Soft package technology counterattack? Yiwei lithium energy "full production and full sale" several domestic lithium industry chain giants busy "stand in line"!

"in general, the production process and technology of soft packages will be used for all-solid-state batteries, metal lithium batteries, and so on." On March 18, Liu Jincheng, chairman of Yiwei Lithium Energy (300014.SZ), said at the second International Exchange Conference of New Energy vehicles and Power batteries (CIBF Shenzhen) that the company now has a production capacity of 10GWH and is full of sales this year.

Under the overall rising pressure of lithium materials, the lithium industry chain wants upstream and downstream cooperation to achieve the effect of "reducing cost and improving efficiency". However, the domestic alternative aluminum-plastic film has not been fully realized in the field of lithium materials, or one of the links to reduce the cost. In addition, lithium power manufacturing equipment factory win Hop Technology (300457.SZ), pilot Intelligence (300450.SZ) have also launched more effective products, in order to compete for the "leader".

The production expansion of soft-package battery is radical.

The mainstream of domestic lithium packaging technology is divided into three types, namely, cylindrical battery, soft package battery and square battery. Among them, the cylinder is mainly composed of steel shell cylindrical iron phosphate battery, which is characterized by high capacity, high output voltage, good charge and discharge cycle performance, etc., while the square battery has a relatively simple structure, light weight of the overall accessories and high relative energy density. Soft bag battery is considered to be the preferred choice for new energy passenger vehicles because of its high energy density, good safety, low internal resistance and excellent heat dissipation performance.

However, according to the Power Battery Application Branch, the market share of soft-package batteries fell to 6.1% in 2020 from 8.85% in 2019. Liu Yanlong, secretary-general of China Chemical and physical Power Industry Association, said that compared with other batteries, soft-pack batteries have complex processes and relatively high manufacturing costs, and in some vehicle areas that pursue high performance-to-price ratio, the cost of soft-pack batteries does not have an advantage.

688567.SH (Funeng), although the largest number of soft-pack battery shipments from 2016 to 2019, has a capacity of only 3.13GWh in 2019. Wang Jie, chairman of Funeng Technology and CEO, told the media, including the Financial Associated Press, "the main reason is limited by production capacity. Although Funeng is a leading enterprise, its own production capacity is still limited." Therefore, it can be seen that Funeng's flexible package battery has not decreased, but due to the rapid expansion of other batteries, it appears that the proportion of soft package battery is shrinking. "

Wang Meng further analyzed that in terms of material cost, soft bag batteries will be lower than square batteries and cylindrical batteries in the future, but at present, because the volume is relatively limited, coupled with the fact that high-speed intelligence has not been fully realized in all aspects of industry equipment, it appears to be more expensive, but in the long run, the future will be better than other forms of batteries in terms of cost and performance.

Because of its confidence in the future market of flexible battery, Funeng Technology only signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Geely to set up a battery joint venture at the end of last year, with a capacity of 120 GWh, of which construction will start at least 20 GWh in 2021.

"from the demand side, international mainstream car companies such as Daimler, Volkswagen, General Motors and Hyundai have increased the layout of the electric vehicle market in China in the past two years. Most of the power battery orders locked by the above-mentioned car companies are based on soft-pack power batteries," Liu Yanlong said. at the same time, domestic mainstream car companies have also launched mid-and high-end models equipped with soft-pack batteries, which will promote the rise of China's soft-pack battery market.

Citing data, it predicts that the penetration rate of soft-bag batteries in the new energy automobile market will reach 45% by 2030. If, according to EV Volumes's forecast, the global demand for power batteries is expected to exceed 1000 GWH by 2025, then according to the market penetration rate of 45%, the demand for soft-package power batteries will reach 450GWh by 2025.

Liu Jincheng introduced the situation of Yiwei lithium energy soft pack battery, saying that technically, the next generation of products developed by Yiwei Lithium Energy can achieve 300 Whshock kg, and the cycle performance is relatively good, up to 1800 times. And "colleagues in the system research so that the module life can be more than 50% longer than the cell life."

In addition to Funeng Technology and Yiwei Lithium Energy, other soft bag battery manufacturers are also laying out their production capacity. Liu Yanlong said that Jie Wei Power, Vision AESC, Tianjin shares, and so on, their soft package capacity are in a critical period of further investment, expansion and rapid release. The release of soft package power battery capacity will also give downstream car companies more choices to meet the needs of medium-and high-end passenger cars in domestic and foreign mainframe factories.

Aluminum-plastic film may replace the last link made in China.

"this year's supply chain is full of challenges, probably similar to 2017, because of the large-scale outbreak of the electric car market this year, coupled with the increased demand in the energy storage market, the supply of raw materials is in short supply, and the price squeeze will be more serious. it takes the whole industry chain to deal with it." Wang Meng said in an analysis of the rising prices of raw materials.

In fact, earlier, a reporter from the Financial Associated Press reported in "Industry observation | Post-holiday lithium materials comprehensively increase or decline the gross profit margin of lithium power plants" that lithium materials generally rise after the festival, although the bargaining power of mid-stream materials manufacturers relative to the lower reaches is not strong, but for the rise in raw material prices, materials manufacturers generally transmit to the lower reaches. The domestic replacement of aluminum-plastic film and lithium electricity automatic manufacturing equipment or soft-wrapped lithium power plant should deal with one of the links of "cost reduction".

Aluminum-plastic film is a packaging material for soft-package lithium-ion battery. the advantage of high safety characteristics of soft-package battery is also based on the structure of flexible packaging of aluminum-plastic film. According to the Zhiyan consulting report, China's aluminum film market and technology have been monopolized by a small number of companies, such as Japan and South Korea, with a domestic production rate of less than 20% in 2019. Among them, the market share of aluminum-plastic film produced by DNP and Showa Electric is more than 70%. At present, aluminum-plastic film is the most technically difficult and barrier link in the field of lithium battery materials, accounting for about 18% of the cost of soft-package lithium batteries.

However, domestic lithium battery manufacturers are expected to speed up the domestic replacement of aluminum-plastic film based on cost control and supply chain security requirements. Yan Hongjia, chairman of Mingguan New Materials (688560.SH), said that the company uses hot composite technology to soak the aluminum-plastic film at 85 ℃ for 30 days, and there are more than 10N stripping materials, and the shell limit single shell is 10mm undamaged, reaching or even exceeding the same kind of imported materials.

In addition, Mingguan New Materials has developed a variety of products with different specifications, different colors and can adapt to different application scenarios, including 088, 113 and 153 series, which can be widely used in digital, power battery, energy storage and other lithium battery fields. In terms of production capacity, according to Yan Hongjia, "after the completion of the aluminum-plastic film fund-raising project with an annual output of 10 million square meters in 2021, the company will arrange the expansion plan of the third phase of the aluminum-plastic film project."

It is reported that domestic aluminum and plastic film enterprises, such as New Fiber Technology (002341.SZ), TD Optics (002632.SZ), Zijiang Enterprises (600210.SH), Mingguan New Materials (688560.SH), etc., have also actively distributed the aluminum and plastic film market and accelerated the pace of production capacity construction. As for the use of domestic aluminum-plastic film, Wang's attitude is that "the localization of materials and the localization of all equipment is the most important part of our layout." It said that the localization of the company will choose potential enterprises to support, Funeng Technology in the past 10 years to support a large number of equipment suppliers, material suppliers, aluminum and plastic films will adopt a similar approach.

The delivery cycle of lithium battery manufacturing equipment is shortening.

On the other hand, lithium manufacturing equipment is also in power, with a few enterprises such as 300457.SZ and 300450.SZ ranking in the first echelon. Xu Yi, president of Yinghe Technology, analyzed that lamination is the biggest problem in soft-package batteries, with too slow efficiency and high one-time cost, while the company has currently developed a 0.12-second folding machine that can replace the traditional winding machine, as well as developing 590 lamination technology to make the battery safer and more reliable.

It is reported that Yinghe Technology took the lead in R & D and production of the first 590 automatic soft package assembly line in the industry, including the industry's fastest 0.3S/p multi-station stacking machine, 20ppm digital film winding all-in-one machine, the industry's largest wide 1.6mm double-layer coating machine, the industry's narrowest 2mm Bluetooth slitting machine, the industry's widest 1.3m roller integral machine, the industry's fastest 45ppm cylindrical winding machine, and so on.

Prior to this, the person in charge of Yinghe Technology told the Financial Associated Press that due to the huge demand for lithium batteries in the future, there will be a relatively large investment in new energy equipment, while the delivery period required by customers is shortening, which used to require a delivery period of four months. it's been shortened to three months now. It is expected that the growth space of the battery automation equipment manufacturing industry will be more optimistic in the next 3 to 5 years.

Wang Jingwei, sales director of the leading intelligent lithium battery division, said that the company is currently implementing a whole-line strategy. In recent years, there have been more than 60 orders for the whole line, of which 11 are soft packages. In recent years, the pilot intelligence has vigorously promoted the effectiveness and productivity improvement of the traditional lamination method without abandoning the traditional lamination method, while developing a more efficient lamination method.

However, due to the lack of relevant standards for the shape, performance and specifications of lithium batteries, the battery automatic production and manufacturing equipment delivered to different customers are basically personalized design and customization. it is a great test of equipment manufacturers'R & D and design capabilities, production delivery capabilities and financial strength of investment. After the reshuffle of the industry in recent years, lithium battery automatic production equipment head enterprises have obvious competitive advantages, and the strong ones in the future will always be strong.