Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

A new round of power battery technology competition has started. As a new generation of power battery technology, power battery companies and car companies are accelerating the deployment of solid-state batteries.

As the famous "100 Billion Lithium King" in China, Ganfeng Lithium has made new moves recently. On July 30, a batch of projects were started and completed in Liangjiang New District of Chongqing City. The "Ganfeng New Lithium Battery Technology Industrial Park and Advanced Battery Research Institute Project" officially started construction, planning to form a 10GWh battery capacity and a 10GWh Pack project. The project plans to build the largest solid-state battery production base in China.

With the vigorous development of the new energy vehicle market, the installed capacity of power batteries continues to hit a new high. At present, lithium iron phosphate has the advantages of low cost and high safety, and the loading volume exceeds that of ternary lithium. However, these two kinds of batteries have their own drawbacks. Solid-state batteries have been considered by the industry as the most promising new generation of power batteries.

Qi Haishen, president of Beijing Teyi Sunshine New Energy, said that power battery technology ultimately needs to be upgraded to the "solid-state" lithium battery industry. All-solid-state lithium batteries with high safety, high energy density and suitable for fast charging technology will become the power battery industry. goals and motivation for future development.

"Lithium King" increases investment in solid-state batteries

According to reports, Ganfeng New Type Lithium Battery Technology Industrial Park covers an area of 630 mu with a total construction area of 570,000 square meters, including three sub-projects: Solid State Battery Technology Research Institute, Solid State Battery Production Base and Battery Pack System.

At present, Ganfeng Lithium Battery, a subsidiary of Ganfeng Lithium Industry, has a 2GWh solid-state battery capacity and a 7GWh lithium iron phosphate battery capacity in its Xinyu production base in Jiangxi. With the start of the Chongqing new lithium battery technology industrial park, Ganfeng Lithium will further enhance its production capacity and provide more downstream enterprises with high-quality and stable battery supply.

In fact, Ganfeng Lithium has been deploying solid-state batteries for a long time.

In 2016, Ganfeng Lithium established a solid-state battery research and development center, and built a fully automatic polymer lithium battery production line, taking into account the research and development and commercialization of solid-state technology. In January 2022, the first batch of solid-state battery electric vehicles cooperating with Ganfeng Lithium and Dongfeng Motor was officially delivered; Ganfeng Lithium's energy storage and consumer equipment batteries are also equipped with solid-state technology and products to improve safety performance and energy. density.

"As a next-generation product in the lithium battery industry, solid-state batteries carry the important task of solving energy density and safety compatibility for the new energy industry." Ganfeng Lithium said that the company will continue to increase investment in the solid-state battery sector in the future to accelerate the development of solid-state batteries. The large-scale production and commercialization process will help the majority of car companies to complete the solid-state power iteration and usher in a new era of high-energy and high-safety power batteries.

Mo Ke, chief analyst of the True Lithium Research Institute, said that the biggest feature of solid-state batteries is safety, and it is also conducive to the improvement of energy density, so everyone is very concerned about and committed to the application and development of technology.

Layout of next-generation power battery technology

Not only Ganfeng Lithium, but also power battery companies and car companies are accelerating the deployment of solid-state batteries.

On July 6, SAIC and Qingtao Energy signed a contract to establish a joint laboratory for solid-state batteries. The solid-state power battery jointly developed by the two parties will have a battery life of more than 1,000 kilometers, and the battery will be applied on new models of SAIC's own brand next year.

On July 19, Honeycomb Energy All-Solid-State Battery Laboratory developed the first batch of 20Ah-class sulfur-based all-solid-state prototype batteries in China. The energy density of this series of cells reaches 350-400Wh/kg. Once mass-produced and applied, electric vehicles can achieve a cruising range of more than 1,000 kilometers.

On July 20, Dangsheng Technology launched 6 new self-developed new battery materials, including two new system materials of dual-phase composite solid-state lithium battery cathode and solid electrolyte.

Zeng Yuqun of CATL also said recently that CATL will deploy solid-state batteries, cobalt-free batteries, lithium-air batteries, rare metal-free batteries, sodium battery industry chains, and condensed batteries in 2022.

In addition, power battery companies such as Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Funeng Technology, as well as car companies such as Weilai, Great Wall, and Volkswagen have also made arrangements in the field of solid-state batteries.

It is worth mentioning that in early 2021, when NIO launched its flagship sedan ET7, it released a 150kwh solid-state battery at the same time, which aroused strong attention in the industry. NIO recently stated that it plans to deliver 150kwh solid-state batteries in the fourth quarter of 2022. It is reported that NIO’s 150kwh battery adopts ultra-high nickel positive electrode + pre-lithiated silicon carbon negative electrode + solid electrolyte (solid + liquid) + diaphragm, which is a transitional technology from liquid to solid state battery.

Qi Haishen believes that solid-state batteries will become the mainstream of batteries in the future. The development path should be to first achieve "solid-liquid hybrid" batteries, and then forge ahead towards the goal of all-solid-state batteries. Of course, it is not excluded that some battery manufacturers directly move towards all-solid-state batteries.

Open a new round of technical competition

From ternary lithium to lithium iron phosphate, power battery technology is constantly updated. As the next-generation power battery new technology, the future market space of solid-state batteries is optimistic.

Guohai Securities Research Report predicts that global solid-state battery shipments will grow rapidly from 2021 to 2030, and may exceed 250GWh by 2030, and the market space is expected to reach more than 150 billion yuan.

"my country's power battery manufacturers are accelerating their progress towards all-solid-state lithium battery technology, and some manufacturers also have certain technical accumulation. All-solid-state power batteries are likely to be the mainstream products in the field of new energy vehicle power batteries and power storage in the future." Qi Haishen said, All-solid-state power batteries can not only solve the battery safety and low capacity caused by the current liquid electrolyte, but also solve the bottleneck of high-current fast charging technology. It is believed that the power battery industry may usher in a major reshuffle in the near future.

And as many companies compete to deploy solid-state batteries, it is still the key to make breakthroughs in technology and commercialization models.

Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned the technical route of all-solid-state batteries at the 2022 World Power Battery Conference held recently. kg of next-generation batteries. From a technical point of view, solid-state batteries will be the most worthy of attention. The key technologies require the joint efforts of the whole world, and China needs to increase its efforts to solve the material problems and preparation problems of all-solid-state batteries through global cooperation.

"In the past 10 years, China's power battery has achieved a significant reduction in cost, greatly improved its competitiveness, and has emerged in structural innovation, such as Ningde era Kirin battery, BYD blade battery, etc. At present, China's power battery innovation should gradually develop from battery structure innovation to Material system innovation." Ouyang Minggao said.

As for the current development of solid-state batteries, there are still many obstacles. Mo Ke believes that one is to find a suitable solid-state electrolyte material, and the other is to find a suitable production method.