At present, lithium iron phosphate battery has become the mainstream battery category for loading new energy vehicles, with a market share of about 60%. However, the positive energy density of lithium ferrous phosphate is close to the "ceiling". So today, Bian Xiao is here to sort out the relevant knowledge of lithium manganese phosphate for everyone. Let's have a look!
Cost-effective battery route
More "manganese" than lithium ferrous phosphate, will it be more fierce? Many industry experts said that lithium iron manganese phosphate can be regarded as a "combination" of the advantages of lithium iron phosphate and ternary materials.
Mo Ke, founder and CEO of Real Lithium Research, told reporters that the biggest advantage of lithium manganese phosphate battery route lies in its high cost performance. At present, the mainstream lithium iron phosphate and ternary materials have their own advantages, while lithium iron manganese phosphate combines their advantages. On the one hand, it has low production cost, high safety and good low temperature resistance; On the other hand, its voltage platform is higher and its energy density is 15% higher than that of lithium ferrous phosphate.
Zhao Chenglong, dean of Xingheng Power Battery Engineering Institute, said that lithium manganese phosphate has both high voltage of lithium manganate and high stability of lithium ferrous phosphate. If lithium manganese phosphate with high manganese content, high pressure and high capacity is successfully developed, it will replace lithium ferrous phosphate.
Bai Rong Science and Technology said that in the future, pure lithium manganese phosphate products will replace ternary materials with medium and low nickel, and will be widely used in low-end power supply market and energy storage market.
In addition to being used alone, lithium iron manganese phosphate can also be mixed with other cathode materials to improve battery performance. According to Zhao Chenglong, in the field of two-wheeled vehicles, the mixed use of lithium manganese phosphate, lithium manganate and ternary materials has been put into the market, and the route switching has been basically completed.
Haitong international believes that the combination of lithium iron manganese phosphate with ternary materials such as 523 and LCO can further integrate the advantages of materials, realize short-board complementarity, improve energy density, and increase the corresponding production cost.
A-share companies compete for layout
As a battery route without full industrial chain certification and commercialization, lithium iron manganese phosphate is currently in the "eve" of mass production, and battery samples have entered the stage of testing and certification in the car factory. Listed companies are also stepping up their layout and expanding their production capacity.
The staff of Yiwei Lithium Energy Securities Department told the reporter that the company's lithium manganese phosphate battery is in the sample delivery stage, and its subsidiary Jinxin has a certain production capacity. The specific progress shall be subject to the announcement.
Zonghe Technology said on the investor interaction platform on July 22 that the company has completed the pilot test of multi-model lithium manganese phosphate precursor products and began to send samples to downstream new energy enterprises for testing.
The relevant person in charge of Guo Xuan Hi-Tech told the reporter that lithium manganese phosphate is not the company's main business, and the company has a patent layout, but the specific business application plan is unknown.
A number of leading manufacturers of cathode materials also actively reserve the capacity of lithium manganese phosphate materials.
On July 20th, Bai Rong Science and Technology announced that it planned to invest 389 million yuan of self-owned and self-raised funds in Schollander. After the completion of this transaction, the company will hold 68.25% equity of Schollander. Bai Rong Science and Technology said that the acquisition of Schollander is an important step for the company to transform into a comprehensive supplier of cathode materials. Li Jigang, general manager of Schollander, said that the 10,000-ton lithium manganese phosphate production line of Linfen Zhongbei New Materials Co., Ltd. under Schollander has been successfully put into production. Through the cooperation with Bai Rong Science and Technology, Schollander will be empowered in capital, enterprise management and quality control, making the company bigger and stronger quickly and maintaining its leading position in the industry.
On July 20th, Dang Sheng Science and Technology released three new cathode materials, such as lithium manganese phosphate, and introduced the product features and technological breakthroughs in detail.
Some listed companies' lithium manganese iron phosphate production lines will be put into production soon. The relevant person in charge of German Nano told the reporter that the company will put into production 1 10000 tons of lithium manganese phosphate cathode material in the fourth quarter of this year. In addition, the production base project of Yunnan Qujing with an annual output of 330,000 tons of new phosphate cathode materials disclosed by German Nano at the beginning of this year is also the production capacity of lithium manganese phosphate.
Speaking of the mass production and commercialization process of lithium manganese phosphate battery, Li Jigang said that the certification of lithium manganese phosphate battery should not take long. Perhaps in half a year or so, lithium manganese phosphate will enter the commercialization stage. Zhao Chenglong said that the development of pure lithium ferromanganese phosphate is progressing smoothly, and related products are expected to appear in the middle of next year.
It is estimated that lithium iron manganese phosphate batteries can be mass-produced as soon as next year. After mass production, the industry may need 1 to 3 years to solve the problems in practical application, and then move towards maturity and large-scale commercialization.
Will manganese resources become the way out?
With the introduction of lithium iron manganese phosphate, manganese has also attracted the attention of the market. Many institutions believe that manganese will become the "fourth battery metal that cannot be ignored" in the future.
According to the statistics of Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network, each ton of lithium manganese iron phosphate contains about 330 kilograms of manganese raw materials. CITIC Securities said that the raw material cost of lithium manganese phosphate is close to that of lithium ferrous phosphate, and the main difference lies in the change of the required amount of manganese source. Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie predicts that by 2040, the amount of manganese used in batteries will increase fivefold.
Zhao Chenglong said that lithium manganese phosphate has a general pulling effect on manganese demand, but it has a pulling effect on high-purity manganese carbonate and manganese oxide.
Comparably, it is considered that unlike rare metals such as cobalt, manganese is a metal resource with a large quantity and a wide range, and there is basically no resource bottleneck problem in the lithium iron manganese phosphate route.