"Happy troubles" is a phrase that a Roewe brand dealer in Shanghai recently often hangs on the lips. "There are more than 30 orders for 550plug-in in hand, but manufacturers have been unable to produce cars." "At present, our new energy vehicles do have a shortage of supply. The main reason is the shortage of core components including power batteries." An insider of SAIC passenger cars said frankly.
Although the rapid rise in sales of new energy vehicles has made the industry and manufacturers feel happy, the shortcomings of domestic manufacturers in the manufacture of power batteries are indeed faintly worrying.
"At present, there are many domestic power battery manufacturers, but there are only a handful of them that can be used in electric vehicles. According to statistics, 60%~70% of vehicle power batteries are currently from foreign-funded enterprises." Editor Yang Puyu told the "First Financial Daily" reporter.
Battery supply "left and right" new energy sales
In fact, in addition to the above-mentioned SAIC, BYD's new energy vehicles are also suffering from the inability to deliver on time due to insufficient supply of batteries. "The cars we are paying now are all orders for 2014. Now we have to wait at least 3 months to book a car." BYD Shanghai dealer told reporters. At the same time, according to relevant personnel of SAIC Commercial Vehicle Brand and Network Management Department, the power battery of its supplier Guoxuan Hi-Tech is currently in short supply. The general manager of Hunan Changsha Zhongtai Automobile said in an interview with the “First Financial Daily†reporter that in order to guarantee the market supply of new energy vehicles such as Yun 100, he is trying to negotiate with the battery supplier to “specialize†himself. A company.
"The explosive growth rate of new energy vehicles is much higher than the expectations of manufacturers, so there is a short-term shortage of power batteries." Yang Puyu said. According to the data provided by China's New Energy Automobile Industry Development Report 2013, the sales volume of domestic new energy vehicles was only 24,000 units in the two and a half years from the first half of 2011 to the first half of 2013. In 2013, the sales volume of domestic new energy vehicles was only about 17,000. Therefore, although from 2008 to 2014, the number of domestic lithium-power battery manufacturers increased from about 10 to about 110, but the manufacturers of power batteries were also waiting to see, and did not convert planned production capacity into Effective capacity.
By 2014, under the stimulation of many policies, sales of new energy surged 3.2 times year-on-year to 75,000 units. According to the latest data from January, the production of new energy vehicles in the first month of 2015 reached 6,599 units, a five-fold increase over the same period last year. Strong demand further highlights the short-term lack of capacity. According to Yang Puyu, before the domestic electric vehicle enterprises considered the domestic market to take a long time to cultivate at the beginning of capacity design, most of the enterprises only had one production line in production. Coupled with the high demand for new energy power batteries, companies need a period of time in material selection and production. Therefore, according to their predictions, domestic lithium-ion batteries should reach the balance between supply and demand, and the fastest time to wait until 2017.
Cost disadvantage
In addition to insufficient supply, the high cost of power batteries is also a major obstacle to the development of new energy vehicles. Take a car of about 200,000 as an example. Previously, car companies had told reporters that the cost of their power batteries accounted for about half. The reason why such a high cost, according to its introduction, is that in order to meet the consumer's requirements for the cruising range of the model, the vehicle enterprise must increase the number of cells as much as possible, resulting in an increase in cost. Not only that, although the cost of the battery is so high, the life cycle of the car battery is not long. "Generally, when the battery declines to 80% of electricity, it can't be used in new energy vehicles." Yin Chengliang, vice president of Shanghai Jiaotong University Automotive Engineering Research Institute, said in an interview with the reporter of China Business News. Therefore, the current life cycle of the current power battery averages about 5 years. Since the country and the company have not clearly stated whether there is a corresponding recycling system when the battery cannot be used in a car, this means that after 5 years, the consumer may still be due to the expiration of the battery life. And increase the cost of replacing the battery.
In fact, many car companies, including Toyota and GM, are trying to achieve technological breakthroughs in power batteries. But in fact, under the current technical route, there is little room for improvement in the energy density of power batteries. A new domestic energy source told reporters that the most critical factor limiting the energy density of a battery is the material. From the current point of view, almost all lithium batteries are used in lithium batteries, and the space for the negative materials used in lithium batteries is not much. .
For this reason, scientists around the world are also trying to experiment with new materials and technologies to revolutionize traditional lithium batteries. Not long ago, a company called Sakti3 in the United States said that it has developed a solid-state battery with an energy density of 1100WH/L, which is more than twice that of existing lithium batteries. However, it is reported that the graphene polymer material battery developed by some foreign companies will not only cost 77% lower than lithium batteries, but also weigh only half of the traditional batteries. However, the results of these innovations are still in the laboratory stage. To truly achieve mass production, not only a long experimental certification cycle is required, but whether it can achieve the commercial cost balance point is also a big test.
KD METALS (JINGJIANG) CO.,LTD , https://www.toprivet.com