SMM Network News: how can you know that it is not a blessing if you lose your horse? Cylindrical batteries, which are gradually neglected in the new energy vehicle market, are ushering in the spring in the small power market. In recent years, small power markets such as power tools, electric bicycles / motorcycles, electric forklifts / AGV vehicles are becoming more and more popular, which brings new opportunities to the traditional cylindrical battery supporting enterprises of electric vehicles.

"since the company shifted the positioning of the new energy battery market to small power markets such as power tools and electric two-wheelers, the operation of the new energy battery sector has improved significantly, although it was still at a loss in the first quarter affected by the epidemic. However, after entering the second quarter, the company's new energy battery operation has reversed the loss situation." Hengdian East Magnetic said.

Coincidentally, Tianpeng Power also said that the company's lithium battery business sales overall continued to grow in 2019, excluding the impact of the new energy vehicle industry, the actual sales growth of the small power battery industry is about 40%, the rapid growth trend is obvious.

"the demand in the small power market has grown rapidly in recent years, and the capital rebate is obviously better than that of the automobile industry," said a person from a cylindrical battery company. The auto industry has a long payback cycle and a large capital risk. After the company took the initiative to shift the focus of the lithium battery business to the small power market, sales and profits increased significantly.

The growth of new energy vehicles is less than expected and the small power market is growing faster than expected.

Data from the Power Battery Application Branch show that due to the sharp decline in the financial subsidy policy for new energy vehicles in 2019, the installed capacity of power batteries for new energy vehicles in 2019 was about 62.18GWh, an increase of only 9.29% compared with the same period last year, which was lower than expected. In the first half of this year, superimposed with the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the installed capacity of power batteries for new energy vehicles in China was only 17.5GWhh, compared with 30GWhh in the same period last year, down 41.7% from the same period last year.

On the contrary, the small power market of power tools, electric two-wheelers, smart homes and wearable devices is showing rapid growth, and the demand for high-performance, lightweight and high-safety cylindrical batteries is increasing.

Data show that the total installed capacity of lithium batteries in the global power tools market has grown by more than 40% in the past five years, and the demand for lithium batteries in the global power tools market alone exceeded that of 12GWh in 2019. Among them, the domestic demand for lithium batteries for power tools exceeded 5GWH, an increase of more than 50% over the same period last year.

Looking at the electric bicycle market, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the output of electric bicycles in China was 27.077 million in 2019, an increase of 6.1% over the same period last year. Judging from the data in the past few years, the annual growth (output) of electric bicycles in China is 27 million ~ 30 million. It is understood that at present, electric bicycles generally carry electricity between 0.5kWh-1.2kWh, while electric motorcycles can carry electricity up to 4kWh. According to the 1kWh carrying capacity of an electric bicycle, if the penetration rate of lithium batteries in the new electric bicycles reaches 50% in the future, then the annual demand for lithium batteries will reach 13.5GWhWh15GWh.There is a huge market potential.

With the development of science and technology, the increasingly popular smart home, mobile wearable devices, the demand for lithium batteries can not be underestimated.

In the case of the decline of subsidies, the impact of demand, the increasingly fierce competition in the power battery market, and the rapid outbreak of the small power market, many battery manufacturers have shifted the focus of cylindrical battery business to the field of small power.

Cylindrical battery head enterprises are developing small power market one after another.

Cylindrical batteries are becoming more and more popular in the small power market because of their small package size, flexible grouping, low cost and mature technology. Judging from the market situation in the past two years, the market share of cylindrical batteries has increased steadily in the fields of electric two-wheelers and power tools, which has something to do with the transformation of traditional cylindrical battery enterprises. In recent years, cylindrical battery head enterprises such as Bic battery, Lishen battery, far East battery and so on have begun to develop into the small power market.

"We began to cooperate with Hello in 2018 to provide batteries for electric bicycles," said Li Fengmei, vice president of Bick Battery. Over the past two years, the company has established a comprehensive, long-term and in-depth strategic partnership with Hello. Hello's three-dimensional cylindrical cell is used in all the cars.

With the implementation of the "new national standard" of electric bicycles in China, and the emergence of new formats such as express delivery, takeout and shared bicycles, it has put forward higher requirements for electric bicycles and brought good development opportunities to the small power market at the same time. "the upgrading of the cycling experience of electric two-wheelers will bring higher challenges to the quality of the matching lithium batteries." Li Fengmei said that intelligence, lightweight, fast charging, long life, long life and high performance-to-price ratio are the new development trends of electric bicycles, which also put forward higher requirements for battery performance. The challenge is the market. Bick battery returns to the small power market, which shows that Bick battery attaches great importance to the small power market.

It is understood that since the Bic battery launched into the small power market and accumulated successful experience in cooperation with Hello, the company is constantly winning orders from mainstream brands such as Meituan and 70mai in the electric two-wheeler market by virtue of high-energy, long-cycle, ultra-fast charging and high safety 18650 and 21700 high-energy core products produced by car specification standards.

Similar to Bic battery, there are also several traditional automotive battery manufacturers that have performed well in the small power market with cylindrical products in the past two years.

In June this year, Lishen Battery signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Xinri Electric vehicle. According to the cooperation agreement, Xinri Electric vehicle will purchase more than 50 million lithium batteries for electric two-wheeled vehicles from Lishen batteries this year alone. The lithium batteries for electric bicycles this time are mainly cylindrical 18650amp 21700 ternary batteries.

In April this year, far East Battery signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Mavericks Electric. Far East batteries will provide lithium batteries for Mavericks electric bicycles and electric motorcycles. It is reported that the product is also mainly cylindrical 18650amp 21700 battery.

In April 2019, Tianpeng Power and Suke Intelligent Technology signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop special batteries for electric motorcycles and electric bicycles. The shift of cylindrical batteries to the small power market has also boosted its performance growth.

The key points of the business layout of the cylindrical business with high acceptance of downstream customers and small power.

As mentioned earlier, from the transformation of Hengdian East Magnetic, Tianpeng Power supply, the small power market has become a new growth point of the company's performance.

From the feedback of the small power market, the recognition of lithium batteries based on automotive standards in this field is also relatively high. "traditional automotive cylindrical power battery manufacturers have generally accumulated many years of experience in the field of electric vehicles, have rich accumulation in the needs of different models and different scenarios, and have relatively high technical specifications and standards," said an industry inside. on the other hand, the product characteristics and application scenarios in the field of small power are relatively simple, and battery products of "professional to amateur" and specification-level battery products are obviously more acceptable in the small power market.

A few days ago, Hello Travel held a mid-year supplier conference in Suzhou. Bick battery won the "Ecological partner Award" for its high-energy, long-cycle, ultra-fast charging and high safety cylindrical cells with more than two years of cooperation. "traditional lead-acid batteries have low energy density and short life, while lithium batteries made according to automotive standards have obvious advantages in energy density, service life and safety," industry analysts believe. This is also the main reason why cylindrical lithium battery manufacturers can quickly win downstream customer recognition after turning to the small power market. The cylindrical battery also "gorgeously turned around" and ushered in a new highlight moment!

"there is a great demand for high-rate and high-energy cylindrical batteries in the small power market, and the payment terms in this market are obviously better than those in the electric vehicle market, and orders are relatively stable," said a person from the cylindrical battery manufacturer of a traditional matching car company. The company has withdrawn cylindrical batteries from the electric vehicle market since 2019, turning to small power markets such as electric bicycles, drones, balanced vehicles, and garden tools. At present, the overall development trend has been improving.

"Bic batteries have provided hundreds of millions of cells for two-round travel," Li Fengmei said. with the trend of cordless power tools and gardening tools, and the extensive use of smart home terminals, driven by the popularity of shared terminals, short-distance green travel vehicles, and lithium electrification of industrial, medical and military equipment, the demand for cylindrical batteries will increase significantly in 2020. The Bick battery will take the 21700 battery as the core of R & D and production, and will be fully powered in small power applications such as two-wheelers, smart homes, power tools, energy storage, automotive electronics and other applications at the same time. "

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