Recently, the domestic power battery market has been stolen by CATL and BYD. The former has set off a "bloody storm" in the capital market due to various speculations about cooperation with Tesla, and the latter has also attracted attention due to the debut of blade batteries. No two.
As a new player in the power battery industry, Honeycomb Energy also disclosed some information during Great Wall Motors’ conference call on February 25.
Although with the current scale of development, Honeycomb Energy cannot yet reach the level of leading companies, judging from the latest disclosed information, Honeycomb Energy is still moving in an orderly manner towards its goal of becoming one of the top three high-end battery suppliers in the country. .
Received a letter of appointment from a large European OEM for 7GWh
When communicating with the media in November last year, Yang Hongxin, President of Honeycomb Energy, said that Honeycomb Energy may develop faster in the international market. The breakthrough could be bigger. According to the plan, the proportion of export sales of Honeycomb Energy will account for at least 50%, and by 2025, export sales will account for 70%.
According to the content of this conference call, Honeycomb has received a letter of appointment from a large European OEM. The estimated purchase volume is 7GWh. The specific information will be announced later. It was also revealed that a certain European first-line parts factory also has the intention to purchase 6GWh. .
(Yang Hongxin)
The process of selecting power battery suppliers for car companies involves multiple rounds of competition. After multiple rounds of competitive screening, car companies will send the winning power battery company a A project-based, exclusive letter of appointment will specify that the latter will be responsible for the research and development, industrialization and supply of mass-produced battery parts and corresponding after-sales accessories. However, a designated letter is not an order. Obtaining a designated letter does not mean that a clearly binding agreement on sales has been signed with the car company. The number of purchase orders that the battery company will receive from the car company in the future and the time when the revenue will be formed are still uncertain.
However, electrification is developing rapidly in Europe and battery resources are relatively scarce. It is reasonable for Honeycomb Energy to focus on the European market. It was also revealed in the conference call that Honeycomb Energy’s current intention in Europe is to provide one company exclusively, and the other to provide joint supply between two suppliers.
In addition to Europe, Honeycomb Energy also visited FCA, GM and Ford in early February this year, and also had contact with their domestic joint ventures; in Japan and South Korea, Toyota is expected to enter the sample delivery stage, and in South Korea, No substantial progress yet.
The domestic aspect is not much different from the previously disclosed information: BAIC New Energy and NIO have already installed vehicles for testing; Geely, Chery, Daimler, and BMW have sent samples for testing. Honeycomb Energy expects to achieve domestic volume sales in the third quarter of this year.
Lamination process + three major directions
Yang Hongxin once said that due to its late start, Honeycomb Energy is directly targeting the next generation of materials and processes.
The process is the high-speed lamination technology that Honeycomb Energy has been promoting. According to disclosed information, its lamination equipment has been planned for four generations. The first generation is outsourced from South Korea; the second generation participates in research and development and has an exclusive agreement to achieve a single-station lamination speed of 0.45 seconds/sheet; the third generation is planned to be independent The research and development can achieve 0.25 seconds/piece; the fourth-generation plan can achieve 0.5-1 meter long lamination, but it is different from BYD.
In terms of materials, Honeycomb Energy has three major directions:
1. High energy density and high nickel materials (adapted to high endurance models);
2. Cobalt-free materials (non-lithium iron phosphate), high energy density, safety test has been passed, cycle life is being tested, and it is expected to be launched in 2021; the current safety, energy density, and lifespan are close to 622, which is 10%-15% lower in material cost than 811; < /p>
3. Low-cost lithium iron phosphate, but it is not the company’s focus.
The 4GWh planned for the first phase of the Changzhou factory and the 8GWh planned for the second phase were mainly based on ternary + cobalt-free, with less lithium iron phosphate, but Honeycomb also said that assembly can be completed online.
The energy density, which the market is most concerned about, was also revealed in this conference call. It is reported that Honeycomb Energy’s high-nickel products will be developed in parallel and launched step by step with energy densities of 240Wh/kg, 250Wh/kg (available at the same time) and 260Wh/kg (available later, expected to be the product with the highest energy density among square batteries). product. 250Wh/kg and 260Wh/kg are products developed for large European customers. The 240Wh/kg version will be launched on Great Wall Motor models in the first half of this year.
At the same time, an operating vehicle version battery with a 6-year 600,000-kilometer rating, support for 2C fast charging, and a capacity density of 245Wh/kg will be launched. It is planned to be mass-produced on Great Wall models in April.
According to Honeycomb, its pack energy density is currently in mass production at 160Wh/kg, and it is developing 180Wh/kg products. It plans to have the pack energy density exceed 200Wh/kg in the future.
CTP is expected to reach mass production in early 2021 at the earliest
Since last year, CTP (module-less) battery packs have become popular. The two major domestic battery giants CATL and BYD have successively demonstrated their own CTP solution, Honeycomb Energy has also disclosed the CTP battery pack.
According to the external publicity data of Honeycomb Energy, compared with the traditional 590 module, the first generation of Honeycomb CTP reduced the number of parts by 24%, the second generation group efficiency increased by 5-10%, and the space utilization rate increased. 5%, and the number of parts is reduced by another 22%.
In this conference call, Honeycomb Energy stated that CTP technology will be divided into three generations, the volume energy density will be gradually increased, and the battery cells will develop towards long battery cells/large battery cells, which is expected to be as early as early 2021. Reached mass production status. Although the existing assembly lines are not compatible with long battery cells, Honeycomb Energy has mature equipment development experience and patents. Its first-generation long battery cells have relatively low process and manufacturing risks, and are currently used in soft packages. Honeycomb will also take the lead in applying them to prismatic batteries.
Although Honeycomb Energy stated that there is currently no specific data on the grouping efficiency of CTP, the energy density of long battery cells + CTP can be increased by more than 20%, and the greater the charge, the more obvious the effect.
In terms of materials used in CTP, Honeycomb revealed that CTP avoids the use of high-expansion materials. Analysis believes that the 523 route is feasible, while the 811 route is currently difficult. The negative electrode silicon carbide has a large expansion coefficient and expansion force and is not suitable for use. Lithium iron phosphate is also not suitable.
The system price will drop to less than 80 US dollars/KWh in 2025
The selection strategy of the supply chain greatly affects the cost. For scarce and core resources such as lithium ores and lithium salts, Honeycomb has invested on its own; Cathode is considering building a cathode material factory in Changzhou, with an expected output of 100 tons/year, targeting high-end cathodes and original cobalt-free cathodes; while the mainstream Raw materials (negative electrodes, electrolytes, etc.) are purchased from external sources, mainly from leading domestic suppliers. They have signed strategic cooperation agreements and received R&D and cost support.
(Hive Energy ternary lithium-ion battery)
As for the cost planning for the next 3-5 years, Hive revealed that it plans to have the system within 100 US dollars/KWh in 2023 and within 2025. It has dropped to less than 80 US dollars/KWh, matching the needs of OEMs.
Cost reduction will rely on economies of scale to achieve effective cost reductions in materials, equipment (from RMB 500 million to RMB 200 million), CTP and other technologies.
Previously, Yang Hongxin said in an exclusive interview with the media that since companies with only a single major customer and related transactions cannot be listed, Hive Energy's production capacity planning is for customers in all industries. Honeycomb plans to apply for the Science and Technology Innovation Board in the second half of 2022. The first round of financing is also carried out as planned, and the progress is relatively smooth. The conference call also revealed that Great Wall currently holds 100% of the shares and hopes to introduce vehicle company shareholders in the future.
Source: First Electric Network
Author: Deng Ya
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome .