On March 29, BYD’s much-anticipated “Blade Battery” was finally unveiled. It is reported that the "blade battery" will be the first to be installed on BYD's new Han EV model, and the new car's comprehensive cruising range will exceed 600 kilometers.
The battle for power batteries, BYD’s “CATL”
In the field of power batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries have always been the focus of the industry! On the technical route, BYD has always adhered to the safer lithium iron phosphate battery. However, due to its low energy density, it has been gradually replaced by ternary lithium batteries with higher energy density in recent years. The representative of ternary lithium batteries The enterprise is CATL.
In fact, it only took 6 years for BYD Power Battery to go from leading to being overtaken. In 2011, CATL was established. Similar to BYD, CATL also followed the path of iron-lithium batteries at the beginning of its establishment. However, as the brand insists on taking the ternary lithium battery route with higher single energy density but more technical difficulty, CATL surpassed BYD's shipments for the first time in 2017!
According to data, in 2016, CATL’s power battery shipments were 6.7GWh, which was 1.3GWh behind BYD’s power battery shipments of 8GWh. However, in 2017, CATL's shipments reached 10.4 GWH, surpassing BYD and becoming the number one battery manufacturer in the power battery market. The gap between them has been further magnified in 2019. As of the end of 2019, the installed battery capacity of CATL and BYD were 32.91GWh and 10.79GWh respectively.
On the other hand, we can also look at a set of data from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance: In 2019, my country's power battery installed capacity accumulated to 62.2GWh, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%, of which, Sanyuan Battery installations accounted for 65.2% (a cumulative year-on-year increase of 22.5%), while lithium iron phosphate battery installations accounted for 32.5% (a cumulative year-on-year decrease of 9.0%). It is not difficult to see that BYD's reform in the battery field is imminent!
Similar to the "opening up" in the Ningde era, BYD has also spent a lot of energy on *enjoyment in the past two years! In 2018, BYD released a free and open e-platform. In October of the same year, Wang Chuanfu said that BYD would spin off the company's automotive battery business and list it before 2022.
Facts have proved that BYD’s “ambition” was demonstrated in March. On March 16, BYD announced that in order to further accelerate the external sales of core parts for new energy vehicles, the brand has established five wholly-owned subsidiaries named "Fudi". In fact, except for Fudi Battery, which was established earlier, the other four Fudi companies were all established at the end of last year!
Among them, the one that has attracted the most attention from the outside world is Fudi Battery, formerly known as BYD Lithium Battery Co., Ltd. What can be predicted is that the appearance of Fudi Battery will better help BYD achieve battery enjoyment, and at the same time, it can also give BYD an opportunity to catch up with the CATL era!
Born in the midst of controversy, the "Blade Battery" was unveiled
As the first product released by the "Fudi" series company, the debut of the "Blade Battery" was also controversial! In early January this year, Wang Chuanfu once said that "BYD's 'Blade Battery' has more than 300 core patents and has a cruising range of over 600 kilometers." For this reason, the industry continues to be controversial!
So what is the difference between BYD's "blade battery" and the batteries we usually see? As we all know, the battery packs installed in electric vehicles are usually assembled from cells into modules, and then several modules are integrated into battery packs, thus forming a three-level assembly model of "cell-module-battery pack". Of course, some people compare this design to the power bank we use every day.
Different from the common three-level assembly model, the "Blade Battery" adopts a long battery cell solution, that is, a flat design of the battery cell. It is worth mentioning that the length of the blade battery can reach up to 2500mm, which is more than 10 times that of the traditional ordinary lithium iron phosphate battery. This allows the cell model to be changed according to different needs, thereby greatly improving the efficiency of the battery pack. .
According to BYD's patent, the battery pack can skip "modules" during design, greatly improving volume utilization.
Therefore, compared with traditional modular battery packs, the volume utilization of "blade batteries" has increased by more than 50%. As a result, the cruising range of electric vehicles can also reach the same level as high-energy ternary lithium batteries.
Since the intermediate structure of the "module" was removed during the design, the design of the "blade battery" is simpler than that of traditional batteries, and the failure rate is smaller! We all know that the main factor causing combustion in electric vehicles is short circuit inside the battery cell, so the acupuncture test that simulates the short circuit inside the battery is regarded as the most stringent test in the industry.
It is not difficult to see from the test that compared to the drastic temperature changes and extreme thermal runaway that occur in ternary lithium batteries at the moment of acupuncture, BYD's "blade battery" performs quite well! In response to this phenomenon, BYD has also stated that it will erase "spontaneous combustion" from the dictionary of new energy vehicles!
Returning to the field of passenger cars, BYD has a bright future
Currently, from the perspective of power battery technology, the most widely used in the market is ternary lithium batteries, followed by phosphoric acid Lithium iron battery. It is worth noting that most of the models using lithium iron phosphate batteries are passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The energy density is too low and the cruising range is short, which is why lithium iron phosphate batteries are "marginalized" by society.
Now, the appearance of "blade batteries" with longer battery life and safer use may change the current situation of lithium iron phosphate batteries! In fact, the emergence of "blade batteries" is not only related to technical research, but also has a certain relationship with BYD's current situation!
Since the new energy refund and subsidy policy came into effect in July 2019, the domestic new energy market has been declining for many months! For BYD, which sells both batteries and new energy vehicles, it is undoubtedly worse. According to statistics from the China Automobile Association, in 2019, new energy vehicle sales were 1.206 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 4%, which was the first year-on-year decrease in the past decade.
For the BYD brand, sales decline is also inevitable. In 2019, BYD's annual sales were 461,400 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 11.39%. However, new energy models performed strongly, with a sales volume of 147,185 units (annual sales target is 350,000 units), a year-on-year increase of 42.53%. In addition to sales, BYD's performance has also been significantly affected. According to the previously announced 2019 performance forecast, BYD's net profit in 2019 ranged from 1.584 billion yuan to 1.774 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 36.19%-43.03%.
However, since Wang Chuanfu mentioned blade batteries for the first time on January 11 this year, BYD's market value has also risen sharply. As of today, BYD's market value has reached 163.6 billion. It is not difficult to see that with the birth of the "blade battery", BYD's position in the battery industry will undergo major changes.
Words written at the end
Looking around the world, ternary lithium batteries are still the mainstream of the market, and the arrival of blade batteries will further improve the competitive relationship between the two! With longer battery life and safer design, perhaps in the near future, the blade battery will become another blockbuster product after the ternary lithium battery, and become the "sharp weapon" for BYD's battery to counterattack the Ningde era! What different expectations do you have for the future of "blade batteries"?
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.