The use of automotive power lithium battery ladders will become a hot issue?

"China Automotive Technology and Research Center predicts that by 2020, China's electric vehicle power battery cumulative scrap will reach a scale of 120,000-170,000 tons." Especially in recent years, with the rapid development of electric vehicles, the annual renewed battery will increase become a situation. Efficient recycling is imminent.

On December 25, 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Proposal for the Implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility System”, which required the establishment of an electric vehicle recycling system. The responsibility of electric vehicle and power battery manufacturers has been clarified. However, how to establish a recycling network, how to establish a utilization system, and face many problems need to be solved.

From a perspective, I talked about a few biased views: how to make use of the potential advantages at the corporate and national levels, and how to drain the value of batteries.

The development trend of battery ladder utilization is naturally self-evident. National policies and standards have also been introduced, and the responsibilities are clear. However, the use of the rhythm of the ladder is slow, and where is the bottleneck problem? I think there are several aspects: "The whole vehicle and the battery company have not yet thought about it." "I can't see the profit." "Who will sell the product to whom?" "The difference in the quantity and quality of the recycling is large." "When the end of the battery is scrapped, who will recycle it? How to effectively recycle" To put it bluntly, the interests are not attractive enough, the system has not been established, and the industrial chain and value chain have not yet formed. From a technical and market perspective, let us take a look at the potential advantages of vehicle manufacturers, battery companies, and countries in the use of ladders.

1. Why do companies use the “control” link because the company has “technology”.

Vehicle manufacturers and battery factories are unique in terms of technology. This is beyond doubt. On the one hand, the advantage of the OEM is that the recycling network is very mature, can effectively achieve scale and unified recycling, and can also become an effective valve to prevent inflows into uncontrolled channels. The specific implementation of the method and model, while doing a good job in the main business, can be bundled with the supporting "three productions" sideline, like the supporting parts enterprise management model, forming a relatively fixed and self-circulating small industrial chain form. Shorten the industrial chain, it is easier to know the roots and ensure the safety of reused products. At the same time, the battery capacity application is extended in the circulation section, and the application field is broadened, which naturally allocates the cost of the front-end power battery. On the other hand, the battery company itself is the resources in the supporting system of the automaker. The technical advantage is more obvious. It takes advantage of its own testing and raw data to make it more suitable for the retired battery of the whole vehicle enterprise. At the same time, the sale of completely retired batteries to third-party recycling companies to achieve a virtuous cycle of materials is also a very effective way to reduce costs. Therefore, the ability of vehicle manufacturers and battery companies to establish a system of echelon utilization is both mature and mature. It depends on how to guide at the national level, how to try and take social responsibility. At the same time, maximizing benefits and being profitable is the basic driving force for corporate action.

2. Why does the country need to “strictly control” recycling because it is “afraid of polluting the environment”.

As a national level, nature has played a more important and authoritative role. After strictly controlling the use of the ladder, the end of the recycling process, from the technical, capital, management all-round support for the efficient recycling of waste batteries, materials reuse. It is more conducive to controlling the degree of pollution to the environment. This is also the most worrying issue. I remember a professor who said that a 20-gram battery can contaminate three standard swimming pool waters. If it is abandoned in the land, it can pollute one square kilometer for about 50 years. Imagine tens of tons of batteries, if not used properly, it will really ruin our "green mountains and green water."

From a technical point of view, how to "squeeze" the remaining value of the battery

1. From the beginning of the design of the power battery system, it is necessary to dissolve the design elements of “step utilization”. For example, module specifications, rated voltage design. When I know that the decommissioned battery is used in the "future" communication base station, the rated voltage of the module can be closer to 48V. In this way, the level of module disassembly at a later stage can be reduced. Another example is the easy-to-remove structure design. In this respect, we need to move our minds in the design process. At present, the "building block" design structure is more suitable for dismantling. The above cases are just one or two. Other components, as well as many design elements, can be "design ready" in advance. When the ladder uses the product and the front-end power battery to form a fixed application chain, the cost and benefit are maximized.

2. Promote the platform use and research of battery standard modules. Battery system design has always standardized battery modules, and platformization is one of the means of reducing costs. The standardization of the module is also conducive to the reduction of the use of the ladder. The standardization difficulty of the module lies in the difference between the vehicle space and the platform for the battery module. Designers have been working hard in this area. In this respect, Germany pays more attention to it and does a better job. By applying a standardized module, the cost can be reduced by about 30%. Similarly, after the standardization of the module, plus the use of the ladder, the magnitude of the cost reduction is very optimistic.

3. The use of the ladder, the biggest problem, the identification of the quality of the decommissioned battery. The enterprise itself has an incomparable advantage in the identification of battery pool quality. It is convincing. In July 2017, the "Residual Energy Detection for Vehicle power battery Recycling" was issued, and the guiding test method was given. However, facing the differences in product differences between different companies is not enough. Enterprises need to develop highly targeted detection methods, use big data, and constantly correct; use the advantage of ladders to apply short-chain feedback information, and constantly adjust the test indicators. Imagine such a result, whether the use of the ladder is more adequate and safer.

The cost of power battery is to use 20% of the capacity, to back the 80% of the capacity waste, change the trend of this pattern is clear

The above teaching is rough and not demanding. Because the battery has a "head to tail" application feature, but the application is not sufficient, it is a certain fact. First of all, from the perspective of cost, it is certainly unreasonable. What I want to say is that through the above-mentioned efficient use of the ladder, the advantages are exerted and the application field is broadened, which means that the cost is constantly being diluted. Furthermore, the end-of-life recycling cost benefits are not necessarily lower than the cascade utilization. Maybe, you can increase the contribution of a cost. This can be done with the advancement of recycled extraction materials.

At present, it is generally agreed that if the power battery is at 0.6 yuan/Wh, it will no longer depend on subsidies for survival. As far as the current battery development status is concerned, the global battery cost has already hovered at 1 yuan/Wh. If the ladder utilization system is established and the network matures, the trend of cost acceleration will be certain. Coupled with the energy storage characteristics of the lithium-ion battery itself, the competitiveness will be strengthened in the new energy field.

Summary

The use of power battery ladders will become a hot issue for quite a long time. On the one hand, the cost of the battery in the whole vehicle is high, and on the other hand, it is an environmental concern. If the country is inclined in policy, it is encouraged to assist this weak link; at the same time, enterprises are actively exploring ways to extend battery service time in order to reduce costs. At what time, the cost of the battery needs to look at the degree and depth of utilization of the enterprise ladder. This win-win situation, the situation of the benign development of new energy has also formed.

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