Battery companies: What is the broad layout of upstream materials business?

电池企业:广泛布局上游材料业务为哪般

2017 is a key year for the development of power batteries. The rapid development of new energy passenger vehicles has become the main force in the new energy vehicle market. At the current stage, ternary lithium batteries with higher energy density and smaller volume have become mainstream. It can be expected that the demand for ternary lithium batteries will further increase.

According to the “Action Plan for Promoting the Development of Automotive Power Battery Industry” issued by the relevant national ministries and commissions: “By 2020, the specific energy of the new lithium-ion battery unit will exceed 300 watt-hours/kg, and the system will strive to reach 260 watt-hours/kg.” The development plan, the current NCM523 chemical system commonly used by domestic power battery companies, has been difficult to meet the needs of power battery development. With the increase in cobalt prices and the demand for high-energy batteries for new energy vehicles, NCM811/NCA materials have become an inevitable choice for the development of lithium-ion power batteries for vehicles in the short term. Judging from the current development of domestic battery-related industries, the low-end capacity homogenization and high-end capacity shortage have become the development indicators of the current stage. Therefore, in 2018, the domestic related battery industry enterprises have heavy research and development tasks, and the capacity conversion pressure is relatively high.

There is a saying that "the troops are not moving, the grain and grass are first." In order to produce high specific energy power batteries, in addition to mature supporting production processes, the stable supply of battery-related materials, including NCM811/NCA cathode materials, silicon carbon anodes, electrolytes, and special separators, is also essential. In particular, the positive electrode material accounts for a large proportion of the cost of the power battery, and has a very significant impact on the industrial development.

At present, domestic battery companies are making efforts to transform to the NCM811/NCA system, and it is difficult to form an effective market demand in the short term. In particular, NCA materials are currently mainly supplied externally. Although the mass production capacity of the domestic power battery company NCM811/NCA system power battery is not mature, it is expected that a relatively strong market demand will be formed in 2019, but related materials companies have already carried out relevant product layout. According to industry insiders, the current price of NCM523 is about 210,000 yuan, while the import price of NCM811 material is about 270,000 yuan, but NCM532 contains 12.2% cobalt, NCM811 cobalt content is 6.1%, cobalt price pair Its impact has been greatly weakened, and the gross profit margin of NCM811 will greatly exceed that of NCM532, which will become a weapon for material companies to dominate the market. In addition to materials companies, power battery companies have also tried to find a layout in related fields.

December 29, 2017, the lion of Science and Technology announced that intends to increase investment in building an annual output of 5GWh lithium battery production project in Yicheng City, the current two billion yuan of new investment projects, with a total investment of 5 billion investment sum Yuan, combined with the production capacity of the first phase of production, totals 10GWh. On the same day, Fujian Lions, a subsidiary of Mengshi Technology, plans to invest in the construction of NCA ternary precursor battery cathode material project in Yicheng, with an estimated total investment of 200 million yuan. Mengshi Technology said that the investment in the construction of NCA ternary precursor battery cathode material project, intends to carry out technology and resource reserves in the new energy industry, expand the lithium battery cathode material market, and cultivate new profit growth points for the company to the lithium battery industry. The upstream extension of the chain is conducive to improving the company's new energy industry layout, reducing the cost of lithium battery products, and improving the competitiveness of the lithium battery market.

As a new black-powered "black horse", Thornton New Energy, in addition to actively deploying the power battery business, the company is actively strengthening the layout of the battery material business. It is understood that Thornton New Energy currently has an annual production capacity of 30,000 tons of cathode materials, including 14,000 tons of NCM, 0.6 million tons of NCA, 0.6 million tons of lithium iron phosphate, and 0.4 manganese manganate. Ten thousand tons. Today, the competition in the battery industry is so fierce, Thornton New Energy has become a sample of power battery adversity, and the coordinated development of the whole industry has contributed. It is understood that Thornton New Energy will continue to add positive electrode materials in 2018, and the total production capacity will reach 52,000 tons next year. Dr. Zhai Zhongliang, General Manager of Thornton New Energy Battery System Department, told Battery China Network that in March-April 2018, Thornton New Energy NCA high-nickel materials will start mass production with a capacity of about 14,000 tons.

In addition, the lithium battery giants including Ningde Times, BYD and Guoxuan Hi-Tech have actively strengthened the layout of battery materials through various means in 2017 and strengthened the control of battery materials.

As early as 2015, Ningde era acquired Guangdong Bangpu, and actively deployed on the recycling of lithium materials. In addition, Ningde era also maintains close business ties with GEM, a representative of domestic metal recycling companies, and stabilizes its cathode material supply chain. It is understood that in 2016, GEM provided Bangpu with about 10,000 tons of precursors, and in 2017, the number of precursors supplied by GEM to Bangpu increased to about 15,000 tons. At present, GEM is in terms of precursor production capacity: the ternary precursor has built a production line with a capacity of 35,000 tons, including about 30,000 tons of NCM precursor production line and about 0.5 million tons of NCA precursor production line.

Earlier in August 2017, BYD and Hefei Guoxuan Hi-Tech jointly established a joint venture company to engage in the ternary cathode material precursor project for lithium-ion batteries . BYD officially laid out the ternary materials. The project is divided into two phases. The first phase of the project designed and produced 48,000 tons of NCM523 ternary material precursor and 40,000 tons of NCM622 ternary material precursor. It is understood that the project can flexibly adjust the output of the two models according to market conditions. According to the battery China website, Guoxuan Hi-Tech has successfully completed the production line of 0.6 million tons of high-capacity lithium iron phosphate and 0.3 million tons of NCM622 materials in 2017.

The author believes that although power battery companies have a slight gap in battery production technology, it is difficult to form an insurmountable technological gap. In the face of the "tug of war" in the development of new energy auto industry, battery companies should look beyond the long-term, whether it is to seize upstream resources or lay out new materials, it shows that the competition among power battery companies is upgrading. As the competition in the battery industry gradually heats up, the competition of battery companies in 2018 will be even more cruel.

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