Power 18650 lithium battery cells technology is becoming increasingly diversified: ternary, high-nickel, solid-state, etc.

　　Recently, foreign media reported that South Korea’s three major battery manufacturers LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation plan to jointly develop core battery technology and established a 100 billion won (approximately US$90 million) foundation in an attempt to create the next generation of batteries. Battery industry ecosystem.

　　With the trend of accelerating electrification of global transportation, the demand for power lithium batteries is increasing. Developing next-generation power 18650 lithium battery cells technology, improving battery energy density, and solving battery safety management and other issues are becoming the focus of battery manufacturers. Will high-nickel batteries that meet national high energy density standards become the development direction of batteries in the future? What is the next step in power 18650 lithium battery cells technology?

　　Ternary lithium-ion batteries have become mainstream

　　Looking back at the development history of power lithium batteries in my country, the technological progress of domestic manufacturers can be described as extraordinary. From the beginning, lithium iron phosphate batteries were the mainstream, to ternary lithium-ion batteries in 2015, and then in the first half of this year, ternary lithium-ion batteries replaced lithium iron phosphate batteries and became the mainstream battery, in just three years.

　　It is understood that the transfer of power lithium batteries from lithium iron phosphate to ternary lithium route is not accomplished overnight. my country has fully shifted to the development of ternary 18650 lithium battery cells cells since 2016, and long before the rapid domestic transformation, foreign battery companies had already made changes in the battery chemical system. At the recently held 2018 Third International Summit on Power 18650 lithium battery cells Applications, Chen Yanbin, deputy general manager of Dangsheng Technology, pointed out that all batteries used in 2014 and 2015 were lithium iron phosphate. After the energy density standards were improved, the three batteries used in digital equipment were Yuan material and ternary batteries are directly installed on the car, which is one of the reasons why the cost of electric vehicle batteries is high.

　　At present, domestic ternary lithium-ion battery systems are all lithium nickel cobalt manganate (NCM). Nickel plays a role in increasing the energy density of the material. According to the different proportions of the three transition metal ions, it is divided into low-nickel NCM424, NCM333, NCM523 and high-nickel NCM622, NCM811 and other materials. Its industrialization process is mainly from low-nickel 333, 523, etc. to high-nickel 622, 811.

　　When the ternary cathode material of 523 is 230 yuan/kg, the entire manufacturing cost is about 0.8 yuan. Mazlin, pre-sales technical director of Microvast Power, pointed out that if the costs of ternary materials 532 and 811 are reduced to less than 180,000 per ton, the cost advantage of iron-lithium is actually not large.

　　High nickel formation trend

　　As we all know, if new energy vehicles, especially pure electric vehicles, want to truly gain market acceptance, one of the important indicators is to solve consumers' range anxiety. To solve range anxiety, batteries with high energy density must be supplied. As the international cobalt price continues to rise, increasing the proportion of nickel in the ternary material system seems to have become the best choice for the dual considerations of reducing costs and increasing energy density.

　　In terms of cylindrical batteries, 523 is currently the main battery, and there may be 5% to 10% of batteries switching from the original 622 to 811. On the one hand, it is the impact of cobalt prices, and on the other hand, it is the impact of subsidy standards. Chen Yanbin said that the development of high-nickel ternary materials is the general trend, but how to develop and what pace to adopt depends on whether the battery technology is good and whether the cost control ability is strong.

　　As for the current situation of high-nickel high-specific-energy batteries, Li Fengmei, vice president of BAK Battery Enterprise Management Center, believes that the higher the nickel ratio, the worse the thermal stability of the entire cathode material. High nickel batteries may pose safety risks when exposed to high temperatures, external impacts, etc. Due to the existence of safety red lines and the difficulty of technological breakthroughs, the production progress of domestic high-nickel batteries has been unsatisfactory for a long time.

　　Recently, 811 batteries from domestic manufacturers such as CATL and Dangsheng Technology have begun to be introduced to the market, which seems to prove that domestic manufacturers have gradually overcome the safety issues of high-nickel batteries before Japan and South Korea. But can my country complete the Great Leap Forward-style development of high-nickel? Overtaking in corners made by power lithium-ion battery manufacturers has to wait for the test of the market and consumers.

　　Solid-state batteries are on the rise

　　It is difficult for existing battery systems to break through the energy density ceiling of 350Wh/kg. The unremitting pursuit of energy density can only be solved by using new lithium-ion battery systems. Among the many high-specific energy battery systems, solid-state batteries are undoubtedly the most promising choice at present. Not only do they have relatively high technological maturity, but they also have the support of a group of top international scholars. As a result, many domestic and foreign lithium-ion battery companies will Solid-state battery technology serves as an important next-generation technology reserve.

　　However, at present, solid-state batteries are basically in the initial research stage, and there is still a long way to go before they can be fully applied in new energy vehicles. Ouyang Minggao once said that it is expected that all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries will achieve a breakthrough between 2025 and 2030. Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada holds the same view on this: We are working hard on research and hope to manufacture solid-state batteries after 2020, but if we want to achieve mass production of solid-state batteries, we will have to wait until after 2030.

　　The development of new energy vehicles is a systematic project, but the most basic and important thing should be the breakthrough in battery technology. Wang Yu, chairman of Funeng Technology, said: For battery manufacturers, product development routes are greatly affected by customers and the government. In our country, mainly due to the influence of subsidy policies, energy density is our important direction of improvement. But for foreign customers, although energy density is also very important, it is not the only requirement. They also have certain requirements in terms of charging time and cost. On the basis of achieving the goal of high specific energy, we need to invest more time and energy in comprehensive development and improving other performance indicators.

Read recommendations:

Coin Battery CR 1620

Analysis of the demand of battery -grade lithium hydroxide market.industrial energy storage battery

What is the working principle of lithium batteries?

18650 battery pack

NiMH battery pack