Can a breakthrough in solid-state battery technology promote the development of the battery industry?

When it comes to batteries, it is no stranger to people. Everyday consumer mobile phones, flat-panel and other consumer electronics products, industrial-grade electronic products, and power generation devices need to use batteries to store energy and provide power supply functions. Even with such a large function, the battery is still the obscurity behind those glamorous products, and the battery market is also a calm scene.

Until November 16, 2017, Fisker released a message saying that “the company has applied for a solid-state battery patent this week.” It is reported that this solid-state battery can increase the endurance of electric vehicles to an appalling 804 km. And the charging time only takes 1 minute! The company also claims to launch the battery technology in January 2018. Compared with the current maximum battery life of electric car battery of more than 300 kilometers and charging takes tens of minutes or even hours, the advent of Fisker's solid-state battery technology is really shocking like "flat thunder".

The existing lithium battery technology is in short form, and the performance of battery companies has been frustrated.

At present, the largest battery used in the market is a lithium battery, which can be used not only for small consumer electronic products with a large audience, such as mobile phones, PCs, etc., but also for powering automobiles, which is commonly known as a power lithium battery . For most mobile phone consumers, battery life is one of the main issues to consider when purchasing a mobile phone. Even if the battery life is not strong enough, you can use the charging treasure to make up for its shortcomings, especially at present, "charge for five minutes call for two hours. The technology can basically meet the needs of consumers. However, in the automotive field, the long charging time and short cruising range have always been obstacles to the rapid expansion of the electric vehicle market. No consumer can endure the two-hour charging for 50 minutes.

It is no accident that the solid-state battery technology developed by Fisker has caused a sensation. Fisker's technical bulletin stated that “the cost of solid-state battery technology is only one-third of the estimated cost of conventional lithium batteries in 2020 due to advances in materials and manufacturing.” This is the focus of market participants, according to the forward-looking industry. According to the "2017-2022 China Power lithium battery Industry Market Demand Forecast and Investment Strategy Planning Analysis Report" released by the Institute, since 2017, China's power lithium battery companies are experiencing a "cold winter" performance, although most enterprises' revenues are Growth but profits are declining, and some companies' revenues and profits are falling!

Can breakthroughs in solid-state battery technology bring the gospel to the battery industry?

As we all know, the positive electrode material of the power lithium battery is lithium ion, and the lithium ion is derived from the lithium mine. At present, the reserves of lithium ore in the world are limited and non-renewable. Under the situation that the capacity of lithium batteries is expanding and the supply of lithium resources is certain, the price of lithium battery materials has soared. In contrast, the downstream new energy vehicles in the lithium battery industry, the state subsidies for electric vehicles and the promotion of corporate entities have driven new factors. The sales of energy vehicles are rising year by year, while the trend of higher sales has pushed down the price of automotive products, and the price of finished lithium batteries has also declined. Enterprises that are in the midst of rising material costs--the decline in finished product prices are facing the dilemma as above - the scale of profits is shrinking! It is the power lithium battery that has created such a performance winter!

The road to breaking the ground is imperative

In order to break the limited resources of lithium-ion batteries and the high cost of materials, battery research institutes, experts, scholars and enterprises in the world are looking for new battery technologies that can replace existing lithium batteries in terms of material cost and performance. Or the product, the road to break is gradually opened.

Solar cell application expansion, commercialization trend is clear

Before pure electric vehicles entered the public eye, solar cars were once considered to be one of the most promising types of cars in the future. However, current solar cell technology still does not meet the needs of automotive use. Mainly due to the fact that solar energy is easily affected by sunshine conditions, geographical location and angle, the conversion efficiency is low, and the energy storage provided cannot meet the power demand of electric vehicles operating at high power. However, solar cells are now available for energy storage and charging in automotive electrical equipment. In August 2017, Arta Equipment and Audi will cooperate in the field of solar cells, and the two companies will develop the Audi/Haneng thin film solar cell research and development project.

Sodium ion battery technology comes out

On October 9, 2017, a material science research team led by famous Chinese material scientists Zhenan Bao and Wei Cui successfully developed a new cathode material for sodium ion batteries. The material has a very high battery capacity and a significant increase in cycle life, which is expected to replace the high-priced lithium-ion battery due to limited mineral resource reserves. It is reported that in terms of battery capacity and material cost, the sodium ion battery is superior to lithium ion batteries.

Can breakthroughs in solid-state battery technology bring the gospel to the battery industry?

Note: Based on the overall cost of lithium-ion batteries, the overall cost of sodium-ion batteries is only about 80% of that of lithium-ion batteries.

However, according to the research team, the current sodium-ion battery technology is still in the laboratory stage, there are still many technical problems that need to continue to crack and improve. There is still a long way to go to the market for commercialization. In any case, future sodium-ion batteries still have the potential to replace lithium-ion batteries.

Solid-state battery technology has made breakthroughs, and commercialization prospects are expected

As mentioned above, although we have mastered the technology of solar cells, solar cells still have too many uncertainties; although we have mastered the sodium ion battery technology, we know that it has much better performance than lithium-ion batteries. But it is still too far from commercial operation. With the breakthrough of solid-state battery technology, it has higher feasibility and is therefore favored by the market. Fisker's application for solid-state battery technology patents also marks Fiske's position in the world of power batteries. However, Fiske, who is at the peak of battery technology, is not alone. According to objective data, there are many institutions or markets in the world. The main body has a layout in the development of solid-state battery technology.

Can breakthroughs in solid-state battery technology bring the gospel to the battery industry?

The landing of any technology requires the active layout of the country and the main players in the market. Compared with existing lithium battery technology, solid-state battery technology has greater battery life, charging and cost advantages, which means it has greater business prospects. Driven by national research institutions and corporate entities, the commercialization of solid-state battery technology is worth looking forward to.

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