Lead-acid batteries are regulated by lithium battery electric vehicles

With the rectification of the lead-acid battery industry and the serious environmental problems exposed by the electric vehicle industry, the reaffirmation of the “limit speed limit” regulations for electric vehicles has caused much concern in this industry.

At the end of May this year, the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Electric Bicycles" issued by the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine showed that "the speed of no more than 20 kilometers, the mass of the whole vehicle (weight) is not more than 40 kilograms" is an electric bicycle. The passing line, which does not meet the standard, is a super-standard car, and production, sales and roads are prohibited.

This regulation may just set a broad development path for the prospect of lithium battery electric vehicles (hereinafter referred to as "lithium battery vehicles").

Lithium battery: light and environmentally friendly

More than a year ago, Jinlong Group, the world's largest manufacturer of refrigeration precision copper tubes, officially entered the lithium battery electric bicycle industry. With the reaffirmation of the country and the restructuring of the industry, Jinlong Group also feels that the spring of lithium battery electric vehicles is gradually approaching.

Suzhou Longyue Lithium Vehicle Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Suzhou Longyue"), a research and development person in charge told reporters that whether it is a lithium battery or a lead-acid battery, there are 24V, 36V and 48V current capacity classification.

If you look at the national standard, the lithium battery car is best to choose a 36V current capacity model, because the 24V lithium battery product, there is a "low temperature attenuation problem." If it is a 48V electric car, the energy it provides is large, but the speed will be too fast. From the perspective of safety performance, Suzhou Longyue is not recommended.

In view of the regulations of “20 km/h and the weight of the whole vehicle not exceeding 40 kg”, the problem of lead-acid batteries will be exposed.

The aforementioned research and development personnel said that if the electric vehicle is to be controlled below 40 kg, the battery can only weigh more than 10 kilograms. “Lithium batteries are very light and just a few kilograms of weight, but can do 10 to 15 amp hours. Lead-acid batteries can only have better performance below 10 amps. In comparison, lead-acid batteries the battery life is not as good as the lithium battery. The people are very concerned about the endurance ability. They hope that the electric car can ride a little longer and can charge less in the same period of time."

For the weight of lithium batteries, Jinlong Group has other considerations. “Now we choose the bicycle brackets with aluminum and iron. The amount of materials is not much different, but the aluminum is more rust-proof and weighs better than the iron bracket. Considering the lightweight design, the company will test other materials. ""

The reporter asked whether the carbon fiber bicycles that are popular in the market may become one of the targets of the selection of automobiles. The aforementioned R&D personnel of Jinlong Group said that the cost of carbon fiber is still high, and its maintainability is not as good as that of metal. If the carbon fiber is broken, the maintenance is more difficult.

The lithium battery itself has its light appearance, and its material properties also determine its characteristics that have no effect on the public body and mind and the surrounding environment. However, the problems of lead-acid battery products are very much.

On May 18, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China issued the Notice on Strengthening Pollution Prevention and Control of Lead storage battery and Recycled Lead Industry. The government will implement strict environmental access, implement the health protection distance, and regulate the daily environmental management of enterprises to ensure pollutants, stable up to standard discharge. (All departments also) will increase law enforcement and take strict measures to rectify illegal enterprises. The introduction of this notice coincided with the recent frequent occurrence of blood lead exceeding the standard of some residents in the lead-acid battery factory.

Guodu Securities' analysis report pointed out that lead-acid batteries will produce a variety of lead-containing cigarettes and lead dust in the production process (such as lead-containing heavy metal wastewater in the coating and battery cleaning process, in grid casting, alloy preparation, lead In the process of parts and lead powder manufacturing, lead dust, smelting waste and wastewater are also produced during the recycling process of used lead-acid batteries. Due to the investment in environmental protection equipment or the lack of self-discipline, the discharge of lead vapor and lead dust of related enterprises has seriously exceeded the standard.

Since mid-May, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Henan and other regions have also carried out special environmental protection rectification campaigns on a large scale. A large number of lead-acid battery companies are required to temporarily stop production. Some media reports also said that more than 1,000 of the 2,000 lead-acid battery companies in the country are expected to be eliminated.

However, from the lithium battery itself, although the environmental requirements are high in the manufacturing process, there is no pollution problem to the public and the surrounding environment. A lithium battery is actually a battery using a lithium metal or a lithium alloy as a negative electrode material and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution. However, Lu Zhenggang, chairman and president of Shanghai Jiebao Dawang Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., also told reporters that it is impossible to replace lithium-ion batteries directly with lead-acid batteries in the short term. Because the technical stability of lithium batteries is not strong enough, further advances in research and development are still needed.

Jinlong: From the copper tube into the lithium battery

Although the lithium battery technology is still not perfect, the market for lithium battery vehicles is likely to be in the past few years.

Ma Zhongchao, chairman of the China Bicycle Association, told this reporter that it is one of the important tasks of the association to promote the business of lithium battery vehicles. In the second half of this year, he will travel to Taiwan with some electric vehicle entrepreneurs to discuss the prospects of lithium battery electric vehicles on both sides of the strait.

Although Jinlong Group officially announced in 2009 that it acquired a bicycle company based in Taicang, Jiangsu, it time for the lithium battery electric vehicle industry chain should be counted from 2000.

Zhu Xuehai, general manager of the Lithium Business Unit of Jinlong Precision Copper Tube Group Co., Ltd. said that in 2000, the government hoped that Jinlong Group could host the 713 Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. At that time, the company thought that it could move toward the direction of lithium battery materials.

"The lithium battery has a product called a diaphragm. It is the core product. At that time, most of the diaphragms were imported. We also put the force mainly on the development of the diaphragm. If the 10 million yuan is not enough, we will invest 2000. Ten thousand yuan, no more than 30 million yuan, from 2001 to 2005, the company continued to increase investment, and hundreds of millions of yuan went in. In 2006, the product gradually matured, and was praised by many lithium battery factories. Invested and achieved benefits."

Zhu Xuehai said that Jinlong Copper Tube is now the largest diaphragm manufacturer in China. At present, the supply of diaphragms for domestic and foreign companies is 30% and 70%, while the diaphragm of Jinlong Copper Pipes accounts for 70% of China's supply. For example, BYD and other companies are getting goods from Jinlong.

In 2009, Jinlong Group established Suzhou Longyue Company. Jinlong Group invested 230 million yuan in the first phase and established a production line of 500,000 lithium battery bicycles. “This investment project is only the first step to build a lithium battery industry chain. Our strategic goal is to build an industrial base of 300,000 electric vehicles in five years." At that time, Li Changjie, chairman of Jinlong Group, told the media.

Is there a chance to create a "one-stop" model?

The state will vigorously rectify the environmental pollution of lead-acid battery enterprises, shut down the production lines of unqualified battery companies, and restrict the "20 km, 40 kg" of electric vehicles, which will bring important development opportunities for lithium battery vehicles.

In addition, lead-acid battery electric vehicles now account for 97.5% of the national market share, while the lithium battery market share is very small. There are now more than 700,000 lithium-ion battery cars in China, and there are more than 20 million lead-acid batteries. The contrast is very obvious.

Ma Zhongchao also said that since 2010, the China Bicycle Association and other units are also actively rumored to the government that lithium battery electric vehicle companies will receive subsidies of 400 yuan to 500 yuan per vehicle, and this year the association will continue to appeal.

"At present, electric vehicles have some financial subsidies, so it is reasonable to apply for subsidized lithium battery vehicles to the government." Ma Zhongchao said.

He also said that although the possibility of a lead-acid battery being replaced by a lithium battery at one time is not very large, as long as the market share of lead-acid battery vehicles can be reduced to 90%, it is also a contribution to environmental protection.

As far as the company's own development of lithium battery vehicles, Jinlong Group also has its own unique advantages. In addition to the company's product technology patents and production capacity of diaphragms, positive and negative materials, electrolytes, etc. can also be produced, so the entire industrial chain of lithium battery vehicles has been involved. If the future production of lithium batteries is greatly increased, the cost advantage of Suzhou Longyue Company, a subsidiary of Jinlong Group, will be highlighted.

Lu Zhenggang told reporter that the current price of lithium batteries is relatively high, which is an important threshold in the development of this product.

The manufacturing cost of a lithium battery is thousands of yuan, including other spare parts such as the frame. The price of a car must be at least 2,000 yuan, and the better lithium battery car should be as high as 4,000 yuan per vehicle. The total price of lead-acid battery vehicles is only more than 1,000 yuan. In contrast, consumers clearly prefer the latter.

However, the aforementioned R&D personnel of Jinlong Group also said that the diaphragm accounts for the high cost of lithium batteries. If the capacity is expanded in the future, Jinlong Group, which has the advantage of diaphragm technology, will be in place in controlling the overall cost of bicycles. “In addition, even if other companies have diaphragm products, the leading edge of diaphragm technology is also very important. The quality of the diaphragm is completely different from the performance, life and reliability of the lithium battery. Good diaphragm, in charge rate and discharge rate the performance will be very good. People will feel the acceleration performance and short charging time through these two technical indicators. This is one of the advantages of Long Yue electric car."

Wang Wei, one of the leaders of Suzhou Longyue Sales, told reporters that in the future, Long Yue will recruit troops from all over the country. The idea is to first increase the introduction of some foreign trade talents, strengthen their training, and then vigorously develop foreign key markets. In addition, the company will also select more dealers in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Henan, Beijing and other places to promote Longyue products to the whole country. It is expected that this year's production and sales will increase substantially on the basis of last year.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.