Recently, at the 6th Council Meeting of the 6th China Chemical and Physical
Power Source Industry Association, Secretary-General Liu Yanlong particularly
emphasized the issue of the patented technology layout of lithium battery
ternary materials. He pointed out that under the general trend of the ternary
lithium battery industry, especially high-nickel ternary batteries, many
domestic cathode material companies are facing huge foreign patent fees in their
development. Regarding this issue, the association will hold a symposium in the
near future and take countermeasures to reduce cost pressure in enterprise
development.
So, what is the current status of the domestic lithium battery ternary
material patent technology layout?
Core patents require "overtaking in corners"
Some professionals have made statistics on domestic and foreign patents in
the field of ternary materials. The results show that: first, the development of
domestic ternary materials started late, and there is a lack of basic and core
patents. There is still a big gap with Japanese and Korean companies, and the
American 3M Company.
For example, on November 15, 2005, 3M Company obtained the U.S. patent
US6964828B2 and its similar patent CN100403585C for NiCoMn ternary materials,
which mainly limited the Ni content in NiCoMn and became the basic core patent
of ternary materials, which has restricted it to this day. Leading the
development of ternary materials in China's lithium battery industry.
Secondly, the patents surrounding ternary material modification are mainly
to improve electrochemical performance, but safety and cost issues have not been
effectively broken through. In contrast to the rapid growth of invention patents
for improving electrochemical performance, the number of applications for
ternary materials has grown slowly in terms of safety and cost reduction. This
also shows that when R&D investment has increased significantly and battery
safety is very important, the safety and cost issues of ternary materials have
not been effectively broken through.
Take the invention patent "Preparation method of titanium sol coating
modified ternary cathode material" of a domestic research institute as an
example. This invention patent modifies the ternary cathode material by
optimizing the coating process, which can effectively improve the first Coulomb
test of the material. efficiency and discharge specific capacity, but there is
no significant improvement in other aspects such as the material's cycle
performance. Moreover, the coating process also uses a large amount of alcohol,
which requires high process equipment and workshop conditions (explosion-proof
workshop). The recycling of alcohol also requires additional processing
costs.
Based on the above analysis, Battery China Network believes that there are
two points that domestic cathode material companies need to focus on: First,
domestic ternary material patent applications are relatively scattered,
especially leading companies are less involved, and the overall research
atmosphere is not strong. Domestic companies need to pay attention to cathode
materials. The research and development of materials and the protection of
intellectual property rights; secondly, there is a large room for development in
terms of safety and cost issues of ternary materials. The layout of foreign
applicants is not perfect. If domestic companies can increase R&D investment
in these aspects and master core patents as early as possible, they will be able
to achieve "overtaking in the corner" in the field of ternary materials.
Patent licensing may be a helpless move
There is consensus in the industry that in addition to domestic cathode
material companies actively attaching importance to independent research and
development and the protection of intellectual property rights, patent licensing
between companies is also an option for sustainable development of the industry.
Battery China Network found that the recent patent layout of cathode material
companies is as follows:
In January 2018 and November 2017, BASF announced respectively that it had
granted Ruixiang New Materials and Peking University Xianxian sublicenses for
patents related to the nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) cathode material of the
Argonne National Laboratory in the United States. After authorization, the two
companies can manufacture, use, sell, offer for sale, distribute and import
nickel cobalt manganese cathode materials in the U.S. market.
On January 29, Dow Chemical Company signed a technology license agreement
with Shanghai Huayi (Group) Company, under which Dow will non-exclusively
license two core cathode material technologies for lithium-ion batteries:
lithium iron manganese phosphate (LMFp) and lithium nickel Manganese cobalt
oxide (NMC).
Judging from the above licensing information, as domestic power battery and
ternary material companies accelerate their entry into the international market,
some domestic ternary material companies have to strengthen their patent layout
to obtain relevant operating freedom and cooperate with battery customers to
cope with harsh foreign regulations. qualification review.
Tang Shunguo, chairman and general manager of Ruixiang New Materials, said,
"We highly respect intellectual property rights and value the patent
sub-licensing of nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode materials. This sub-licensing
is of great strategic significance to both us and our downstream customers.
.”
In fact, very few domestic ternary material companies purchase patents.
There are two main reasons: first, the cost of patent purchase is high, and
small and medium-sized enterprises can hardly afford it; second, domestic
policies are relatively loose, especially the relevant legal system is not
perfect, and some companies are taking chances.
Industry insiders believe that patent licensing and patent disputes between
domestic and foreign companies will become more and more normal. Therefore,
whether domestic companies adopt patent licensing or take a detour, accelerating
patent layout is a necessary guarantee for the sustainable development of the
industry. .
Enlightenment of life and death of lithium iron phosphate
There is no doubt that only by eliminating the risk of patent infringement
lawsuits can domestic ternary materials companies become bigger and stronger on
a global scale.
Never forget the past, those who are familiar with the development of the
domestic lithium battery industry must still remember the "patent invalidation
case" in the lithium iron phosphate battery industry in 2012. Hydro-Quebec,
Canada and three other companies claimed to have patents for lithium iron
phosphate battery technology. , sued the China Patent Reexamination Board for
invalidating its patented lithium iron phosphate battery technology ruling.
It is understood that the Canadian company's patent application covers
almost all aspects of the current lithium iron phosphate battery production
technology. If we follow this patent, most domestic battery manufacturers will
be infringing it. And if the foreign party wins the lawsuit, it means that if
Chinese battery manufacturers produce lithium iron phosphate batteries in the
future, they will need to pay patent fees to the patent holder. The price
demanded by foreign parties is also very high: a one-time payment of US$10
million in patent entry fees or US$2,500 per ton of lithium iron phosphate.
Fortunately, this patent lawsuit, which is crucial to the development of China's
lithium iron phosphate battery industry and new energy vehicle industry, ended
in failure.
However, the many experiences and lessons learned in this lawsuit are
worthy of consideration by colleagues in the domestic lithium battery industry.
Under the current hot development situation of new energy vehicles, top-ranking
companies in the domestic lithium battery industry, especially leading companies
that are interested in participating in international market competition, should
take this as a lesson and deploy the core patented technologies of ternary
materials in a more long-term and strategic manner. .
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