Adding more nickel to the cathode can increase the energy density and endurance. At the same time, when the specific gravity of nickel is increased, the amount of cobalt needed in the battery will be reduced, and the cost of the battery will also be reduced. Under this logic, high nickel batteries such as NCA/NCM811, NCM9 and NCMA have made their debut one after another, and the content of nickel is getting higher and higher.
According to foreign media reports, South Korean battery maker SKI said recently that it has commercialized the world's first NCM9 battery with a nickel content of 90%, and the Fmur150 electric pickup truck planned for release by Ford in 2023 is expected to enter the market.
It is understood that the NCM9 battery developed by SKI, on the basis of improving the diaphragm technology and thereby enhancing the battery stability, increased the nickel content to 90%, reduced the cobalt content to 5%, increased the electric vehicle mileage to 700km, reduced the charging time and, more importantly, greatly reduced the cost.
LG Chemical, another South Korean company, plans to launch NCMA batteries in 2022, with 90 per cent nickel, 5 per cent cobalt and 1 per cent aluminum manganese. It is reported that GM is planning to equip two electric vehicles expected to go on sale next year with NCMA batteries, and LG Chemical is making necessary preparations for mass production of NCMA batteries. Earlier, LG Chemical and General Motors had a plan to complete the development of NCMA batteries by 2022 and equip GM's new cars with NCMA batteries.
Research data show that the NCMA battery is expected to reduce the cobalt content to less than 10% in an ideal condition, bringing the cost of the battery to less than $100 / KWh (about 700 yuan / KWh). According to the estimation of Sino-Thai Securities, the cost of ternary battery on the market is 800-850 yuan / KWh,. According to the calculation of bicycle 60KWh, using NCMA battery, the bicycle can save 6000-9000 yuan.
It is worth noting that many domestic enterprises also have a layout in the field of NCMA batteries. In 2019, Honeycomb released "stack era" products, including cobalt-free material batteries and NCMA quaternary material batteries. In response to investors' questions at the beginning of this year, Grimmy said that the NCMA quaternary precursor materials developed by the company are already undergoing customer tonnage certification. In addition, the company's NCA products have been steadily supplying Ni90 and above precursor materials to international first-class customers, and are also actively studying NCA products with lower cobalt content.
In addition, Ningde era, BYD, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Rongbai Technology and so on are also equipped with NCMA batteries.
Although NCM9 and NCMA can achieve higher nickel, the mainstream high nickel battery is still dominated by NCA/NCM811.
In July this year, BMW's first pure electric SUV--iX3 made its global debut, equipped with NCM811 batteries provided by Ningde era. Ningde Times said publicly in early 2019 that the company's 811 products had been mass produced and that NCM811 had solved security issues to meet customer needs. According to the plan, the energy density of the first generation NCM 811cell in Ningde era can reach 250-280Whhand kg, and the energy density of the second generation cell can reach 300-350Wh/kg. It is reported that in addition to the BMW iX3, many electric models, such as the Xilai ES6, Xiaopeng P7, Guangzhou Automobile Aion S, Hezhong U, Jinkang SF5, also carry or will carry Ningde era 811 batteries.
It is reported that Vision AESC began to layout NCM811 battery as early as 2017, the new generation of Gen5-811 AIoT power battery products, cell energy density of more than 300WhCPG, currently has the conditions for mass production; Honeycomb Energy unveiled its 86Ah 2C fast charging cell during the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show, the positive material uses the NCM811 system, the battery is expected to be mass produced in 2020.
At present, the energy density of the NCA cell developed by Lishen battery is more than 300W, and the battery technology of NCM811 has also made continuous breakthroughs and installed. Bic battery began mass production of 18650 power battery cells using high-nickel NCM811 material in 2018; Guoxuan Tech said that it is expected to achieve mass production of Sanyuan 811 soft bag battery by 2020.
It is understood that up to now, domestic battery production enterprises such as Tafel, Wanxiang 123, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Fuleng Technology, BYD, Thornton New Energy, far East Battery, Penghui Energy, and Carney New Energy have also arranged NCM 811.
From the point of view of some international manufacturers, LG chemistry has been more mature in 811 battery technology. LG Chemical used NCM 811s on electric buses before signing a supply contract with Tesla. At present, the 811 ternary lithium battery has been supplied to Tesla (Shanghai) Modle 3 with an initial supply capacity of 10-13GWh.
With the gradual increase of nickel content in power batteries, the demand for high nickel materials is also increasing. According to the prediction of industry institutions, the demand for cathode materials in China alone is expected to reach 402000 tons in 2020, of which the demand for ternary cathode materials is 144200 tons, and the demand for high nickel ternary cathode materials is 97500 tons, and the permeability of ternary cathode materials with high nickel is greatly increased.
Caitong Securities pointed out that Tesla and domestic mainstream battery factories are promoting the development and application of high-nickel battery materials, and high-nickel cathode materials will be the major trend of power battery development in the future. Nickel demand in the field of power batteries will increase from 40, 000 tons at present to 800000 tons in 2030, with an average annual compound growth rate of 35%.
It is worth noting that in July this year, at the videoconference of Tesla's financial results for the second quarter of 2020, Tesla CEO Musk warned that the high cost of batteries is still the biggest obstacle to the development of the company. He mentioned that Tesla will provide a sizeable long-term order if miners mine nickel in an environmentally friendly way and maintain an effective supply.
According to Wood Mackenzie, an international energy consultancy, nickel consumption of electric vehicle batteries will surge by 64% between 2019 and 2025, but the slow expansion of nickel ore production and the inability to catch up with demand in time will be a major factor hindering the development of the electric vehicle battery market.
"2020 (second) China Automotive New Materials Application Summit Forum"
It was solemnly held in Shanghai from September 17 to 18.
During the reform period of the "four modernizations of the automobile", intelligent network connection, new energy, lightweight and intelligent manufacturing entered the field of the automobile industry, and the automobile era was reinterpreted. The surging changes require the industry to continue to integrate and innovate, and quickly promote the development rate of automobile enterprises. With the emergence of self-driving and intelligent cars, Internet companies, which are not active in the automotive field, have more opportunities to show their talents; the double points policy is becoming an important driving force for the development of China's new energy vehicle industry; in the face of environmental constraints, car companies speed up the application of advanced lightweight components and technologies to achieve vehicle weight loss. With the continuous promotion of the strategies of "Industrial 4.0" and "made in China 2025", intelligent manufacturing has become a new challenge of upgrading and transformation.
Under the guidance of the Shanghai Economic and Informatization Commission and the Shanghai Federation of Industrial economy, in order to accelerate the application of automobile lightweight and product lines, the Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, together with Shanghai Automotive Engineering Society, Suzhou Die casting Technology Association and SMM, jointly held the "2020 (second) China Automotive New Materials Application Summit Forum". Jointly discuss material solutions, co-casting automobile industry chain green development closed loop, and strive to build an excellent communication and cooperation platform for the whole automobile industry chain, and lead the creation of advanced automobile industry clusters.
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