At the beginning of March, Xpeng Motors launched the Xpeng P7 rear-drive standard battery life Zhixiang version and Zhizun version, and Xpeng G3460c Yuexiang version models. The new cars are equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries supplied by CATL. The ternary lithium version has been reduced by 20,000 yuan. Among them, the NEDC cruising range of the P7 model is 480 kilometers, and the cruising range of the G3 model remains unchanged.
Recently, TSL CEO Musk also announced on social media platforms that TSLA will switch to lithium iron phosphate batteries in more models. In fact, TSLA Model 3 launched a standard battery life version equipped with lithium iron phosphate battery as early as October last year, and the price was further reduced to 249,900 yuan.
The industry predicts that it will be a high probability event that NIO and Ideal will launch iron-lithium models in the future. Even BMW, Volkswagen, and Daimler may introduce lithium iron phosphate methods in the future.
Lithium iron phosphate battery welcomes a new dawn
The monthly information on power lithium batteries for February disclosed by the my country Association of Automobile Manufacturers on March 11 shows that in February, a total of 2.2GWh of lithium iron phosphate batteries were installed, a year-on-year increase of 2826.0%.
In the first two months of 2021, the cumulative installed capacity of power lithium batteries in my country was 14.2GWh, a cumulative increase of 388.6% year-on-year. Among them, the cumulative installed volume of ternary batteries was 8.7GWh, accounting for 61.3% of the total installed volume, a cumulative increase of 315.5% year-on-year; the accumulated installed volume of lithium iron phosphate batteries was 5.5GWh, accounting for 38.6% of the total installed volume, a cumulative increase of 586.8% year-on-year. Rapid upward momentum.
According to the statistics of my country's Automotive Power Lithium Battery Industry Innovation Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the Power Lithium Battery Alliance), lithium iron phosphate batteries accounted for more than 38% of the domestic power lithium battery loading in 2020, an increase of nearly 6 percentage points compared with 2019. . In December, the monthly loading of lithium iron phosphate even exceeded that of ternary batteries.
In terms of models, among the top 10 new energy models sold in the Chinese market in 2020, 6 models have launched lithium iron phosphate versions. TSLA Model 3 standard battery life version, BYD Han EV and Wuling Hongguang MINI EV with an average monthly sales of more than 30,000 vehicles all use lithium iron phosphate batteries.Also read:lithium battery pack suppliers
On February 19th, EVE Lithium Energy announced to invest in the construction of the first phase project of lithium-ion power lithium battery for passenger vehicles, to expand the production of square lithium iron phosphate batteries. The investor is Huizhou EVE Power, a subsidiary company of EVE Lithium Energy. Yiwei Lithium Energy said that the project is mainly used to meet the supporting needs of customers such as overseas car companies and new domestic car manufacturers, and the investment scale will not exceed 1 billion yuan.
After less than three weeks, Yiwei Lithium Energy once again officially announced that it will continue to expand its production of lithium iron phosphate batteries.
On the evening of March 10, EVE Lithium announced the latest news of production expansion, and decided to build a second-phase project of lithium-ion power lithium batteries for passenger vehicles in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, to expand its production of square lithium iron phosphate batteries. The project is also invested by Huizhou Yiwei Power, with an investment amount of no more than 3.9 billion yuan.
In addition, according to the data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the first batch of promotional models in 2021 totals 115 models, of which 85 models are equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries, accounting for 73.9%.
Prior to this, in the 12th batch of promotion catalogs in 2020, there were 43 models of new energy passenger vehicles, and 19 models of lithium iron phosphate models, accounting for 44%. In 2019, this figure was still 12%.
Obviously, the power lithium battery industry structure is being reshaped, and lithium iron phosphate batteries may usher in a new rising trend.
The driving force behind the skyrocketing price of lithium iron phosphate
After exploring, the popularity of lithium iron phosphate does have internal logic.
Regarding the popularity of lithium iron phosphate batteries, an expert on power lithium battery technology who did not want to be named said: It is not because of the significant technical progress of lithium iron phosphate batteries, but mainly because of cost and safety considerations.
The important reason why lithium iron phosphate batteries are widely used at present is that the price of lithium iron phosphate can be about 20% lower than that of ternary lithium. The above added.
In addition, compared with ternary batteries, the production cost of raw materials required for lithium iron phosphate batteries is very low, which has also become one of the important drivers of its popularity in recent years.
In this regard, the high-level executives of Duofluoride said that the safety of lithium iron phosphate batteries is relatively high, but the most important thing is the price.
In addition, the raw materials of lithium iron phosphate batteries are relatively easier to obtain, and the output is large.
It is understood that lithium iron phosphate can be made by using waste acid, ferrous sulfate, and waste materials in the production process of titanium dioxide, and then undergoing further processing. So in the long run, lithium iron phosphate batteries hardly need to worry about the supply of raw materials.
In contrast, the material required for ternary lithium batteries is generally nickel-cobalt lithium manganese oxide, and there are certain uncertainties in the price fluctuation and output of nickel and cobalt.
Musk has also expressed his concerns more than once. With the increasing demand in the power lithium battery market, nickel prices have greater volatility and uncertainty. Nickel metal is the biggest problem in lithium battery production.
Judging from the current market situation, the development of lithium iron phosphate is full of stamina. With the promotion of TSLA, BYD, Xiaopeng, Great Wall and other car companies, the oppression caused by lithium iron phosphate on ternary lithium batteries may increase in the future. But it is impossible to completely replace it. At least for now, relatively low battery energy density and weak low-temperature charge and discharge performance are still unavoidable weaknesses of lithium iron phosphate batteries.Also read:Lithium Battery Manufacturers
In November 2020, the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" issued by the General Office of the State Council mentioned that by 2025, the sales of new energy vehicles in my country will account for about 25%. Based on this calculation, the corresponding sales volume may reach about 8 million.
In 2020, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in my country will be 1.366 million and 1.367 million respectively, a year-on-year increase of 7.5% and 10.9% respectively, and the production and sales will hit a record high. This means that in the next four years, the sales of new energy vehicles will increase by 5.8 times.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries rely on lower prices, replacing ternary lithium batteries to cover some price-sensitive users. For users who are sensitive to battery life, ternary lithium batteries are still the preferred choice.
It is foreseeable that in the market in the next few years, ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries will coexist for a long time, and this coexistence may continue until new technologies such as solid-state batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries develop and mature.