipment, the technological innovation segment mainly focuses on coating, die-cutting, winding/laminating, drying and other aspects of power cell production. For example, in terms of die-cutting, there is growing demand for laser die-cutting technology to replace traditional hardware die-cutting; in the production of soft-packed batteries, the battle between winding and lamination is also quietly going on.

　　An executive from an equipment company complained to Gaogong Lithium Battery: Many battery companies now always invite bids multiple times in order to lower prices, and a large number of uneven equipment suppliers gather together, causing market prices to be very chaotic. In this context, many equipment companies' repayments are still concentrated on delivery payments. The pressure on accounts receivable in the later period is not small, and they have to digest a new wave of equipment research and development costs. Equipment companies are in trouble.

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