The market share of power and energy storage lithium batteries is increasing

The market segments of lithium batteries are mainly power lithium batteries, energy storage lithium batteries, and consumer lithium batteries. Among them, the downstream application field of a power battery is mainly new energy vehicles, the downstream application field of an energy storage battery is mainly a power system, and the downstream application field of a consumer battery is mainly Downstream applications are mainly consumer electronics such as mobile phones.

From the perspective of global lithium battery production, power lithium batteries accounted for the main production share, reaching 70.8%, followed by consumer lithium batteries, with a market share of lithium battery production of 22.2%, and energy storage batteries accounted for the smallest market share of 7%. With the proposal of the “carbon peak” strategy in various countries around the world, companies around the world have deployed power battery and energy storage battery production lines. The vigorous development of the new energy vehicle and energy storage market is expected to promote the market share of power lithium batteries and energy storage lithium batteries’ further improvement.

Power lithium battery

The development of new energy vehicles is inseparable from the innovation of batteries, and large manufacturers are constantly innovating the battery quality and capacity of electric vehicles. At present, the mainstream new energy vehicle power battery types on the market are roughly classified into lead-acid batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries, cobalt oxide lithium-ion batteries, manganese oxide lithium-ion batteries, iron phosphate lithium-ion batteries, and ternary lithium-ion batteries (nickel-cobalt-manganese acid batteries) Lithium-ion batteries) and other categories.

New energy vehicle battery classification

1. Lead-acid battery

Low cost, good low-temperature performance, and high-cost performance; low energy density, short life, large volume, and poor safety. Due to the low energy density and service life, electric vehicles as power cannot have good speed and high cruising range and are generally used for low-speed vehicles.

2. NiMH batteries

Low cost, mature technology, long life, durable; low energy density, large volume, low voltage, and battery memory effect. Due to its super durability, it has been adopted by Toyota’s hybrid model Prius for a long time. Compared with lithium-ion batteries, the battery cell voltage is only 1.2v, which is 1/3 of that of lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, when the required voltage is constant, the volume of nickel-metal hydride batteries is much larger than that of lithium-ion batteries. Although the performance is better than that of lead-acid batteries, it contains heavy metals, which will pollute the environment after being discarded.

3. Lithium Ion Battery

It is one of the most technologically advanced batteries available. This kind of battery has a high energy density, so it can store more electricity; with a long cycle life, it can charge and discharge more times, and it can last longer. There are mainly two types of lithium-ion batteries currently used in electric vehicles: lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium-ion batteries. To put it simply, “lithium iron phosphate” and “ternary lithium” are both positive electrode materials for power lithium batteries, which have a decisive role in battery energy density. Therefore, in terms of battery naming rules, they are mostly named after positive electrode materials. This is the origin of batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries.

4. Lithium iron phosphate battery

Lithium iron phosphate batteries have good thermal stability, safety, low cost, and long life; low energy density and fear of low temperatures. Thermal stability is the best among power lithium-ion batteries. When the battery temperature is 500-600°C, its internal chemical composition begins to decompose, and puncture, short circuits, and high temperature will not burn or explode, so it is safer and has a longer service life than Panasonic’s lithium cobalt oxide battery.

However, the low energy density makes the battery heavier and larger, and the cruising range of the vehicle is average. And its biggest pain point is the problem of low-temperature charging. When the temperature is lower than -5°C, the charging efficiency is low, which is not suitable for charging in winter in the north.

5. Ternary lithium-ion battery

Ternary lithium-ion batteries have a high energy density, and long cycle life, and are not afraid of low temperatures; they are not stable enough at high temperatures. The energy density can reach the highest, but the high-temperature resistance is relatively poor. Pure electric vehicles that have requirements for the cruising range are the mainstream direction and are suitable for northern weather. The battery is more stable at low temperatures. The Model 3 announced by Tesla uses Panasonic’s 21700 ternary cylindrical battery.

The disadvantage is that the deoxidation temperature of the ternary material is 200°C, and it cannot pass the acupuncture test, which shows that the ternary battery is prone to fire, explosion, and other safety accidents in the case of internal short circuit and damage to the battery shell.

What is the ternary lithium-ion battery? The “ternary” of the ternary lithium-ion battery refers to a polymer containing three metal elements, nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), or aluminum (Al), which is used as the positive electrode in the ternary lithium-ion battery. The three are indispensable and play a huge role inside the battery.

Nickel: The important purpose is to increase the volumetric energy density of the battery, which is an important breakthrough to increase the cruising range, but too much content will cause nickel ions to occupy the position of lithium ions (nickel-metal hydride mixed row), resulting in a decrease in capacity.

Cobalt: Inhibit the mixing of cations to improve stability and prolong battery life. In addition, it also determines the charge and discharge speed and efficiency (rate performance) of the battery, but too high cobalt content will lead to a decrease in actual capacity.

Aluminum or manganese: Cobalt is a very expensive rare metal and the cost is high. The purpose of manganese or aluminum is to reduce the cost of positive electrode materials while improving the safety and stability of batteries.

To increase the capacity of the ternary lithium-ion battery, it is necessary to increase the proportion of nickel in the positive electrode. Therefore, the proportion of nickel is constantly increasing. From the early NCM111 to the NCM523 and NCM611 in the past two years, and the NCM811 launched this year, the energy density of batteries is getting higher and higher, and the use of nickel is becoming more and more vigorous.

If more nickel is used, the ratio of cobalt and manganese will inevitably decrease. Will the life and stability of the battery be affected? Theoretically yes, but now the protagonist of the ternary lithium-ion battery is undoubtedly the “high nickel” ternary lithium-ion battery. On the one hand, this is due to policy reasons. Electric vehicles with long mileage and high battery energy density can receive more financial subsidies; The car has a long battery life, and whose technology is advanced.

Lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium-ion batteries, we can’t simply say which is better, we can only say that each is good at winning. Lithium iron phosphate batteries are superior in their long life, good safety, and low cost, but their energy density and low-temperature performance are slightly inferior; ternary lithium-ion batteries are superior in energy density and storage, but their safety and lifespan are inferior.

As far as the traditional automobile industry is concerned, electric vehicles are powered by electric energy, which has completely changed the power used by traditional automobile energy. Most traditional cars use fossil fuels, but the main energy source of electric vehicles is electric energy, which is also a major change with the development of society.

The core of electric vehicles is the development of batteries for electric vehicles, and batteries for electric vehicles are an important key breakthrough point in modern industry.

Regional distribution of global lithium batteries: China accounts for 77%, and European expansion accelerates

According to published data, in terms of production capacity, China will dominate the global lithium-ion manufacturing market in 2020. China’s lithium-ion battery production capacity accounts for about 77% of the world’s production capacity, followed by the United States, accounting for about 9%.

Although China is expected to continue to be the leading country in lithium-ion battery manufacturing through 2025, its capacity will expand significantly with planned investments in manufacturing facilities in Europe, which is expected to become the world’s second-largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer by 2025. Battery-producing countries account for about 25% of global production capacity.

In the energy storage system, lithium batteries, lead-carbon batteries, and lead-acid batteries are used to store electrical energy. The biggest difference between lithium batteries and lead-acid batteries is that lithium batteries must be equipped with a battery management system. At present, domestic lithium battery technologies mainly include lithium iron phosphate, lithium titanate, ternary lithium, and other mainstream routes. The power density of these batteries is much higher than that of lead-carbon batteries.

Application of lithium-ion batteries in energy storage scenarios

Energy storage is one of the important means to solve the intermittent fluctuations of new energy wind power and photovoltaics and realize the function of “shaving peaks and flat valleys”. Energy storage lithium batteries are also gradually being valued as an emerging application scenario.

It is understood that the application scenarios of lithium batteries on the power supply side, user side, and grid side of energy storage are as follows: energy storage applications on the power generation side mainly include photovoltaic storage power stations, wind storage power stations, and AGC frequency modulation power stations; Storage and charging stations, household energy storage, backup power, etc.; scenarios such as grid energy storage, substation energy storage, virtual power plants, peak shaving/frequency modulation, etc.

Energy storage lithium batteries have no direct requirements for energy density, but different energy storage scenarios have different requirements for the power density of energy storage lithium batteries. The application of lithium-ion batteries in the field of electric energy storage requires the batteries to have safety, long life, high energy conversion efficiency, etc., and the cycle life is generally required to be greater than 3500 times.

Different from the field of new energy vehicles, the demand for lithium batteries in the energy storage market requires low cost and long life in addition to safety. This requires lithium battery companies to continuously improve and explore these areas, and to develop more suitable for the field of energy storage. Lithium Ion Battery.

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