Li-ion power battery industry on the rise

In 2014, the global electric vehicle sales volume reached 329,800 units, up 51.8% from a year earlier, including 115,500 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and 214,300 battery electric vehicles. In the first half of 2015, this figure amounted to 204,300 units. Affected by lower oil prices, the sales volume of electric vehicles in Japan and the United States declined while that in China and Europe maintained faster growth.

In 2014, the global demand for Li-ion power battery for electric vehicles came to 9.8GWh, up 87% from a year earlier, of which the demand from passenger vehicles totaled 7.3GWh and commercial vehicles 2.5GWh. In H1 2015, the global demand for EV Li-ion power battery hit 7GWh, maintaining high growth

There are mainly three technology roadmaps for power battery worldwide.

• Ternary materials-based. This mainly takes NCA and NCM as cathode materials. NCM-based batteries have high energy density. With a sustained growth of electric vehicles, the procurement costs of the batteries have in recent years declined dramatically, which has gradually made them a mainstream battery technology for electric vehicles.

After 2014, domestic battery companies represented by Samsung SDI, SKI, Tianjin Lishen, and Boston-Power have also shifted their focus to NCM-based batteries. NCA adopts 18650-type battery, which is mainly used in Tesla and Toyota RAV4. It has the highest energy density so far. But because of poor safety performance, the advanced BMS is needed to monitor the operating condition of the battery. Thus, the battery has not been widely used. The typical enterprise is Panasonic.

• LFP-based. Canada and the United States were the first to develop power battery technology, with main patent owners including the U.S. Valence, A123 and University of Texas, and the Canadian Phostech and Hydro-Quebec. In China, by contrast, LFP, the mainstream technology in power lithium battery, is widely used in passenger vehicles and buses, with the typical companies including BYD and Guoxuan High-tech.

However, due to the factors like low specific energy and poor low-temperature starting performance, LFP-based batteries are not made available worldwide. The Chinese heavyweight passenger vehicles launched in 2014H2-2015, such as BAIC EV200, Zhidou, Zotye Yun 100, Kandi K10/K11, and JAC iEV5, have begun to use ternary or hybrid ternary batteries-based batteries. The largest LFP-based battery manufacturer, BYD also announced that its new model “Song” will be equipped with its own ternary lithium battery. But due to low costs and strong cycle performance, LFP still will be used in electric commercial vehicles as the preferred battery technology for a long period of time. This is particularly true in China. In 2015, battery electric buses showed explosive growth, which would drive a surge in demand for LFP-based batteries.

• Manganese series. It mainly takes LMO as the cathode materials, but LMO is generally modified and is combined with a little bit of NCM or LNO to increase battery energy density. The major typical manufacturers include LGC, AESC, LEJ, etc. And in China, they are MGL, Do-Fluoride Chemicals Co., etc. Manganese series battery is also one of the mainstream technology roadmaps for electric vehicles globally.

At present, manganese-series power battery, including NCM and LMO, occupies the mainstream status on a global scale, with the cost of battery packs generally standing at USD400-550/kWh, which reflects an obvious decline since 2014.