Battery manufacturing equipment technology gap
At
present, the development speed of domestic power batteries has surpassed
that of foreign countries, but the manufacturing equipment paired with
batteries still has a large gap with foreign manufacturing equipment.
This includes equipment accuracy, speed, reliability, unmanned, visual,
information, and so on, which has a certain relationship with the
overall level of industrialization in China.
According to
the survey conducted by the OF week Industrial Research Center, in the
process of lithium battery production, there are several stages of
equipment that have not yet been fully localized, such as coating
machines, winding equipment, lithium battery formation, and equipment
for dividing containers. Although there are manufacturers in China,
there are very few companies that have mastered the relevant
technologies or technologies to achieve first-class standards. The level
of substitution in these three Chinese productions is relatively high.
Even so, compared with foreign manufacturers, there is still a big gap.
Taking
the coating machine as an example, domestic coating machines are in
urgent need of improvement in both accuracy and speed. The average
coating speed of imported equipment is about 80m/min, although Shenzhen
Yakang (acquired by Wintech) will be in 2016. The coating speed of 100m
/min, the world's first zero-speed butt double-sided adhesive slit
extrusion coating machine, but the average level of domestic equipment
is 40-50m/min. There is still a big gap.
Due to the
backwardness of domestic manufacturing equipment, battery manufacturers
in the pursuit of better battery quality, when choosing production
equipment, often directly choose to purchase equipment of higher
international level. Reducing the R&D investment in manufacturing
equipment technology, relying on money to buy equipment, the core
technology is still in the hands of foreign equipment manufacturers.
In
the case of unstable external environment, it is particularly necessary
for domestic enterprises to carry out research and development and
manufacturing of special-scale and unified planning equipment through
the development of large-scale and continuous manufacturing technologies
and equipment. On the one hand, in response to emergencies, once a
black swan incident occurs, foreign companies sever supply equipment, at
least some of their own equipment is available; on the other hand,
upgrading equipment levels can also improve the performance of China's
power lithium battery, and stand in the foreign crowd. It is also an
effective measure to achieve "Made in China 2025" and truly support
China's response to peripheral technological pressures. Therefore,
China's lithium-ion enterprises or equipment manufacturing enterprises
should increase investment in research and development, adhere to
independent intellectual property rights, and independent innovation.
When designing and manufacturing equipment, we should also make full use
of modeling and simulation analysis, pay attention to mechanism
research, and make full use of upstream and downstream resources,
actively and effectively communicate, clarify development goals, and
fully consider the cost in the whole life cycle.
Power lithium battery automation level is low
At
present, the production scale of the power battery system has a certain
space compared with the number of batteries required for the 5 million
new energy vehicles in 2020. The main reason is that from the market
point of view, from the second half of 2015, China's power battery
system began to explode, and the domestic power battery product design
and manufacturing process technology upgrade did not keep up with the
development speed, especially the battery module. In terms of key
production processes, design and verification are not fully improved,
and the pass rate is low, and it is difficult to achieve online
automatic testing and quality tracking. Therefore, the production of
power battery systems is still dominated by semi-automation, and only a
few battery manufacturers have realized the automated production of
power battery modules or modules. In addition, the early market demand
for more types of products, different car companies frequently change
the battery, resulting in insufficient scale effect, which is the main
reason for the company did not invest in automated production equipment.
Take
the power battery PACK system as an example. Analysts at the OF week
Industrial Research Center believe that the level of automation of PACK
is not high, and it is related to China's national conditions. The
layout of China's power battery industry is closely related to the
layout and geography of the new energy vehicle industry park. Therefore,
when the battery design PACK is often modified according to different
vehicle models, different cores and different circuit designs are
differentiated. The requirements have created difficulties in automation
design. As a result, enterprises cannot use fixed one or several modes
when performing battery PACK, and often need to adjust according to the
battery demand of the vehicle.
On the one hand, with the
stable cooperation between car companies and battery companies, after
the battery design is mature, production specifications and scale, the
automation process of lithium battery manufacturers is expected to
accelerate; on the other hand, "process detection and information
management" Gradually deepening the core production management methods
and intensifying product competition will force companies to prioritize
quality control, which will also prompt enterprises to accelerate the
process of automated production.
Industry chain or cross-industry collaboration is still not close
There
is a lack of assistance between different types of participating
entities and enterprises in the upstream and downstream of China's power
battery industry chain. In terms of improving the energy density of the
power battery, it is difficult and ineffective to improve the energy
density of the battery by means of the anode material R&D companies
alone.
If the power battery company can cooperate with the
upstream raw material enterprises, the difficulty in increasing the
energy density of the battery will be reduced, and the effect will
become significant. The reality is that in addition to Ningde era, BYD
and other lithium giants can form a close cooperative development
relationship with upstream raw material companies, and the cooperation
between the remaining 200 lithium-ion companies and anode materials
companies and other battery materials companies. Not enough. In
addition, the participation of companies such as BMS and battery pack
system PACK is particularly important in the process of grouping of
batteries.
In addition, in some specific aspects of the
power battery industry, cross-industry and cross-field collaboration is
very urgent. The power battery enters the end of life, and the
utilization of waste batteries and waste recycling have become new air
outlets. In the process of ladder utilization, it involves multiple
fields and multiple industries, including the coding in the production
process of power batteries, the use of scrapped new energy vehicles, and
the use of used batteries in electric power, energy storage and
material recycling. Therefore, in the entire life cycle of power
batteries, more industries are needed to cooperate in a wider field.
However, so far, the cooperation of China's power battery life cycle is
in its infancy, the relevant regulations are not perfect, and the
cooperation between enterprises is not close.
Therefore,
in the lithium battery industry chain, battery companies, BMS R&D
companies, battery pack systems PACK companies, equipment companies,
testing centers and vehicle companies need more joint development,
strengthen supply chain coordination, and give full play to their
respective advantages, to promote strengths and avoid weaknesses. In
addition, cross-domain outside the industrial chain is also the profit
point of the power battery industry chain. If cross-industry cooperation
such as gradient utilization and material recycling can be formed, it
will undoubtedly create a wider moat for the power battery industry
chain, and the resist external risk is more favorable.
Long
squatting in the hand, you can shackle the dragon. In the current
situation that China's manufacturing industry is experiencing foreign
countries, especially the economic resilience of the United States, only
by mastering key technologies and equipment and building a wider moat
around the industrial chain can we not be restrained and resist external
risks. Confidence is more expensive than gold. Under the existing power
lithium battery scale and market conditions, we are confident that in
the near future, China's power lithium battery industry can break the
current foreign technology monopoly and take the initiative in its own
hands, not only to do Big, more to be strong.
The page contains the contents of the machine translation.
