Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery opens the "second spring"

      As the former king in the field of electric vehicle power batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries have recently ushered in the "second spring" of development. On November 11, the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance released data showing that in October 2020, China's power battery installed capacity was 5.9GWh, a year-on-year increase of 44.0%. Among them, a total of 3.4GWh of ternary lithium batteries were installed, an increase of 15.7% year-on-year, and a decrease of 19.1% from the previous month; a total of 2.4GWh of lithium iron phosphate batteries were installed, an increase of 127.5% year-on-year and an increase of 3.5% from the previous month.
The loading volume doubled year-on-year, and the limelight of lithium iron phosphate batteries overwhelmed ternary lithium batteries for a while.
Drive further and drive safely is also used as a new energy power battery material solution. At the beginning, lithium iron phosphate and ternary batteries were supported and subsidized by national policies. The biggest difference between the two is that the ternary battery has higher energy density and drives farther, while lithium iron phosphate focuses on safety and cycle life advantages, and drives more stable. In 2016, lithium iron phosphate gained a foothold in the industry with a market share of up to 60%, with shipments of more than 56,000 tons.
In December 2016, the state adopted a precise support policy and included the energy density of the battery system into the assessment criteria for the first time. High energy density and long cruising range are the focus of subsidies. For a time, on the cost side, lithium iron phosphate, which does not contain precious metals such as cobalt and nickel to obtain low-cost raw materials and stable fluctuations, but not very good in energy density and cruising range, has encountered a low development.

　　 With the development of the new energy vehicle industry, the industry and the market have a more rational understanding of the high endurance of electric vehicles. In September of this year, Wang Binggang, the leader of the National New Energy Vehicle Innovation Engineering Project Expert Group, said in his interpretation of the "Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap" version 2.0 that in the future, the power battery will no longer be guided by high energy density alone, but will become Adhere to the principle of safety first, taking into account performance, cost and life expectancy.

　　 In addition, since 2019, the subsidy for new energy vehicles has declined sharply, and automakers have begun to choose the best batteries according to market-oriented strategies, and the more cost-effective lithium iron phosphate batteries have returned to the public's vision. Advantageous lithium iron phosphate companies such as Defang Nano and Xiangtan Electrochemical said that the company has recently reached full production.
"Affordable" and "Run far" simultaneously conquered

　　 In fact, after experiencing the development shortcomings caused by the cruising range, in addition to reducing the cost of phosphoric acid batteries to solve the "affordable" problem, they have also continued to study to increase the cruising range, and the trend of "running far" has gradually emerged. Since 2010, the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries has doubled, from 90Wh/kg to 190Wh/kg, and the improvement of the chassis battery pack design allows more batteries to be placed.

In March of this year, BYD lithium iron phosphate blade battery came out. By extending the width of the battery cell and reducing the thickness, at the same time, with the help of the closely arranged battery structure and the structural design of the honeycomb aluminum plate, the structural strength is improved, so that the single energy density reaches 180Wh/kg. , The energy density is close to the current level of 200Wh/kg ternary battery pack, but the price is 15% lower and safer. When the "Blade" came out, who would compete? The BYD electric car "Han" equipped with blade batteries was quickly out of stock, and it took two months to queue up to pick up the car.

　　 In October, Tesla (TSLA.US) Model 3 equipped with Ningde era lithium iron phosphate batteries entered the catalog of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and was exported to the European market.

　　High-end and low-end market comprehensive coverage

　　 From the current point of view, the cost-effective lithium iron phosphate battery not only continues to penetrate the low-end market, but also begins to gradually attack the high-end market that was dominated by ternary batteries.

　　 "There are only a few new cars with LG ternary lithium batteries, and later Model 3 standard versions are cars with lithium iron phosphate batteries." A salesperson at the Tesla Nanjing West Road experience store in Shanghai told consumers. In the field of low-end electric vehicle sales, the coverage of lithium iron phosphate is even more self-evident. SAIC-GM-Wuling’s new Hongguang MINI EV electric car is equipped with low-cost popular lithium iron phosphate. This A00-class car, which sells for less than 30,000 yuan, has more than 20,000 orders during the "Double 11" period alone. Vehicles.

　　 A senior analyst in the battery industry said that after this round of China’s lithium iron phosphate battery has experienced a major improvement in technology, the market share is likely to surpass that of the ternary lithium battery again.

　　 In addition, lithium iron phosphate batteries are not only aimed at electric vehicles, but the vast emerging markets (5G base stations, new energy power generation) and alternative markets (lead-acid batteries) have just begun. The single-use cost of lithium iron phosphate batteries is about one-fourth that of lead-acid batteries, and one-half that of ternary batteries. The true fragrance law may be everywhere.