◎ reporter Wang Yuqing
Since 2024, China's power battery industry has made many innovations and achieved fruitful results.FreeonlinescratchcardswinrealmoneynodepositThe world's first lithium iron phosphate battery takes into account 1000 km range and 4C fast charging, and new battery materials such as lithium ferromanganese phosphate and composite current collector are emerging commercially. Chinese enterprises are comparable to the world's leading level in the research and development of the highly anticipated next-generation battery form "solid-state battery"....
Thanks to the advanced technical level and fine production management, China's power batteries are of high quality and cheap, and have formed a strong comparative advantage in the world. In recent years, the demand of overseas power battery market is rising rapidly, but the deficiency of lithium battery industry chain in Europe and other places is obvious. Chinese power battery enterprises have gone out to sea to build production capacity, providing local strong chains and complementary chains, not only providing high-quality batteries produced locally for overseas car companies, but also driving local foreign investment and residents' employment to achieve a win-win situation of economic and social benefits.
However, recently, Western countries have issued the so-called "overcapacity theory" to crack down on China's power battery industry for no reason, in an attempt to curb the international development momentum of China's power battery industry. A reporter from the Shanghai Securities News combed the progress of the global power battery industry and found that the capacity "charging" and technology "charging" provided by Chinese power battery enterprises for the world is the result of natural selection in the global market. in fact, it has greatly promoted the healthy and high-quality development of the global industry. Chinese power battery enterprises are deeply enabling the global new energy industry and become an important driving force for the development of the global new energy industry.
Help local supply chain strong chain
"recharge" the world's high-quality production capacity
According to the International Energy Agency, the global demand for power batteries will reach 3500GWh in 2030, more than four times that of global shipments in 2023. The installation forecast given by mainstream market institutions is more optimistic: Bloomberg New Energy Finance believes that the market demand for power batteries will reach 4% in 2030.Freeonlinescratchcardswinrealmoneynodeposit8TWH; Hi-tech Industry Research Institute believes that global lithium battery shipments will exceed 4TWh by 2030. Taken together, the current capacity of power batteries is far from meeting the scale of market demand that will come in a few years' time.
Under the general trend of global electrification transformation, many overseas car companies layout power battery production capacity, European countries, the United States and other countries are competing to attract investment in the power battery industry. As the automobile industry has the characteristics of nearby production, under the "call" of international auto partners, Chinese power battery enterprises "sail" Europe, Southeast Asia and other places to make up for local capacity deficiencies.
Take the representative market of power battery in Europe as an example. The European Battery Union said at a high-level meeting in 2023 that the European battery industry faces internal structural challenges and that by 2025 there will be a shortage of 800000 skilled workers and that it will be costly for companies to obtain energy, land and government permits. Sun Yanhong, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the European Economic Research Office, interpreted in an interview with the media that in the production of key components of batteries, European countries do not have an advantage in production technology, labor skills, equipment manufacturers and production costs; in terms of battery processing and assembly, EU countries are also at a relative disadvantage in technology and cost.
In this context, European countries and car companies have thrown an "olive branch" to Chinese power battery companies. Ningde Times, Yiwei Lithium Energy and Honeycomb Energy have altogether won BMW 160GWh orders; China New Airlines has reached a cooperation with France's Forsee Group on battery supply; Honeycomb Energy has won nearly 5% of Stellantis.Freeonlinescratchcardswinrealmoneynodeposit48GWh PACK battery pack order; Guoxuan Hi-Tech signed cooperation agreements with five well-known European companies; Xinwanda received fixed-point notice of supply from German Volkswagen and Volvo; Vision Power won orders from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Renault and other car companies.
In order to meet the needs of customers in local production, Chinese power battery companies went to Europe to set up factories, especially in Germany and Hungary, where the automobile industry is concentrated. Among them, Hungary has attracted Ningde era, BYD, Yiwei LiNeng, Xinwanda and other battery giants layout production base. Lewenter, the former consul general of Hungary in Shanghai, said in a recent interview that with the blessing of Chinese investment, Hungary has accounted for 4% of the global market share in the field of lithium batteries, ranking third in the world.
On the whole, according to the statistics of Li-ion, as of the end of 2023FreeonlinescratchcardswinrealmoneynodepositIn China, more than 10 head battery enterprises have launched the layout of overseas manufacturing bases, with a planned production capacity exceeding 500GWh. In addition, in that year, more than 20 lithium materials enterprises went to build factories overseas, including most of the key materials and structural components of lithium batteries, with a total planned investment of more than 115 billion yuan. The reporter found that these capacity going out to sea are all caused by the market behavior of cooperation between enterprises, which directly reflects the demand of international partners for China's battery capacity.
Lead the direction of advanced technology
Research and develop "charging" for global batteries
From a deeper perspective, the main factor shaping the international competitiveness of China's power batteries is not the low price caused by "subsidies", but the market-proven scientific and technological strength and product strength. Lithium iron phosphate battery, which is "carried forward" in the Chinese market, is one of the examples.
Public data show that in recent years, the power battery industry has been occupied by two mainstream technology routes: ternary lithium battery and lithium iron phosphate battery. The lithium iron phosphate line is growing, growing and iterating in China. According to the high-tech lithium analysis, with the continuous iteration and innovation in technology, the energy density of lithium iron phosphate battery has been improved. under the cost pressure, overseas car companies are more willing to switch from ternary to lithium iron phosphate technology. the market penetration of lithium iron phosphate battery will be further increased.
Just last month, Ningde era released a "world's first" major breakthrough in lithium iron phosphate batteries. The Ningde Times Shenxing PLUS battery, which was unveiled at the Beijing International Automobile Exhibition, is the world's first lithium iron phosphate battery with a range of 1000 km and 4C overcharge. According to Gao Huan, CTO of the domestic passenger car Division of Ningde era, compared with the world's first lithium iron phosphate 4C overcharged "Shenxing battery" released in Ningde era in August last year, Shenxing PLUS battery has achieved further progress in mileage and fast charging capacity.
According to statistics released by listed companies, the production capacity of Chinese power battery companies in overseas layout is mainly lithium iron phosphate batteries, which also gives full play to the "long board" of Chinese companies. In terms of cooperation between automobile companies, Ningde Times will supply cells and modules for lithium iron phosphate batteries to Stellantis Group locally in Europe; Hyundai Motor is considering using lithium iron phosphate batteries produced by Ningde Times in the Kia second-generation RayEV; Guoxuan High-Tech and VinFast, a Vietnamese electric vehicle company, will jointly carry out the research and development and production of LFP batteries.
South Korean power battery companies, which have always been known for their three-way route, have also entered into cooperative relationships with Chinese lithium iron phosphate materials companies. For example, in February this year, Changzhou Lithium Source, a subsidiary of Longpan Technology, signed an order with South Korean power battery giant LG New Energy to supply 160,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate cathode materials in the next five years. The two parties also agreed to supply an additional 360,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate cathode materials before the end of June. From 2025 to 2028, the matter was confirmed. This is the first time that a Chinese lithium iron phosphate material company has directly supplied an internationally renowned battery company.
Chinese battery companies also continue to increase investment in lithium battery "future technology" in order to continue to lead the industry. For example, the similar technology of lithium iron phosphate "lithium ferromanganese phosphate" battery can increase the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries by 15% to 20% at similar production costs. Listed company Defang Nano recently announced that the company's lithium ferromanganese phosphate products have taken the lead in getting on the market and are waiting for large-scale release of industry demand. In terms of another innovative material composite current collector for power batteries, the reporter learned from leading companies that the company's products have welcomed inspections from Korean battery customers. In terms of solid-state batteries that have attracted much attention from the market, data from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance shows that in the first four months of this year, my country's semi-solid-state battery loading capacity exceeded 1GWh, reaching 1.14GWh. The Institute of Advanced Engineering Industry believes that 2024 will be an important node in the development of the solid-state battery industry, and it is expected to realize large-scale loading and application of (semi-) solid-state batteries. The annual loading volume is expected to historically exceed the 5GWh mark.
Behind the trend leading the industry is the continuous and large amount of R & D investment by Chinese power battery companies. According to statistics from reporters, among the top 15 power battery companies in my country's loading capacity in 2023, 9 are A-share and Hong Kong-listed companies. The total R & D investment of these nine companies in 2023 will reach 68.7 billion yuan. This also confirms that the international competitiveness of Chinese power battery companies is "worked out" step by step through R & D and innovation.