Mass production of lithium ion phosphate batteries "speeds up"

Since the development of technology, lithium iron phosphate batteries have encountered performance bottlenecks and are in urgent need of new breakthroughs.

Recently, it has been reported that Ningde Times , Yiwei Lithium Energy , and Xinwangda 's lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries have passed the battery pilot test in the first half of this year and are sending samples to car companies for testing. Among them, Ningde Times plans to launch in the second half of this year. mass production of this product. BYD 's Fudi battery began to purchase lithium iron manganese phosphate materials in small batches at the beginning of this year, and is currently in the internal research and development stage.

As a "variant species" of lithium batteries , lithium iron manganese phosphate is considered to be an upgraded version of lithium ion phosphate , which has many advantages such as high voltage platform, high thermal stability, and good safety.

Compared with lithium iron phosphate batteries, lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries have 20% higher energy density and lower cost; compared with lithium ion batteries , lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries have much higher energy density and high-temperature cycle life Longer; compared to ternary lithium batteries , lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries have a similar energy density, but are safer and less expensive.

"The preparation process of lithium iron manganese phosphate is not much different from the existing lithium iron phosphate production system. It mainly needs to solve the problem of low conductivity through modification technologies such as coating, doping, and nanometerization, and the cost of battery materials only increases by 5%. %. From the perspective of resources, the cost of lithium iron manganese phosphate is relatively lower, and the market prospect will be broader.” Industry insiders pointed out.

In March of this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk declared that manganese has potential. Tesla has seen the potential of manganese-based cathodes in battery chemistry and has been exploring the use of more manganese in batteries.

Soochow Securities expects that the new technology product, lithium iron manganese phosphate, is expected to achieve mass production in the first half of 2023. Zhongtai Securities also said that lithium iron manganese phosphate is on the eve of large-scale industrialization.

01The giants have laid out

From the perspective of the company's layout trajectory, as early as 2013, BYD had already conducted research on lithium manganese iron phosphate, but BYD had terminated the relevant development for a while, and then actively promoted it. It is reported that BYD's new generation of lithium iron manganese phosphate batteries has an energy density that has reached the energy density of ternary materials, and is more economical than ternary materials from a cost perspective.

The "old rival" CATL also applied for a patent for the preparation method of lithium iron manganese phosphate as early as 2015. In 2021, CATL will acquire a 15.57% stake in Litai Lithium Energy, a lithium manganese iron phosphate material company, with an investment of 413 million yuan. It is reported that Litai Lithium Energy currently has an annual production line of 2,000 tons of lithium iron manganese phosphate, and plans to build a new production line of 3,000 tons of lithium iron manganese phosphate per year in the near future.

It is reported that Guoxuan Hi-Tech has successively applied for technical patents related to lithium iron manganese phosphate in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019; Provincial new product honor.

According to industry statistics, the number of patents related to lithium iron manganese phosphate has increased rapidly in recent years, and as of March 2022, the number of patents is 172. In addition to battery companies, material companies are also making efforts.

It is reported that Dangsheng Technology has been specially developing high-performance lithium iron phosphate and lithium iron manganese phosphate materials for electric vehicles and high-end energy storage markets. Hezong Technology said that the company launched the research and development of lithium iron manganese phosphate precursor products last year, and has completed the pilot test of multi-type lithium iron manganese phosphate precursor products, and has begun to send samples to downstream new energy companies for testing.

German Nano disclosed that the company's new lithium iron manganese phosphate has begun to send samples, and it is expected to achieve industrialization in 1-2 years. It first built a "production base project with an annual output of 100,000 tons of new phosphate-based cathode materials" in Qujing, Yunnan, and then again planned to expand the production of 330,000 tons of new phosphate-based cathode materials.

It is understood that the nano-scale lithium manganese iron phosphate material independently developed by Jiangsu Litai Lithium Energy, in which Pengxin Resources has a stake, is based on the nano-crystalline three-dimensional network porous lithium iron phosphate cathode material technology. It has three-dimensional mesh conductive function, which can effectively reduce the resistance problem of traditional LFMP, and has good rate performance.

In addition, Zhongbei New Materials, Tianjin Strand and other material companies are also deploying lithium iron manganese phosphate.

02The market space is not small

"The future application scenarios of lithium iron manganese phosphate are mainly concentrated in the electric vehicle and electric two-wheeled vehicle market." Guosen Securities said that in the electric vehicle market, on the one hand, it can partially replace lithium iron phosphate, and on the other hand, it can be mixed with ternary materials. In order to improve safety, it is estimated that the global market demand for lithium iron manganese phosphate in 2025 will be 154,000 tons, the market space will reach 9.2 billion yuan, and the average compound growth rate from 2021 to 2025 will reach 129%.

CICC expects that lithium iron manganese phosphate, as a potential substitute material for lithium iron phosphate and ternary 5 series, is expected to replace lithium iron phosphate with lithium manganese phosphate in the electric vehicle field by 2025. The matching demand will reach 28GWh, and the overall demand will be about 84GWh.

Not only that, the growing demand for lithium iron manganese phosphate will also drive the demand for manganese sources. Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie predicts that with the development of the new energy industry, it will support the growth of demand for manganese in the battery field. The use of manganese in batteries is expected to increase fivefold by 2040, making long-term demand for manganese metal strongly optimistic.

CITIC Securities believes that manganese will become "the fourth battery metal that cannot be ignored" in the future. The agency predicts that, benefiting from the rapid growth in shipments of ternary cathode materials and lithium ion materials, the amount of manganese used in lithium battery cathode materials will exceed 300,000 tons in 2025, with a compound growth rate of 32% from 2021 to 2025.