At the 2020 Meeting of 100, apart from Minister Miao Wei’s thunder, the most attention-grabbing thing was BYD’s announcement that it would mass-produce a new generation of blade batteries in the first half of this year.
“This battery has more than 300 core patents and will be mass-produced in the first half of this year. Its volumetric energy density and weight energy density have been greatly improved. At the same time, it has strong design strength, safety and most importantly, The cost is very competitive." Shu Youxing, general manager of BYD's International Cooperation Division, revealed at the 3rd Sino-German Automobile Industry Summit of the 100-person Conference on the morning of January 11.
In the afternoon of the same day, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD Co., Ltd., disclosed more information about this new generation battery, "The first model equipped with the blade battery will be BYD 'Han', which will be It will be launched in June this year and has a range of 600 kilometers. "
"Blade" real body
The so-called "blade battery" is a large battery cell with a length of more than 0.6 meters developed by BYD. are arranged together and inserted into the battery pack like a "blade". According to patent information, the battery core can be directly integrated into a battery pack without a module (i.e. CTP technology), thus greatly improving integration efficiency.
It is worth noting that this is an iron battery product.
In the current situation where three yuan is king, BYD's choice of lithium iron phosphate is obviously more from a safety perspective.
“Busses are equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries, which have very good thermal stability and high safety. We recommend that passenger cars refer to commercial vehicles and establish a higher safety standard. Especially in the field of new energy In the early stages of automobile development, we need to be more cautious when it comes to safe power batteries.” When talking about industry safety regulations, Wang Chuanfu said, “From a safety perspective, iron batteries are also a better battery in the passenger car field.”
(PPT screenshot of Shu Youxing’s speech)
Wang Chuanfu revealed that this blade battery, which will be mass-produced for the first time in the Chongqing factory in March this year, has a “volume specific energy density” compared with traditional iron batteries. It has increased by 50, and the battery life of BYD Han, the first model equipped with this battery, will reach 600 kilometers. In addition to high safety, the blade battery also has the characteristics of long life, and the vehicle life can reach more than one million kilometers.
Although Wang Chuanfu did not spend too much ink on the introduction of blade batteries, and Shu Youxing also mentioned it in one stroke, when talking about future plans, Shu Youxing used the three words "the most important" for blade batteries, which can't help but It makes people speculate whether BYD is looking forward to a turnaround in 2020 relying on its "old business".
CTP, the next competition?
With the launch of the new CTP highly integrated power battery development platform by CATL at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, CTP has appeared in the public eye more and more frequently.
However, the CTP launched by BYD this time and CATL have different technical routes.
Currently, CTP has a completely module-free solution and a solution that replaces small modules with large modules. BYD’s solution belongs to the former. Some technicians related to power batteries once said that compared with CATL's solution, BYD's CTP idea is more scalable and iterative. The choice of Han, a new member of BYD's "dynasty family", as the first model equipped with this technology shows BYD's emphasis on and confidence in CTP.
Data from the First Electric Research Institute shows that CATL’s cumulative installed capacity from January to November last year was 27.52GWh, with a cumulative market share of 52.2%. Its dominance has been unshakable; BYD has installed capacity in a single month since July. It did not exceed 1GWh. Compared with the average level in the first half of the year, it showed a trend of halving. The cumulative installed capacity from January to November was 9.62GWh, and the market share fell to 18.
Therefore, the implementation of similar new technologies is regarded by many as a new round of competition between BYD and CATL. But looking at the overall environment, the commercial significance of new battery technology does not end there.
“In this industry, now everyone should be thinking about how to get bigger, rather than thinking about internal competition. The total share is less than 5%, so what should we compete for? First, make it bigger and stronger. It’s more reasonable to talk about competition after we get the 90% market share,” a power battery practitioner told First Electric.
Coincidentally, at this 100-person high-level forum, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also said that both CATL's CTP and BYD's blade batteries are important annual technological advances in China's new energy vehicle industry. , which is of great significance to promote the development of the industry.
As for the blade battery, Ouyang Minggao also gave high praise, "Now our battery system cost is 0.6-1 yuan/Wh, 1 yuan/?Wh is a ternary battery, low It is a lithium iron phosphate battery. There is still room for the battery cost to decline in the next five years. For example, the ternary battery will reach 0.7 yuan/?Wh before 2025. There is still room for decline in lithium iron phosphate, but at the same time, it needs to be emphasized that the value of battery recycling needs to be tapped urgently. In this regard, I think the cost advantage of lithium iron phosphate batteries is very obvious, and technologies such as blade batteries can effectively alleviate the shortcomings of previous lithium iron phosphate batteries in volume specific energy."
The "knife" has been unsheathed. , what kind of market it can create is worth looking forward to.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.