What is the value of lithium batteries?

With the advancement of lithium titanate industrialization, the overall cost reduction, and the improvement of energy density, lithium titanate has significant advantages in the markets of airport shuttle buses, city buses, urban logistics vehicles, etc.

Commodity value, literally speaking, refers to the evaluation of the degree of satisfaction between the needs of a commodity object and the subject related to it. Marx further discussed this concept in Capital. He believed that commodity value refers to the undifferentiated human labor condensed in the commodity, which is essentially reflected in a certain social relationship between producers.

Throughout human history, we have experienced two magnificent industrial revolutions. The driving force of the first revolution was apparently steam engines, but in reality it was coal; the driving force of the second revolution was apparently electricity, but in reality it was oil. From firewood to coal to oil, human history has been changed by fossil energy, and the future of mankind depends on renewable energy.

Jeremy Rifkin proposed in The Third Industrial Revolution that the third industrial revolution is the major changes in human production, life, and social economy caused by the combination of energy Internet and renewable energy. The third industrial revolution has begun and is imminent. It has five pillars: 1. Transformation to non-renewable energy; 2. Converting buildings on each continent into micro power plants to collect renewable energy on site; 3. Using hydrogen and other storage technologies in every building and infrastructure to store intermittent energy; 4. Using Internet technology to convert the power grid on each continent into an energy sharing network, adjust the surplus and shortage, and reasonably allocate and use; 5. The transportation tools are turned to plug-in and fuel cell powered vehicles, and the power required comes from the above power grid.

Energy storage technology plays a key role in Jeremy Rifkin's vision for the Third Industrial Revolution.

Energy storage technology has been developed so far. People have proposed and developed a variety of energy storage technologies to meet different applications in different fields and with different needs. Global energy storage technologies mainly include physical energy storage, chemical energy storage (such as sodium sulfur batteries, all-vanadium flow batteries, lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, etc.), electromagnetic energy storage and phase change energy storage.

In comparison, lithium-ion battery energy storage is the most feasible technical route in the development of energy storage products. Lithium-ion batteries have the advantages of high energy density, low self-discharge, no memory effect, wide operating temperature range, fast charging and discharging, long service life, and no environmental pollution, and are known as green batteries. At present, driven by companies such as Tesla, BYD, and Yinlong, the trend of lithium-ion batteries becoming the mainstream battery technology for energy storage is becoming more and more obvious.

At present, the lithium-ion batteries widely used in the new energy field mainly include ternary lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries and lithium titanate batteries.

South Korea, Japan and China are the countries with the most advanced ternary lithium battery industry. As ternary lithium batteries have high capacity density and relatively long driving range, they have achieved remarkable results in the field of passenger cars. However, they have deficiencies in safety, high temperature resistance and lifespan. In 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology once suspended the inclusion of ternary lithium battery buses in the recommended model catalog for the promotion and application of new energy vehicles. In 2017, the ban on the use of ternary lithium battery buses was officially lifted, but the "Safety Technical Conditions for Electric Buses" must be met.

At present, the countries that have mastered relatively mature mass production technology in the field of lithium iron phosphate are mainly the United States, Canada and China. Compared with ternary lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries are widely used in pure electric buses due to their advantages such as stable safety performance, good high temperature performance and light weight. However, they have shortcomings in low temperature performance and positive electrode material tap density, and do not have advantages in work efficiency.

There is another type of battery that is currently attracting much attention from the market - the lithium titanate battery. Currently, there are only two companies that have lithium titanate materials and have achieved power and industrial applications, Toshiba of Japan and Yinlong of China. Lithium titanate batteries are the longest-lived and safest batteries among lithium batteries, and can achieve fast charging and discharging in 6 minutes and a wide temperature range of -50℃-60℃. In terms of life cycle, ordinary lithium-ion batteries have about 1000-2000 cycles, while lithium titanate has 30,000 cycles, which is 15 times that of the former. However, batteries made of this material have a natural shortcoming: the low energy density restricts their range, but the fast charging characteristics of lithium titanate make up for the shortcomings of its insufficient range, and are currently very popular in the commercial vehicle market.

As the ecological environment and climate change situation become increasingly severe, the energy revolution characterized by the priority development of renewable energy has become an inevitable trend. A reality that cannot be ignored is that no matter what technology is used, new energy cannot completely replace traditional fossil energy. The innovation of new energy technology still needs to be promoted by society, industry and enterprises. The industry should view any emerging technology from a development perspective. The advantages and differences of each technology must have a corresponding market, and the market is the real touchstone of technology.

With the advancement of lithium titanate industrialization, the overall cost reduction, and the improvement of energy density, lithium titanate has significant advantages in the markets of airport shuttle buses, city buses, urban logistics vehicles, etc.

In addition to the above-mentioned ternary lithium, lithium iron phosphate, and lithium titanate, energy storage technology will be further diversified in the future. For example, the fuel cells that will soon be commercialized will provide users with more choices.

What is the value of lithium-ion batteries that seem to be imperfect? ​​It depends on our vision. Are we limited to the superficial phenomena in front of us, or do we have insight into the long-term practical significance?

Energy storage technology is of extraordinary significance to the energy revolution. It is companies such as Yinlong and Tesla, which have mastered the world's leading core technologies, that have made continuous breakthroughs in the field of new energy, providing strong support for the energy revolution.