The huge potential of soft pack batteries in energy density

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the 310th batch of "Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Enterprises and Products Announcement" new products. Among them, Luzhouzhou and Xinri's two new energy vehicles are quite interesting because their power batteries are powered by Yuyou Power produces and supplies the world's first lithium-rich manganese-based soft pack battery. It is reported that this soft pack battery has an energy density of 260Wh/kg and has passed the national strong inspection certification. Yan You Power Sales Director Mao Xiaoxiang Battery China Network said that Haoyou Power is very optimistic about the application prospect of lithium-rich manganese-based soft pack batteries in the new energy vehicle market.

"Internal force" is deep, energy density is called "master"

Cathode materials are a major bottleneck in the development of high energy density batteries. Lithium-rich manganese-based cathode materials are considered as the ideal choice for next-generation power batteries, and are the key to the breakthrough of 400Wh/kg or even 500Wh/kg energy density for lithium batteries. The combination of lithium-rich manganese-based cathode materials and soft-package technology makes the lithium-rich manganese base even more powerful.

As everyone knows, the martial arts masters have made a move, and the deep internal force is often the key to success. The soft pack battery is one of the "Three Musketeers" of the power battery. Compared with the square aluminum shell battery and the cylindrical battery, the "internal force" of the soft pack battery is deeper and has a natural advantage in energy density, which is the highest energy density among common battery types. type. The soft pack battery can increase the energy density at the state of the art and further narrow the gap between the fuel tank and the cruising range. At present, the energy density of power battery cells in the domestic market is generally between 130-250 wh/kg, with an average of 200 wh/kg. Under the same material system, the soft pack battery energy density is on average 10% higher, and the highest can even reach 280 wh / kg.

In April 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly issued the Medium and Long-Term Development Plan for the Automotive Industry, which puts higher requirements on the energy density of power batteries. Due to its high energy density and strong endurance, the ternary battery is more in line with the requirements of passenger car consumers, and has become the mainstream technology development direction. Many domestic battery and automobile companies that once loved lithium iron phosphate, such as BYD and BAIC, have accelerated the layout of ternary battery routes. Soft pack batteries are more widely used in ternary materials due to their own performance characteristics, and the demand for soft pack batteries continues to grow.

According to the statistics of the Power Battery Application Branch Research Department, the installed capacity of the new energy vehicle soft pack power battery in 2017 was 4657.31Mwh, an increase of 32.05%. From the perspective of segmentation, the installed capacity of soft-package power batteries for new energy passenger vehicles increased by 33.97% year-on-year, and the installed capacity of soft-pack power batteries for new energy special vehicles increased by 74.12%. The data shows that the soft pack battery capacity of the power battery in 2017 was 23GWh, accounting for 15%. According to industry forecasts, the total power battery capacity will reach 182GWh in 2018, of which soft pack capacity will reach 38GWh, accounting for 21%, up 65% year-on-year.

More "techniques" stand out, leading companies to "race the waist"

In addition to high energy density and strong endurance, the soft pack battery also has many outstanding "skills" such as "feeling", which is not easy to explode, has many cycles, light weight and small size. Because of the superposition method, the soft pack battery is slimmer and the lightest in the same volume. Similarly, the soft pack battery can also be customized according to the application requirements, especially for plug-in hybrid vehicles, the volume advantage of the soft pack battery is more obvious when considering the layout and weight of the whole vehicle. With the maturity of soft pack battery technology, the application market is further extending from commercial vehicles to the passenger vehicle field, and soft pack batteries are increasingly favored by automakers.

According to the battery China network, foreign Chevrolet Volt, Bolt, Nissan Leaf, Ford (Focus, Fusion) and other high-end models have adopted the soft pack battery technology route. AESC and LG Chem, among the four giants of international power battery suppliers, also focus on soft pack batteries. The domestic car models that use soft pack batteries represent BAIC New Energy EV200, Chery eQ, Dongfeng Nissan Morning Breeze, etc. In 2017, four of the top six automakers used soft pack batteries in some or all of the models.

When the "city" is heard, the battery companies are rushing into the game.

Faced with huge market demand, domestic power battery companies have laid out soft pack batteries. According to the statistics of the battery China Network on the domestic 50 mainstream power battery companies, the number of enterprises deploying soft pack batteries reached 29, much higher than square and cylindrical batteries. At present, Fueng Technology, Tianneng Battery, Jiewei Power, Wanxiang A123, lishen battery, Chaowei Chuangyuan, Weihong Power, Thornton New Energy, Tianjin Shares, Miaosheng Power, etc. Has a leading edge. In the 2017 new energy passenger car power battery installed capacity ranking, Fu Neng Technology, Tianneng Battery, Jiewei Power and other three yuan soft pack power battery suppliers ranked in the top 10.

Soft bag technology, as one of the important means of lightweighting and high-energy battery, is expected to continue to increase the penetration rate in the newly expanded capacity, thus achieving an investment growth rate higher than the industry expansion scale. However, the threshold of soft pack battery technology is relatively high, and the technical principle of square battery and cylindrical battery is quite different. Therefore, the current expansion is mainly concentrated in soft pack leading enterprises such as Fueng Technology.

Battery China Network expects that the soft pack battery capacity of Fu Neng Technology, Beijing Guoneng and Shanghai Ka Nai will reach 13GWh, 13GWh and 5.8GWh respectively in 2018. In addition, Mengshi Technology and Jiewei Power have announced 5-10GWh. The soft pack battery expansion plan. Yiwei Lithium Energy Sanyuan Soft Pack Power Battery was officially put into operation in Huizhou in April this year, with an annual production capacity of 1.5Gwh. At present, the monomer energy density is above 240 Wh/Kg.

Battery China Network believes that in the context of the tilt of national policies to high-energy-density batteries, with the improvement of the production process of soft-pack batteries and the improvement of the market's requirements for the endurance of automobiles, the penetration of soft-pack batteries in the new energy vehicle market will further Deepening and accelerating, the proportion of soft pack batteries in power batteries will continue to expand in the future, and the "site" of cylindrical or square batteries will be further eroded.

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