In the past few years, with the vigorous development of new energy vehicles in China, China's power battery industry has sprung up. However, although foreign power batteries also have supporting facilities in the Chinese market, they have not formed a scale. With the increasingly relaxed policy environment, foreign power battery enterprises, which once competed for layout in the Chinese market but encountered difficulties, now have the potential to make a comeback.
Not long ago, the 318th batch of motor vehicle enterprises and product announcements released on the website of the Ministry of industry and information technology showed that Chongqing jinkangruichi pure electric cars and Dongfeng Renault Fengnuo brand pure electric cars were among them. Their power battery unit suppliers are Samsung (Tianjin) Battery Co., Ltd. and Nanjing Lejin Chemical New Energy Battery Co., Ltd. (belonging to LG Chemical). The foreign-funded power batteries that were once out of the "white list" (in March 2015, the Ministry of industry and information technology issued the "industry specification conditions for automotive power batteries", and implemented directory management on power battery enterprises based on this, i.e. the "white list") are now included.
It can be clearly seen that in the future, the restriction threshold of China's power battery industry will be gradually broken, and Chinese and foreign enterprises will be in the same competitive environment. In the world, the power battery companies have already launched a contest. Who will keep the lead in the future? In the same competitive environment, can China's rising power battery enterprises rest assured? To analyze these problems, we need to understand the development strategy, technical route and even global industrial layout of each enterprise.
High specific energy is the consensus of development.
At present, the development goal of power battery in China is roughly the same as that of Japanese and Korean enterprises, and they are all pursuing high specific energy. The consensus of the industry is: the higher the power battery energy density, the longer the driving range.
In China, "energy saving and new energy vehicle technology roadmap" draws the development blueprint of power battery technology. In 2020, the specific energy of pure electric vehicle power battery will reach 350wh / kg, 400wh / kg in 2025 and 500wh / kg in 2030. At present, the energy density of ternary battery of Ningde era, a leading power battery enterprise in China, has reached 240wh / kg. In 2019, ncm811 battery with single energy density of more than 280wh / kg will be launched, and the energy density of battery cell is planned to be increased to 300wh / kg by 2020.
In contrast, the current energy density of Samsung SDI third generation power battery is 550wh / L, and mass production has been achieved. According to Samsung's SDI plan, the energy density of the 3.5 generation power battery, which is expected to be mass produced in 2019, can reach 630wh / L. At the same time, Samsung SDI is also accelerating the research and development of the fourth generation battery and the fifth generation battery. The energy density can reach 700wh / L (equivalent to 270 ~ 280wh / kg) and 800wh / L (equivalent to 300wh / kg) respectively, and it is expected to mass produce in 2021 ~ 2022 and after 2023.
In 2018, LG Chemical has achieved small batch production of ncm811 battery. In 2020, LG Chemical will launch the third generation power battery. The energy density target of single cell is 270 ~ 280wh / kg, which is 50% higher than the current mass production energy density.
In Japan, the highest single energy density of 18650 battery made by Panasonic is 250wh / kg. In addition, the 21700 cylindrical battery used by Tesla Model 3 has a single energy density of 340wh / kg, which is the highest energy density battery in the market at present. This battery is jointly developed with Panasonic.
On the whole, on the way to improve the energy density, all enterprises focus on the ternary system, and high nickel has become a consensus. In this process, nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) or NCA has become a magic weapon to enhance the energy density. The battery type has also developed from ncm523 to ncm622, and now ncm811 battery has achieved mass production. However, although the major enterprises have a consistent understanding of the development route of high specific energy, they have also made a distinction in this competition for the time being. At present, Panasonic is ahead of other enterprises with the high energy density of 21700 batteries, and Samsung SDI lags behind other competitors and is in the bottom position.
