SMM News: at present, the development of the global new energy vehicle industry is in the ascendant, under the fierce electrification wave, the battle for power batteries among the major vehicle enterprises is also surging undercurrent. Recently, the three major European carmakers Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW have set off a frenzy to bind Chinese battery manufacturers.

First, Volkswagen took the lead, investing 1.1 billion yuan to acquire 26.47% of Guoxuan Hi-Tech, making it its largest shareholder; then Daimler's Trident attacked, subscribing 900 million yuan for strategic investment Funeng Technology to participate in its Science and Technology Innovation Board IPO;, and then Wanxiang 123 was reported to have won 10 billion yuan power battery orders from Volkswagen; then Yiwei Lithium received a fixed letter from brilliance BMW power battery supplier.

You know, this series of operations was completed in just two months, and the shots of the German Big three were as fast as thunderbolt and lightning, as fierce as a storm. The intensive frequency of its occurrence and the huge range of action make the whole new energy vehicle industry chain stunned.

And as long as a little comparison of these battery manufacturers, it is not difficult to find a very subtle commonality. Funeng Technology is one of the leading companies in the power battery of three-yuan soft package, and only makes soft-package batteries; Wanxiang 123 also focuses on soft-pack batteries, which are currently the main products of NCM622 system three-yuan batteries; Volkswagen shares in Guoxuan Hi-Tech, it will also provide three-yuan soft packages to the public in the future; Yiwei Lithium can have a layout in columns, squares and soft bags, and has a strategic cooperation with South Korean software giant SKI, which has good strength in the technical route of soft bags.

There is no doubt that soft-pack batteries occupy the C position in these cooperation efforts. In fact, soft-bag batteries are favored by international mainstream car companies. At present, soft-package lithium-ion batteries are still dominant in the international PHEV/EV market, no matter Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Renault and Volvo, or General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, a large number of PHEV/EV still use soft-pack batteries. In terms of performance, flexible battery has many advantages, such as high energy density, high safety, long cycle life and so on. Industry analysts say that the permeability of flexible battery in the field of power battery will continue to increase in the future.

Unlike square and cylindrical batteries, flexible bag batteries cannot be made without a key material, which is aluminum-plastic film. Aluminum-plastic film industry is a technology-intensive industry, and its aluminum-plastic film products need to have a series of performance requirements, such as electrolyte resistance, water-oxygen barrier, cold stamping formability, puncture resistance, high heat sealing strength, little influence on electrical performance, etc., which is far higher than the standard in the general industrial field.

It is understood that the current global market is mainly monopolized by a very small number of Japanese companies such as DNP printing in Japan. At present, domestic aluminum-plastic films may only account for about 20% of China's domestic market.

It is worth noting that the cost of aluminum-plastic film accounts for 15%-20% of the battery cost, second only to cathode materials and diaphragms, and is a rather "expensive" material that can not be ignored. Under the technological monopoly of Japanese manufacturers, the price of aluminum-plastic film has been "cold" for a long time, and its average gross profit margin is more than 60%. As a result, the production cost of domestic flexible bag battery enterprises has been high, so it is urgent to realize the large-scale localization of aluminum-plastic film.

In fact, with the continuous technological struggle and overcoming difficulties of domestic enterprises, aluminum-plastic film is known as "the last city in the process of localization of power batteries in our country", and its solid gate is gradually broken through little by little. At present, the first-class quality domestic aluminum-plastic film has been able to achieve the same overall performance as the imported aluminum-plastic film, and the price is only 60% of the imported aluminum-plastic film, that is to say, it can reduce the cost of the imported aluminum-plastic film by 30%. In other words, the cost of the imported aluminum-plastic film can be reduced by 30%.

As a technical leader in the domestic aluminum-plastic film industry, after more than ten years of research and development, Mingguan aluminum-plastic film has formed a dry-hot composite preparation technology of aluminum-plastic film products for lithium batteries with completely independent intellectual property rights. the stable supply of aluminum-plastic film products has been successfully realized, especially in the application of power batteries. The aluminum-plastic film products produced by the company have the characteristics of good electrolyte resistance and water resistance, while taking into account the drawing depth and cutting performance, and explore the realistic path of domestic substitution in the field of aluminum-plastic film products for power batteries.

"the performance of the company's power and energy storage aluminum-plastic film products is no longer different from that of similar foreign products; in terms of various data indicators such as conventional peeling force, shell punching, heat sealing, as well as safety and reliability testing, it has been able to compete with foreign brands." The person in charge of Mingguan aluminum-plastic film said that no matter the product yield or the stability of product batches, the aluminum-plastic film produced by the company can be on a par with imported products, and at the same time has a better performance-to-price ratio. "the price is about 30-40% lower than that of foreign countries."

In terms of critical flushing performance, at present, most domestic aluminum and plastic film manufacturers generally flush around 6mm, while foreign Japanese flush depth is 8-12mm, while the normal production depth of Mingguan lithium film dry-thermal products is 9-10mm, which not only ensures the application of the product in the intelligent consumer market, but also can be widely used safely in the power battery of pure electric power vehicle.

According to reports, in terms of electrolyte resistance, Mingguan aluminum-plastic film uses multi-layer co-extrusion casting PP, corrosion-resistant coating and independently developed electrolyte-resistant PP adhesive resin to make it difficult for the electrolyte to invade the aluminum foil layer and corrode the aluminum foil, protect the integrity of the aluminum-plastic film, and have stable electrolyte-resistant properties. Even in the electrolyte immersion test for 30 days, the exfoliation force attenuation was still low and kept above 8N/15mm without delamination. Compared with the product performance at home and abroad, the product performance of Mingguan aluminum plastic film is synchronized with that of Japan and higher than that of domestic.

Having conquered the key technical fortresses such as deep drawing performance, electrolyte corrosion resistance and package stability, Mingguan aluminum-plastic film has become one of the few domestic aluminum-plastic film production enterprises that break through foreign technology monopoly and constantly expand their business territory in the competition surrounded by tigers and wolves.

In the future, the market prospect of aluminum-plastic film is very broad. Some institutions predict that by 2030, the demand for power batteries in China will reach 459GWh. under the pursuit of "soft bag controls" such as Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW, the permeability of soft bag batteries will be greatly increased, and the consumption of aluminum-plastic film will exceed 800 million square meters at that time.

It is understood that in order to seize the market opportunity, Mingguan aluminum plastic film is actively expanding production capacity, the future planning annual production capacity of 100 million square meters. The overall construction of the aluminum-plastic film project is divided into three phases, of which the first phase has an annual production capacity of 10 million square meters, which has been put into production; the second phase has an annual production capacity of 30 million square meters, which will be put into production by the end of 2020; and the third phase has a planned production capacity of 70 million square meters.

It is not difficult to imagine that with the continuous improvement of production technology and the accelerated release of production capacity, aluminum-plastic film will become a new profit growth point of Mingguan lithium film, and will also accelerate the import substitution process of China's aluminum-plastic film market.

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