Have the power cells entered the era of high energy density?

Recently, when the company said that the company has now achieved high nickel 811 positive material mass production, the production of 811 positive material is mainly used for new energy car power batteries. At the beginning of 2018, Guoxuan Gaoke stated that it had developed a three-yuan 811 material soft package core with an energy density of 302 wh/kg. According to the battery China Network, at present, there are still high nickel 811 materials for fir energy, Ningbo Jinhe and other companies to achieve mass production, and the high nickel 811 projects such as Tianjin Bamo, Xiamen Tungsten, and Tianli Lithium are also steadily advancing.

It is understood that at present, domestic companies can achieve stable mass production of three-yuan lithium batteries are still 523 materials, some power battery companies can mass-produce 622 material batteries. The gradual mass production of high-nickel 811 materials also means that China's power battery industry is about to enter the era of high energy density. Industry experts say 2018 will be the first year of production of high-nickel 811 material batteries. At present, 811 materials are mainly mass-produced on technically mature cylindrical batteries, and will be gradually applied to square and soft-pack batteries.

Ningbo Gold and related officials recently disclosed: "It is expected that 811 shipments will be between 15000-20,000 tons this year, of which Ningbo Jinhe has more than 12,000 tons of production capacity released. As a result of the higher cobalt prices, 523 prices ranged from $235,000 to $235,000 per ton, 811 prices from $260,000 to $270,000 per ton, and 811 was more cost-effective than 523. If the technology is mature, the downstream will switch to 811 as soon as possible. "

For a long time, there has been a struggle between lithium iron phosphate and ternary batteries in the power battery industry, and with the adjustment of the state's policies on new energy subsidies and changes in the price of raw materials, the proportion of ternary materials in the market has continued to increase. BYD, who has always insisted on the lithium iron phosphate route, has lost its position as a domestic power battery champion due to the lack of a three-way route layout. It has been replaced by the Ningde era and has adopted a dual route of lithium iron phosphate and three-way. Other domestic power battery companies have also joined the army of three-part batteries.

According to the "Medium-and Long-term Development Plan for the Automobile Industry" jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, it is clear that by 2020, the annual production and sales of new energy vehicles will reach 2 million vehicles, and the single energy density of power batteries will reach 300 Wh/kg or more, striving to achieve 350 Wh/kg. The system energy density strives to reach 260Wh / kg and the cost drops to less than 1 yuan / Wh. By 2025, new energy vehicles will account for more than 20 % of automotive production and sales, and the energy density of power battery systems will reach 350 Wh/kg.

It is well known that at present, lithium iron phosphate is limited by the properties and technologies of the material itself, and the energy density of the core can not reach the requirements of 300W/kg in 2020. At present, the mainstream three-way 523 material battery energy density can reach 160-200wh/kg, while the three-way 622 material can reach 230wh/kg, but it is difficult to reach the 2020 target. Therefore, it is necessary to vigorously develop high-nickel ternary NCM811 and NCA materials in the future.

The "quality reduction" is the main theme of the development of the power battery industry in recent years. In 2018, the market accelerated and the phenomenon of industrial aggregation further intensified. However, due to the imbalance between market supply and demand, the price of raw materials such as cobalt in the upstream has risen all the way, resulting in many companies accelerating the process of high nickel and low cobalt in ternary materials to reduce production costs. Guoxuan Gaoke related person told battery China Network that Guoxuan Gaoke will continue to increase the battery energy density and the ratio of nickel content in the three-membered positive material, thereby reducing the amount of cobalt metal used per kilowatt-hour battery.

According to calculations, if companies use 811 positive materials, the manufacturing cost of their batteries can be reduced by 6-8 %. The mature 18650 power battery uses 532 cathode materials with a core capacity of 2.5 AH and an 811 cathode material with a capacity of 2.75 AH. The cost of using 811 cathode material units WH is 0.39 yuan, while the cost of using 532 cathode material units WH is 0.414 yuan, and the cost is reduced by 6 %. The weight of the positive material using a single core of 811 will decrease by 9 %, while the cost of corresponding diaphragm, electrolyte, copper foil, etc. will also decrease. After the combined calculation, if the three-way core produced by 811 materials is used, the unit cost will decrease by about 7 %, and considering PACK, the cost of the integrated unit Wh can be reduced by more than 8 %, which is a very significant reduction.

In addition, because the energy density of the 811 material battery is relatively high, the amount of new energy vehicle subsidy for the 811 material battery is also higher than that for the 622 and 532, so that the comprehensive price of the high nickel battery has a considerable advantage.

According to Ningbo Jin and related sources, the current domestic cylindrical 811 material battery has basically solved the technical problems. In 2017, a few domestic cylindrical battery companies have been able to use 811 materials well, the amount of use of hundreds of tons, 2018 Technology will be more perfect. In terms of soft packs and square large batteries, 811 material battery technology may mature in 2019. In terms of market sales, Jianghuai, Zhongtai, General Wuling, Yundu, Dongfeng and other vehicle companies, as well as some logistics vehicles, have shown great interest in 811 material batteries.

The high-nickel 811 material battery is a new technology. It is not yet mature in some aspects of actual production and manufacturing. It also requires battery companies to continuously increase their scientific research investment and optimize their products and processes. However, the mass production of some high nickel 811 material batteries in 2018 shows that the whole power battery industry in China has entered the era of high energy density.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.