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Lead: With the tide of electric vehicle industry, the power battery industry has risen rapidly, and the world has formed an industry pattern in which Chinese, Japanese and Korean companies compete for hegemony, while Panasonic, LG, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and other giants compete with each other.
behind the apparent calm, a new round of great changes is brewing-solid-state batteries are about to set off a new wave of technological changes, Japanese and Korean companies have returned to the China market after the white list of power batteries has been removed, and global car companies and parts giants have also set foot in the battery industry, and a big change is about to be staged.
For this reason, Chedongxite launched a series of reports on "Great Changes in Power Batteries" to explain in detail the changes in the global power battery industry. This article is one of the series of reports.
Tesla's self-produced power battery has finally arrived, and Musk's ambition has flocked to the power battery industry from the electric vehicle industry, and the new blood shed will begin.
today, according to foreign media electrek, Tesla's "Roadrunner" power battery self-production plan was officially launched, and a power battery production line belonging to Tesla is taking shape in the factory located in the desert of fremont, USA.
The most noteworthy focus of the whole incident is that Tesla power battery only needs 1 dollars per kilowatt-hour (about 71 yuan) after mass production, while according to the data released by UBS, the current cost of Panasonic power battery is about 111 dollars per kilowatt-hour (about 772 yuan), while the cost of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited power battery is 15 dollars per kilowatt-hour (about 142 yuan).
the first thing Tesla did when it entered the power battery industry was to get rid of the price "underpants" in the power battery industry.
▲ Foreign media reported that Tesla is building a battery production line in fremont factory
But in addition, Musk's "blitzkrieg" of power batteries will also set off a wave in both the automobile industry and the power battery industry. Under the call of Tesla, more car companies with capital and technology will flood into the power battery market and impact the current power battery industry pattern.
at such a key node, it is necessary for us to find out the secret of how Tesla can break through the technical barriers of the power battery industry, solve the battery research and development step by step, and finally have the battery production capacity.
Che Dongxi found the answer by combing Tesla's investment layout, technology research and development and industrial chain layout in the past five years.
first, it took five years? Father of ternary lithium battery helps Tesla produce electricity?
on February 12, 22, foreign media electrek revealed that Tesla was building a power battery production line in fremont, USA. For a time, the news that Tesla produced its own power battery was made public, which triggered a shock in the industry.
but if it weren't for this media exposure, I'm afraid no one would have thought that Tesla's self-produced power battery was so fast.
The reason is that Tesla's layout in this field can be described as low-key, unlike other car companies that have entered the power battery industry with great fanfare.
since 215, Tesla has made only three investments related to power batteries, namely, to the Jeff Dane research group of Dalhousie University (Jeff? Dahn? Research? Group's five-year sponsorship plan, the acquisition of battery technology company Maxwell and the acquisition of battery manufacturing equipment company Hibar.
of the three investments, Tesla only disclosed the amount of Maxwell's acquisition-US$ 218 million (about RMB 1.527 billion), while the amount and specific details of the other two investments were not disclosed.
But it is these three investments that make up the key technologies needed for Tesla's self-produced batteries-the electrodes, electrolyte, diaphragm, battery case and battery manufacturing process of the power battery.
Tesla's layout in the field of power batteries began in 215.
Tesla, which is based on the industry-leading three-electricity technology, is unwilling to be controlled by Panasonic in the field of power batteries, not to mention that the climbing speed of Panasonic's power batteries at that time was far less than that of Tesla's automobile production line.
Musk foresees that Panasonic may become the biggest obstacle for Tesla to achieve an annual output of one million electric vehicles (as expected, the power battery capacity of Panasonic in 218 limited Tesla Model? 3 mass production speed).
Therefore, Musk started the idea of making his own power battery.
In p>215, Musk found Jeff Dane's team focusing on the industrialization of lithium battery technology, hoping to provide him with "a considerable amount of research funds for five years" (The? substantial? 5-year? funding? Package), let it develop a lithium-ion battery with longer life, lower cost and higher energy density for Tesla.
▲ Jeff Dane Research Group
Jeff Dane's team is a team specializing in the research of lithium-ion battery technology in Dalhousie University, a top university in Canada, and has been studying lithium-ion battery industrialization projects since 28. According to its official website, the team currently has a scale of about 3 people, and has published more than 6 papers, which have been published in the heavyweight journals JES and JPS.
with the evaluation of foreign media, this team is one of the strongest research teams in the field of lithium batteries.
Jeff Dane himself successfully commercialized ternary composite cathode materials by precisely limiting the content of nickel in nickel-cobalt-manganese materials, and became the real pioneer and inventor of ternary material technology recognized by the industry.
▲ Jeff Dane
On the one hand, Tesla, eager to develop its own power battery, and on the other hand, Jeff Dane's team, who hopes and is good at industrialization of technology, hit it off.
On June 16th of the same year, Dalhousie University, where Jeff Dane's team is located, and Tesla announced that the partners of Jeff Dane's research team will be from 3M? Canada moved to Tesla and reached an exclusive cooperation agreement with Tesla.
After the cooperation agreement was reached, Jeff Dane slumped into Tesla's trunk and showed his two thumbs. His excitement was beyond words.
▲ Jeff Dane
After that, Jeff Dane's team continued to make breakthroughs in new lithium-ion electrode materials, fault mechanism diagnosis of lithium-ion batteries, electrolyte additives, basic research on sodium ion and lithium-ion battery safety, and battery research theory/modeling.
At the end of last year, a paper from Jeff Dane's team showed that its newly-developed power battery cycle cycle can reach about 5, times, corresponding to the driving life of electric vehicles exceeding 1 million miles (about 1.6 million kilometers). At present, this patent is owned by Tesla.
Recently, foreign media electrek revealed that the research results of Jeff Dane's team will make Tesla's power battery cost reach 1 USD /kWh (about 71 RMB /kWh). Comparing the data given by investment institution UBS, the cost of Panasonic power battery is about US$ 111 /kWh (about 771 yuan /kWh) and that of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited is about US$ 15 /kWh (about 1,42 yuan /kWh). Tesla's current battery cost is the lowest in the industry.
It is understood that Jeff Dane's team is still helping Tesla to complete the research and development of high-nickel ternary lithium battery with energy density of 5Wh/kg, and has achieved initial results.
It can be said that since 216, Jeff Dane's team has contributed many low-level technology patents and accumulated experience to Tesla's self-produced battery project, and perfected most of Tesla's technology chain from electrodes, electrolytes to battery cases. In the past five years, Jeff Dane's team has indeed fulfilled the promise made to Tesla when signing the contract-to help Tesla improve the cycle times of power batteries, reduce the cost of power batteries, and develop high energy density power batteries.
for Tesla, this investment is worth the money.
second, buy Maxwell? Dry electrode technology improves the energy density of power battery
After p>216, Musk turned and plunged into Tesla Model? 3 productivity hell, no leisure to take into account the layout of the power battery industry, so that in 217 and 218, Tesla did not make a big move in the power battery industry.
But when it comes to 219, one thing has sounded the alarm for Musk.
In February, 219, in the conference call released by Tesla's 218 financial report, Musk pointed out that the shortage of battery capacity in super factories is to limit Tesla Mode? 3 the biggest shackles of productivity.
In April p>219, Musk tweeted again that "the battery capacity of the super factory is only 24GWh, and the Model has been restricted since July? 3 production capacity, Tesla will not invest any more money before the production capacity reaches 35GWh. "
Due to the limited production capacity from Panasonic, Musk once again realized the importance of power batteries, and he began to accelerate the layout of Tesla in the field of power batteries.
In May p>219, Tesla acquired Maxwell, a battery technology company, for US$ 218 million (about RMB 1.527 billion), with a premium of 55%.
Tesla was so eager to win this company because it took a fancy to Maxwell's dry electrode technology and supercapacitor technology.
▲ introduction of Maxwell dry electrode technology
The traditional electrode preparation process belongs to the wet electrode process. In the manufacturing process, the anode and cathode materials need to be added into the solvent to coat the electrode sheet materials.
the advantages of this manufacturing process are long verification time and stable electrode quality, but the characteristics of solvent determine that the electrode produced by this electrode coating method is thin and the energy density is limited.
At the same time, in the production process, the solvent needs to be evaporated, and this part of the production process will produce a certain degree of environmental pollution.
The solvent-free dry electrode production process is to mix active anode and cathode materials with sticky substances, so that the anode and cathode materials themselves "fibrillate" and form a self-supporting film, which is firmly adhered to the electrode sheet (the principle is similar to chewing gum firmly adhered to the soles of feet).
This production process can make thicker electrodes, which greatly improves the energy density of the battery. At present, the battery cell energy density of ternary lithium battery made by this process is more than 3Wh/kg, and the battery cell energy density can reach 5Wh/kg at the highest, and at the same time, a larger discharge rate can be obtained.
at the same time, another great advantage of dry electrode is that it can continuously replenish lithium metal after the battery is used to make up for the capacity attenuation of the battery; However, the electrodes prepared by wet electrode method, supplemented lithium metal and carbon mixed with lithium metal can not be well integrated with each other, and are usually accompanied by strong reactions such as smoke, flame and noise.
in addition, the manufacturing process of dry electrode does not need solvent drying step, which reduces the production cost and time cost, and also reduces environmental pollution.
another supercapacitor technology can be used as a fast energy storage device in the process of energy recovery, and its energy consumption is far less than that of restoring the recovered kinetic energy to the battery.
However, in the process of rapid acceleration, the supercapacitor can realize high-power discharge, and avoid the lithium dendrites generated by direct high-power discharge of the power battery, which will cause irreversible damage to the battery structure.
Another advantage of supercapacitor technology is its wide operating temperature range. The operating temperature of most batteries needs to be maintained between 2℃ and 4℃, which makes the requirements on the external environment temperature more stringent. The working temperature of supercapacitors is between-4℃ and 8℃, which can be used for starting vehicles and heating power batteries in winter.
dry electrode technology improves the energy density of Tesla's self-made batteries, while supercapacitor technology can provide auxiliary function for batteries in specific scenarios. The combination of the two may be a "hybrid" scheme that Tesla will adopt in the future.
third, acquisition of battery production equipment manufacturer Hibar? Paving the way for self-produced batteries
Investing in Jeff Dane's team and acquiring Maxwell are all aimed at mastering the latest battery technology, and the key after mastering the technology is to mass-produce it.
In October p>219, some media discovered that Hibar, a Canadian precision equipment company, suddenly appeared under Tesla's banner and became a holding subsidiary of Tesla.
Tesla's acquisition of Hibar is a secret project, and its acquisition date, amount and cooperation details have not been disclosed, but it is clear that the acquisition of Hibar means that Tesla's self-produced battery project is only one step away.
Hibar is famous for producing high-precision quantitative liquid injection pump, liquid injection production system, automatic battery manufacturing and process equipment, and its product line covers a complete battery production process.
▲Hibar product overview
In the past 4 years, Hibar has become the preferred supplier of primary and secondary battery production lines in the battery industry.
investing in Jeff Dane's team has enabled Tesla to have technical talents for self-developed power batteries. The acquisition of Maxwell has enabled Tesla to master the most advanced technology in the field of power batteries, and the acquisition of Hibar is the last link of Tesla's self-produced power battery project. At this point, Tesla has formed a comprehensive layout from technology research and development, sample verification to mass production.
fourth, the life of self-produced batteries will reach 1 million miles? The maximum energy density can reach 5Wh/kg
Although Tesla already has the ability of research and development, verification and mass production of batteries, what effect will the actual products achieve?
at present, its battery production line has not been put into practical use, so it is not realistic to analyze it from the perspective of products. From another angle, we can infer the technical indicators of Tesla's self-produced batteries from its current technical strength.
1. Electrodes
From the electrode point of view, Tesla's self-produced batteries are likely to adopt Maxwell's dry electrode technology, which can achieve a single cell energy density of 3Wh/kg in the field of ternary lithium batteries at present, and the maximum can reach 5Wh/kg.
at this stage, the industry only has Panasonic's NCA? 811 ternary lithium battery and NCM in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited? The energy density of 811 ternary lithium battery can reach 3Wh/kg.
at the same time, as mentioned above, the dry electrode technology can supplement lithium metal into the negative electrode to supplement the consumption of lithium ions in the negative electrode and electrolyte during discharge.
Previously, Maxwell had a pending patent to supplement lithium ion to the negative electrode of the battery. This patented technology will effectively alleviate the problem of battery capacity attenuation during use. As Tesla completed the acquisition of Maxwell, this patented technology was naturally transferred to Tesla's name.
▲Maxwell's pending patent
In terms of cost, the cost of the whole battery cell production link can be reduced by about 1%-2% due to the omission of the drying step.
2. Electrolyte
In terms of electrolytes, Jeff Dane's team funded by Tesla recently published two papers in the well-known journal JES, describing their progress in electrolytes.
One of them is titled "Dioxadone and Nitrite as Electrolyte Additives for Lithium Ion Batteries".
It is mentioned in the paper that Jeff Dane's team is interested in the recent.