Qinghai lithium industry is getting bigger and bigger

At the Lithium Industry Summit Forum held during this year's Qinghai Investment and Trade Fair, many industry experts and business representatives focused on Qinghai's lithium resources and jointly offered suggestions in the hope of promoting the continuous growth and strength of this industry.

■Crisis gives rise to new energy

Since 2013, smog has become a topic of common concern to the whole society. Urban air pollution has forced us to accelerate the development of new energy sources, while the energy crisis has also forced us to accelerate the development of new energy sources. The urgency of both has made the energy industry realize that it is urgent to find a new energy source that can replace oil.

Chen Quanshi, president of the Electric Vehicle Branch of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, mentioned in his speech that in 2012, my country's total oil consumption was about 492 million tons, and its dependence on imports was about 58%. It has now increased to 70%, of which automobile fuel accounts for nearly 60% of total oil consumption. At the same time, air pollution is becoming more and more serious. The growing number of cars has become the main "consumer" of oil. Promoting new energy vehicles can effectively alleviate the oil crisis and air pollution problems. In recent years, my country has also attached more and more importance to new energy vehicles, and has continuously increased policy support to develop new energy vehicles.

■ New energy vehicles boost lithium industry

The development of new energy vehicles is inseparable from the core power battery, so the battery industry has also become important. The advantages of lithium-ion batteries among various batteries are gradually emerging and are used in various modern equipment. The lithium-ion battery market is also developing continuously. Christopher Pilot, chief technology officer of the French Avni Energy Lithium Battery Research Institute, said in his speech "Global Battery Market and Electric Vehicle Market Outlook from 2013 to 2025" that the average annual growth rate of lithium-ion battery capacity in the past decade has exceeded 25%.

Currently, the mobile phone and laptop markets account for a large share, but it can be seen that the lithium-ion battery market for mobile phones and laptops is shrinking in value. The demand for lithium-ion batteries from tablets, electric bicycles, and cars is expanding. He predicts that in terms of value, the automotive battery market will increase from US$3.3 billion in 2013 to US$11 billion in 2025. The demand for batteries from cars does not account for a large share of the entire battery market, but a small part also has a great impact on batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries, which are high-efficiency and low-cost energy storage technologies using lithium as raw materials.

■ The lithium industry is getting bigger and bigger

With the development of new energy vehicles and power grid markets, the demand for lithium will continue to grow rapidly in the future. The lithium industry has a bright future, and the lithium "cake" will become bigger and bigger.

Joe Lowry, chairman of Global Lithium, Inc., analyzed that the demand for lithium is estimated to grow by 8-12% annually in the next decade. When talking about the development of the lithium industry, he said that there are abundant lithium reserves around the world and many lithium projects around the world. The development of Qinghai's lithium industry has great potential, but the processing method needs to be improved to stimulate greater potential.

Qinghai has a large share of the lithium "cake". The preliminary proven lithium chloride reserves are 21.08 million tons, ranking first in the country, accounting for more than 90% of the country's proven reserves and 1/3 of the world's salt lake lithium resource reserves. How to achieve green development with such rich resources? Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Qinghai Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., mentioned in his speech that Qinghai's high-performance lithium-ion battery industry based on lithium carbonate and its related supporting industries have begun to take shape. The national "12th Five-Year Plan" clearly states that the new energy industry is one of my country's key strategic emerging industries. Therefore, Qinghai, which is rich in lithium resources, should strive to build it into the world's largest lithium industry chain with unique competitiveness.

Leaders of relevant provincial departments pointed out that at the Lithium Industry Summit Forum, experts discussed the development of the lithium industry from various angles and fields, and made forward-looking judgments and analyses on the future development of the lithium industry, which has far-reaching significance for further developing the new energy lithium industry and building a lithium industry chain. (Reporter Li Zengping)