Pragmatic research and development breaks through the bottleneck of resources
At the press conference, Yang Hongxin, chairman and CEO of Honeycomb Energy, shared the original intention, main course, product performance characteristics and future planning of the company's cobalt-free batteries with the participants.
Yang Hongxin said that cobalt-free power batteries have always been a topic of great concern to the lithium battery industry. As we all know in the industry, cobalt is a non-renewable scarce resource, and the global proven reserves are only about 76,543,800 tons. With the rapid development of new energy automobile industry in the world, some institutions predict that there will be a shortage of cobalt resources after 2026. In recent years, the price of cobalt has risen many times, and the continuously rising cost has seriously affected the development of the industry. As the world's largest consumer market for new energy vehicles and the largest consumer of cobalt products, China's proven cobalt reserves are only 80,000 tons, accounting for 1. 14% of the global total reserves. This means that if we want to vigorously develop the new energy industry, we can only rely on imports without effectively solving the cobalt resources, which is also the biggest resource bottleneck problem facing China's lithium battery industry at present.
In fact, in order to solve the problem of unsustainable cobalt resources, scientists all over the world have been exploring the way to remove cobalt from lithium batteries for more than 20 years. As an all-round innovative energy high-tech enterprise, Honeycomb Energy has invested more than 500 million yuan in R&D, more than 1.200 people in R&D and more than 1.20 people in materials and batteries. After several years of in-depth research and development, we finally overcame this world-class problem and mastered the core technology of cobalt-free batteries.
In the basic research and development of cobalt-free cathode materials, Honeycomb Energy has developed the world's first cobalt-free cathode material after more than 200 pilot tests and more than 3,000 electrical performance verifications, and successfully obtained 69 China patents and 46 international patents.
Based on the characteristics of cobalt-free materials, Honeycomb Energy has carried out a comprehensive system optimization design, adopted advanced high-speed laminated manufacturing technology, and developed the world's first truly cobalt-free green battery according to the AI intelligent manufacturing standard of vehicle regulations. It successfully passed a series of safety tests such as 150℃ hot box and 140%SOC overcharge, and also obtained EC 62660-3/GB T 36544.
The power battery industry for mass production and loading has entered the era of cobalt-free.
According to reports, the total power consumption of the cobalt-free battery pack loaded in this mass production is 82.5KWh, and the energy density of the system is 1.70 Wh/kg. MEB module of standard platform is adopted, and aviation-grade thermal insulation material and lightweight design are applied. After comprehensive performance test and strict component safety test, the test data such as thermal runaway far exceeds the requirements of national standards. It is mounted on the compact SUV model cherry cat, and its cruising range can reach more than 600 kilometers at room temperature. Strong performance, can complete the vehicle 100 km acceleration in 5 seconds; Waterproof performance reaches IP67；; At low temperature, the energy retention rate is high and the heating rate is fast.
The excellent performance of cobalt-free battery has also been fully verified by experiments. Since 2020, it has been equipped with a road test of Euler prototype, and passed a number of vehicle performance tests such as wading test, intensified road test, vehicle charging and discharging performance, rapid acceleration and deceleration battery performance, and vehicle battery insulation inspection. The cumulative test mileage is 800,000 kilometers, and the test data is excellent.
Regarding the follow-up product planning of cobalt-free batteries, Yang Hongxin said that Honeycomb Energy's cobalt-free batteries are currently planning four mass-produced products, namely, cobalt-free H series 1 15Ah battery, 155Ah battery, HP Plus series 157Ah battery and cobalt-free E series16544 battery. Among them, the energy density of cobalt-free H series 1 15A battery and 155Ah battery is 240Wh/kg, and 1 15Ah products have taken the lead in mass production and loading.
According to industry experts, the mass production and loading of cobalt-free batteries of Honeycomb Energy can be said to be a milestone in the development of the industry, which indicates that China lithium battery enterprises have made an innovative breakthrough in material research and development. With the mass production of cobalt-free batteries, the power battery industry will officially enter the cobalt-free era.
As a dark horse enterprise in the global power battery industry, Honeycomb Energy has developed explosively in recent years. In terms of technology research and development, Honeycomb Energy has established R&D centers in Baoding, Wuxi, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Japan, South Korea, India and other places at home and abroad. Its unique high-speed lamination process, high-safety cobalt-free batteries, long-life solid-state batteries, and automotive ai intelligent manufacturing are at the global leading level. At present, the company has applied for more than 2,500 patents, including more than 800 invention patents and more than 50 PCT international patents. In terms of global capacity planning, Honeycomb Energy invested 2 billion euros in Germany to build a European factory, and at the same time quickly deployed in the Yangtze River Delta, South China and Southwest China. In the first half of 2002/KLOC-0, we invested in the construction of production bases and intelligent factories in Suining, Sichuan, Huzhou, Zhejiang, Maanshan, Anhui and Lishui, Nanjing. It is estimated that the global total production capacity will exceed 200GWh in 2025.