Academician criticizes the challenges faced by commercialization of electric vehicles with a range of 1,000 kilometers
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[Source: Securities Times] "If someone says that this car can run 1,000 kilometers, can be fully charged in a few minutes, is extremely safe, and has a very low cost. Then everyone doesn't have to believe it, because it is impossible." On January 16, at the 2021 Electric Vehicle 100 Online Forum, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100, publicly "poured cold water" on long-range batteries.
A single stone stirs up a thousand waves. As soon as this statement was made, it immediately sparked heated discussions in the industry. Some people thought that this was a direct slap in the face of NIO's new car ET7 with a range of over 1,000km, while others thought that this statement was aimed at the graphene battery launched by GAC Aion.
On January 17, also at the online forum of the 100-person forum, Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC Aion, responded positively to the heated public debate. He said: "Don't misunderstand the words of Academician Ouyang Minggao. In the past, even if the battery could be fully charged in 8 minutes for 1,000 kilometers, the charging piles might not be able to withstand it. Technology and operational promotion are two different issues. We still have to treat technological progress scientifically."
Academicians "pour cold water"
80% of the battery can be fully charged in 8 minutes, and the battery life is 1,000 kilometers. Electric vehicles have entered the era of monthly charging...
On January 15, the new energy vehicle manufacturer GAC Aion released a graphene super battery preview on its official Weibo account, which set off a market trend. On the same day, GAC Group's A-share and H-share stocks soared collectively, with A-shares directly reaching the daily limit in the late trading session and H-shares rising by 19.49% on the same day.
Influenced by this news, the A-share graphene sector ushered in a general rise, with stocks such as Huali Family, Carbon Yuan Technology, and Baotailong hitting their daily limit, followed by Del Future, China Baoan, and Fangda Carbon.
However, when market sentiment was rapidly ignited, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, publicly "poured cold water" at the 2021 Electric Vehicle Hundred People's Forum online forum. He said: "If someone says that this car can run 1,000 kilometers, can be fully charged in a few minutes, is very safe, and has a very low cost. Then don't believe it, because it is impossible."
Just a week ago, NIO officially released its 150kWh solid-state battery. According to Li Bin, chairman of NIO, the 150kWh battery no longer uses liquid lithium battery technology, but mass-produced solid-state battery technology, which can achieve a 50% increase in energy density. The comprehensive driving range of models equipped with this battery can exceed 1,000 kilometers.
Because of this, as soon as Ouyang Minggao finished speaking, some industry insiders believed that these remarks were directly aimed at NIO and GAC Aion.
Can high-efficiency fast charging + 1,000 km range be achieved at present? Is graphene battery a gimmick? At the 2021 Electric Vehicle Hundred People's Conference, GAC Aion General Manager Gu Huinan officially responded to the market's hot discussions. In his opinion, the outside world has a distorted understanding of Ouyang Minggao's remarks.
"If the battery is to be fully charged in 8 minutes and travel 1,000 kilometers, the problem of charging piles needs to be solved. Don't confuse technical issues with promotion issues." Gu Huinan said that he hopes everyone will treat technological progress scientifically. At the same time, he also emphasized that "electric vehicles with a range of 1,000 kilometers will definitely be available in 2021, and fast charging will also be available."
Commercialization faces challenges
The reporter noticed that in July 2020, GAC Group announced its research and development progress in graphene technology at GAC Technology Day. It is reported that GAC Group has been studying the large-scale preparation of graphene since 2014 and has independent intellectual property rights for 3DG graphene preparation technology. In order to better promote the commercial application of graphene technology, GAC also plans to jointly establish a graphene high-tech industrialization company in the form of GAC investment + employee investment.
At the 2021 Electric Vehicle Hundred People's Forum online, Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, gave a specific timetable for GAC's application of graphene batteries.
"GAC's graphene-based fast-charging battery has now entered the actual vehicle testing stage. The first vehicle to be equipped with it is the AION V. It is currently undergoing winter testing in Heihe and is tentatively scheduled to be ready for mass production in September this year," said Zeng Qinghong.
Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon nanomaterial composed of carbon atoms and in a honeycomb lattice. As the thinnest, strongest, and most conductive and thermally conductive new nanomaterial discovered so far, it is known as the "king of materials in the 21st century." Research and analysis point out that in the automotive field, graphene has great potential for application and can bring major technological breakthroughs in the fields of super-fast charging batteries, lightweight car bodies, fuel cells, etc.
After GAC Aion announced its plan to launch graphene super batteries, the entire graphene sector saw a general rise. However, there is also a voice that believes that graphene batteries are just a name for a type of battery, and their essence is still lithium batteries or batteries of other media. GAC is using old themes to tell new stories, which is suspected of hype.
Industry insiders analyzed that graphene is composed of a carbon molecular mesh structure and cannot store electrical energy by itself. Therefore, it will be mainly used in the negative pole of the battery. However, whether it is used as the main material or additive in the battery, its cost is more than ten times more expensive than ordinary lithium battery materials.
Zeng Qinghong revealed that GAC Aion's graphene super battery increases the battery's energy density, charging speed and endurance by adding 1% to 2% of graphene positive and negative electrode materials to the 811 and 622 batteries.
The above-mentioned industry insider told the Securities Times reporter that the long battery life and fast charging advantages of graphene batteries are technically achievable. However, they are still at the laboratory level and are still far from commercialization. Therefore, the current controversy surrounding GAC's graphene batteries in the market is not about technology, but about cost.
According to the information currently released by GAC Group, the graphene preparation technology mastered by GAC can reduce the production cost by more than 90%, making the overall battery cell cost slightly higher by 5% to 8% compared with the cost of conventional power batteries currently on the market.
Cao Guangping, an independent researcher of new energy vehicles, told the Securities Times that the negative electrode material of general lithium batteries is currently ordinary graphite. Doping with graphene will improve the conductivity and increase the wide temperature range and fast charging performance of lithium batteries, but the effect is limited in terms of increasing specific mass, safety, cycle life, etc. At the same time, the price of graphene is relatively expensive and cannot be mass-produced.
A technician engaged in the new energy vehicle battery business told the Securities Times reporter that in recent years, due to the increased investment of various companies in battery technology, the technology has indeed advanced rapidly. GAC has also had a certain amount of time for battery research and development, but if it wants to find a balance between cost and performance, use graphene batteries to challenge existing batteries, and achieve mass production, it is still a big challenge. However, he believes that GAC's move not only stimulated the capital market, but also brought certain pressure to the entire battery industry, which may further drive all parties to research and develop and invest in batteries.
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