Lithium iron phosphate starts a new round of production capacity "expansion"

Lithium iron phosphate material manufacturers are making every effort to expand production capacity. On August 30, Hunan Ningxiang High-tech Zone signed a contract with Hunan Bangsheng Industrial holding Group Co., Ltd. The project, with a total investment of 12 billion yuan, will build a lithium iron phosphate project with an annual output of 200000 tons and 40 production lines. The product market is mainly for Ningde era, BYD and other top domestic battery enterprises.

Prior to this, Dragon Technology released a non-public offering of A shares on Aug. 27, saying that it is expected to raise 2.2 billion yuan, which will be mainly used for large-scale production projects of new energy vehicle power and energy storage battery cathode materials. Among them, the new energy project will build a lithium iron phosphate production line by introducing advanced production equipment at home and abroad.

Earlier, Fulin Seiko disclosed a non-public offering plan in June this year, in which the company plans to issue shares to no more than 35 specific targets, including the company's controlling shareholders, raising a total of no more than 1.5 billion yuan. It will be used to invest in projects with an annual output of 50, 000 tons of new energy lithium cathode materials, intelligent electric control systems for new energy vehicles and key components and supplementary liquidity.

In addition, in the second half of 2021, German Nano is expected to expand the production capacity of lithium iron phosphate by 70,000 tons, Yuneng New Energy by 50,000 tons and Wanrun New Energy by 30,000 tons. Not only that, even Longbai Group, medium Nuclear Titanium dioxide and other titanium dioxide manufacturers also use the by-product cost advantage to cross-border production of lithium iron phosphate. On Aug. 12, Longbai Group announced that its two subsidiaries would invest 2 billion yuan and 1.2 billion yuan respectively to build two lithium iron phosphate battery projects.

Industry-related statistics show that the number of lithium iron phosphate batteries loaded in China historically exceeded that of ternary batteries in July: the total domestic power battery load in July was 11.3 GWH, of which the total loading of ternary lithium batteries was 5.5 GWH, up 67.5% from the same period last year and down 8.2% from the previous month. Lithium iron phosphate batteries totaled 5.8 GWH, up 235.5% from the same period last year and 13.4% from the previous month.

In fact, as early as last year, the growth rate of lithium iron phosphate battery loading has exceeded three yuan. In 2020, the total loading of ternary lithium batteries totaled 38.9 GWH, accounting for 61.1 percent of the total loading, down 4.1 percent from the same period last year; and the total loading of lithium iron phosphate batteries totaled 24.4 GWH, accounting for 38.3 percent of the total loading, an increase of 20.6 percent over the same period last year.

In terms of output, lithium iron phosphate has been crushed ternary. From January to July this year, the output of ternary lithium batteries totaled 44.8 GWH, accounting for 48.7% of the total output, an increase of 148.2% over the same period last year, while the output of lithium iron phosphate batteries totaled 47.0 GWH, accounting for 51.1% of the total output, an increase of 310.6% over the same period last year.

In the face of the strong counterattack of lithium iron phosphate, Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, said excitedly: "BYD blade battery has pulled lithium iron phosphate back from marginalization on its own." Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde Times, also claimed that Ningde era will gradually increase the production capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries in the next three to four years, while the proportion of ternary batteries will gradually decrease.

It is worth noting that recently, a user who booked a standard battery life enhanced version of Model 3 in the United States received an email saying that if they want to get the car in advance, they can choose a lithium iron phosphate battery from China. At the same time, lithium iron phosphate battery models have also appeared in the inventory of models in the United States. Tesla CEO Musk claims that he prefers lithium iron phosphate batteries because they can be recharged to 100%, while ternary lithium batteries are only recommended to 90%.

In fact, as early as last year, lithium iron phosphate was launched in six of the top 10 new energy models sold in the Chinese market. Popular models such as Tesla Model3, BYD Han and Wuling Hongguang Mini EV all use lithium iron phosphate batteries.

In 2021, the Euler Black Cat cute version battery pack was replaced by lithium iron phosphate battery from the original ternary battery. And Xiaopeng Automobile also took the lead in launching the lithium iron phosphate version P7 and G3 in the "New Power of carmaking". In addition, ideal Automobile also said in its internal letter that future models will cover the price range of 150000 yuan to 500000 yuan, and it is reported that its low-cost models will also use lithium iron phosphate batteries.

As for the popularity of lithium iron phosphate battery in the passenger car market, many people in the industry believe that with the technological progress of the industry and the breakthrough of lithium-ion power battery manufacturing technology such as "CTP" and "blade battery", the mass energy density and volume energy density of lithium iron phosphate battery system have been significantly improved, and its advantage of low cost has become more prominent.

"with the improvement of the technical level of the industry, lithium iron phosphate has regained the attention of automobile companies, which is the inevitable trend of the development of the industry. At present, a number of star car companies and new car-building forces have launched lithium iron phosphate models, and international car brands also intend to test the use of lithium iron phosphate batteries, which will play a positive role in improving the market share of lithium iron phosphate batteries. " The person in charge of Guoxuan high-tech said.

According to the Wood Mackenzie research report, cost and safety will continue to be the first factors that battery suppliers need to consider in a variety of battery application scenarios. Lithium iron phosphate is expected to become the dominant energy storage chemical in the next 10 years, and will gradually occupy a dominant position in the field of electric vehicles after gaining a foothold in the energy storage market.