Power battery technology is becoming increasingly diversified, and ternary lithium batteries have become mainstream

　　Recently, foreign media reported that South Korea's three major battery manufacturers LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation plan to jointly develop core battery technology and established a 100 billion won (approximately US$90 million) foundation in an attempt to create the next generation of batteries. Battery industry ecosystem.

　　With the trend of accelerating electrification of global transportation, the demand for power batteries is increasing. Developing next-generation power battery technology, improving battery energy density, and solving battery safety management and other issues are becoming the focus of battery manufacturers. Will high-nickel batteries that meet the national high energy density standards become the development direction of batteries in the future? What is the next step in power battery technology?

　　Ternary lithium batteries have become mainstream

　　Looking back at the development history of power batteries in our country, the technological progress of domestic manufacturers can be described as extraordinary. From the beginning, lithium iron phosphate batteries were the mainstream, to ternary lithium batteries in 2015, and then in the first half of this year, ternary lithium batteries replaced lithium iron phosphate batteries and became the mainstream batteries, in just three years.

　　It is understood that the transfer of power batteries from lithium iron phosphate to ternary lithium route is not accomplished overnight. my country has fully shifted to the development of ternary lithium battery cells since 2016, and long before the rapid domestic transformation, foreign battery companies had already made changes in the battery chemical system. At the recently held 2018 Third International Power Battery Application Summit, Chen Yanbin, deputy general manager of Dangsheng Technology, pointed out, “All batteries used from 2014 to 2015 were lithium iron phosphate. After the energy density standards were improved, they were used in digital equipment. The ternary materials and ternary batteries are directly installed on the car, which is one of the reasons why the cost of electric vehicle batteries is high."

　　At present, domestic ternary lithium battery systems are all lithium nickel cobalt manganate (NCM). Nickel plays a role in increasing the energy density of the material. According to the different proportions of the three transition metal ions, it is divided into low-nickel NCM424, NCM333, NCM523 and high-nickel NCM622, NCM811 and other materials. Its industrialization process is mainly from low-nickel 333, 523, etc. to high-nickel 622, 811.

　　"When the ternary cathode material of 523 is 230 yuan/kg, the entire manufacturing cost is about just over 0.8 yuan." Mazlin, pre-sales technical director of Micromacro Power, pointed out, "If the costs of the ternary materials 532 and 811 are reduced to Below RMB 180,000 per ton, the cost advantage of iron lithium is actually not great.”

　　High nickel formation trend

　　As we all know, if new energy vehicles, especially pure electric vehicles, want to truly gain market acceptance, one of the important indicators is to solve consumers' range anxiety. To solve range anxiety, batteries with high energy density must be provided. As the international cobalt price continues to rise, increasing the proportion of nickel in the ternary material system seems to have become the best choice for the dual considerations of reducing costs and increasing energy density.

　　"In terms of cylindrical batteries, 523 is currently the main one. There may be 5%-10% of batteries switching from the original 622 to 811. On the one hand, it is the impact of cobalt prices, and on the other hand, it is the impact of subsidy standards." Chen Yanbin said , the development of high-nickel ternary materials is the general trend, but how to develop and what pace to adopt depends on whether the battery technology is good and whether the cost control ability is strong.

　　The reporter learned that the current energy density of power batteries needs to reach 140Wh/kg before they can receive subsidies with corresponding coefficients. As a result, many manufacturers place too much emphasis on energy density, but the safety risks that come with it cannot be ignored. In this regard, Deng Zhongyi, president of the Mengshi Technology Research Institute, pointedly pointed out, "If you purely pursue energy density, the probability of vehicle accidents will be very high. To improve the energy density of power batteries, you must ensure safety, and the cost and lifespan are acceptable. It only makes sense under the premise.”

　　As for the current situation of high-nickel high-specific-energy batteries, Li Fengmei, vice president of BAK Battery Business Management Center, believes that “the higher the nickel ratio, the worse the thermal stability of the entire cathode material. When encountering high temperature, external impact, etc., high-nickel Batteries will have safety hazards." Due to the existence of safety red lines and the difficulty of technological breakthroughs, the production progress of domestic high-nickel batteries has been unsatisfactory for a long time.

　　Recently, 811 batteries from domestic manufacturers such as CATL and Dangsheng Technology have begun to be introduced to the market, which seems to prove that domestic manufacturers have gradually overcome the safety issues of high-nickel batteries before Japan and South Korea. But can my country rely on the "Great Leap Forward" style of high-nickel The development and completion of "overtaking in corners" in power battery manufacturing still needs to wait for the test of the market and consumers.

　　Solid-state batteries are on the rise

　　It is difficult for existing battery systems to break through the ceiling of energy density of 350Wh/kg. The unremitting pursuit of energy density can only be solved by using new lithium-ion battery systems. Among the many high-specific energy battery systems, solid-state batteries are undoubtedly the most promising choice at present. Not only do they have relatively high technological maturity, but they also have the support of a group of top international scholars. As a result, many domestic and foreign lithium-ion battery companies will Solid-state battery technology serves as an important next-generation technology reserve.

　　Volkswagen has announced plans to develop solid-state batteries with a range of 1,000km; the Japanese Ministry of Economy even announced an investment of 1.6 billion yen in 2017, joining forces with Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Panasonic, GS Yuasa, Toray, Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsubishi Chemical and other domestic companies. Top industry chain forces jointly develop solid-state batteries, hoping to achieve the 800-kilometer battery life goal by 2030. Ouyang Minggao, chief expert of the National New Energy Vehicle Key Technology Project, pointed out, “Many domestic scientific research institutes and companies have begun to deploy in the field of solid-state batteries. For example, the Ningbo Materials Institute of the [] Institute is cooperating with Ganfeng Lithium Industry to promote its industrialization. Mass production of solid-state batteries is planned in 2019."

　　But at present, solid-state batteries are basically in the initial research stage, and there is still a long way to go before they can be fully applied in new energy vehicles. Ouyang Minggao once said that it is expected that all-solid-state lithium batteries will achieve a breakthrough between 2025 and 2030. Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada holds the same view on this: "We are working hard on research and hope to manufacture solid-state batteries after 2020, but if we want to achieve mass production of solid-state batteries, we will have to wait until after 2030."

　　The development of new energy vehicles is a systematic project, but the most basic and important thing should be the breakthrough in battery technology. Wang Yu, chairman of Funeng Technology, said: "For battery manufacturers, product development routes are greatly affected by customers and the government. In China, it is mainly affected by subsidy policies, and energy density is our main direction of improvement. But for Although energy density is also very important to foreign customers, it is not the only requirement. They also have certain requirements in terms of charging time and cost. On the basis of achieving the goal of high specific energy, comprehensive development is required to improve other performance indicators and also It requires more time and effort.”

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