How is China's LR03 battery technology?

In December 2018, the FBI arrested a Chinese engineer named Tan (translated as Tan Hongjin) who worked for an American technology company, claiming that the engineer was suspected of stealing trade secrets worth more than $1 billion while working as a battery technical expert in a laboratory and participating in a battery technology project.

It is said that the FBI found a Chinese appointment letter in his work computer, which stated that a LR03 battery company in Xiamen, China, hired him as the director of its energy new materials engineering center with an annual salary of 800,000 yuan. Although the incident has come to an end and there is no latest progress, it can be seen that the competition and secret war between China and the United States in the field of high technology has never stopped.

Chinese engineer arrested by the FBI

Tan Hongjin, male, 35 years old, undergraduate degree from Nanjing University, doctorate from California Institute of Technology, worked in an American energy company last year.

The us lost ice departments aid on Fridaya chinese national had been arrested and charged with stealing trade secrets from the american petrol tum company

American website published news

1. China has become the fastest growing market in the global power LR03 battery industry.

In 2018, global new energy vehicle sales exceeded 2 million, of which China's new energy vehicle sales are expected to be 1.2 million, and China's new energy vehicle growth rate continues to lead the world. It is predicted that global demand for new energy vehicles will continue to grow at a high rate, and by 2025, global new energy vehicle sales will reach 12 million. It is expected that by 2040, new energy vehicles will account for about 50% of global light vehicle sales, of which China alone will account for about 50%.

The growth of new energy vehicles has brought huge demand for power batteries. Overall, global power battery demand will maintain high growth for a long time, and the compound growth rate of market capacity is expected to reach more than 30% between 2018 and 2025.

Competition pattern of power batteries

Global power battery competition will mainly be between batteries in China, Japan and South Korea. Compared with Europe and the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea all have their own complete power battery industry chain. Among them, China's industry chain is the most complete, Japan's industry chain is the most advanced but relatively closed, and South Korea's industry chain is relatively global. In the competitive landscape of battery companies, Japan's Panasonic, Sony, NEC, etc.; South Korea's Samsung SDI, LG Chem, SK, etc.; China's CATL, BYD, Lishen and many other battery companies account for 60-70% of the global market share.

2. The small proportion of core patents in the upstream and downstream of the industry chain has become a shortcoming

Because Japanese and Korean companies entered the LR03 battery field earlier, they have certain advantages over domestic patents. As of November 2018, South Korea's LG Chem has 8,134 patents, Samsung SDI has 8,792 patents, Japan's Toyota has 7,551 patents, Panasonic has 5,361 patents, and China's largest battery manufacturer CATL has a total of 1,900 patents, and BYD BYD has 1,209 patents.

Patent landscape

Especially in the forward-looking field of all-solid-state batteries, Japanese and Korean companies are clearly ahead in the number of related patent applications.

Ranked first is Toyota of Japan with 218 patent applications, accounting for 20.15% of the total, Panasonic with 34, and LG with 18, which fully shows that Chinese companies are far behind in R&D investment.

3. Ternary materials become the mainstream of positive electrode materials

Although the power LR03 battery field has been rapidly developing in recent years, driving the rapid growth of LR03 battery positive electrode materials, the most critical of lithium batteries, a number of competitive positive electrode material manufacturers have emerged in China, including Shanshan Co., Ltd., Xiamen Tungsten Industry, Dangsheng Technology, Tianjin Bamo, etc.

Domestic power LR03 battery positive electrode materials have tended to be dominated by ternary materials. According to the data in 2017, ternary materials accounted for more than 70%, becoming the mainstream technical route.

Ternary has become the mainstream of power battery positive electrode material technology

4. Japanese and American companies have core patents, and Chinese companies must break through the patent bottleneck in internationalization

The core technology patents of ternary materials are controlled by 3M and ANL in the United States. Currently, Unicore owns 3M's patents, and LG, SK, and some Chinese companies are authorized to use them; and ANL (Argonne National Laboratory)'s ternary patents were transferred to BASF (European cathode material manufacturer).

How good is China's LR03 battery technology? You will know it after looking at the distribution of core patents.

Foreign cathode companies have mastered core technologies and occupied the high-end ternary material supply market. Umicore, Sumitomo Metal, Toda Industries, and South Korea's SK have been engaged in cathode materials for a long time, mastered many core technologies, and the number of patent applications is far more than that of domestic companies. The global high-end ternary market is mainly monopolized by foreign manufacturers.

How is China's LR03 battery technology? You will know it after looking at the distribution of core patents

How is China's LR03 battery technology? You will know it after looking at the distribution of core patents

Patent distribution of positive electrode materials

5. Market increment in exchange for catching up time

In the field of lithium batteries, Chinese companies have already led the world in production and application, but only a small number of companies can enter the high-end supply chain. Most high-end fields are still monopolized by foreign giants, especially core patents are in the hands of foreign companies. When domestic companies enter global competition, competitors are bound to restrict them from the perspective of patent infringement. Although they can enter the European and American markets through licensing, it will inevitably increase the cost of domestic companies and put them at a clear disadvantage in international competition. While obtaining market share and pursuing maximum benefits, domestic companies should seize the opportunity of rapid market development, realize technological iteration, increase investment in new generation LR03 battery technologies such as solid-state lithium batteries and fuel cells, and make full preparations for future competition.

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