Wang Chuanfu: It is irrational for new energy vehicle companies to blindly pursue battery energy density

BYD is going further and further on the road of lithium ferrophosphate. On March 29, BYD officially released the blade battery, which has entered the mass production stage and will be first installed in the "Han" model. The company said it is discussing cooperation with most new energy vehicle brands. Wang Chuanfu said that BYD's blade battery will correct the current development status of the industry. The blade battery combines BYD's advantages in the entire industrial chain and overcomes the problem of low energy density of traditional batteries. It will change the new energy vehicle industry's dependence on ternary lithium batteries and redefine the safety of new energy vehicles.

According to Wang Chuanfu, BYD's blade battery has the advantages of high safety, long life and long battery life. The blade battery is another innovation of BYD based on lithium ferrophosphate technology. Its volume energy density is the same as that of mainstream ternary lithium batteries, but its safety performance far exceeds that of ternary lithium batteries. In addition, the space utilization rate of traditional battery packs is only 40%, while the space utilization rate of blade battery packs can reach more than 60%, which can greatly improve battery life.

In addition to safety, blade batteries also have high-voltage discharge capabilities, which can provide pure electric vehicles with stronger power output and acceleration capabilities. Taking the soon-to-be-released BYD Han EV as an example, after being equipped with the world's first mass-produced application of "high-performance silicon carbide MOSFET motor control module", it only takes 3.9 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h, and the cruising range reaches 605 km.

It is understood that BYD's "blade battery" is a square aluminum shell lithium iron phosphate battery that uses GCTP technology to increase the length of the battery cell. Because the single battery cell is long and flat, it is named "blade".

In the new competitive situation where fiscal subsidies for new energy vehicles are declining, battery manufacturers must drive down costs and increase energy density through technological changes in order to establish a competitive advantage. From the perspective of cost reduction, leading companies have chosen to streamline structural design to reduce the cost of power battery systems.

In September 2019, CATL took the lead in launching CTP battery technology. CATL claims that due to the elimination of the battery module assembly process, the volume utilization rate of CTP battery packs is increased by 15%-20% compared with traditional battery packs, the number of battery pack parts is reduced by 40%, the production efficiency is increased by 50%, and the battery pack energy density is increased by 10%-15%, which will significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of power batteries.

However, Jia Xinguang, executive director of the China Automobile Dealers Association, told ChinaVenture that in fact, neither of the two battery packs released by BYD and CATL can be considered particularly innovative. The improvement in energy density is mainly achieved through improvements in packaging technology.

At the press conference, Wang Chuanfu also said that in the field of new energy passenger vehicles, many companies are caught up in the competition for driving range. This pressure of competition will be transferred to the power batteries, causing the industry to have an irrational pursuit of the "energy density" of power batteries.

Behind these remarks, we can see that BYD has fallen far behind CATL in terms of battery density and market share.

In terms of energy density, the energy density of CATL's square ternary 811 series batteries is up to 245wh/kg, slightly lower than the international leaders LG and SK. Compared with domestic BYD and Guoxuan High-tech, CATL's ternary battery energy density leads by an absolute advantage. In terms of lithium iron phosphate batteries, CATL's square lithium iron phosphate energy density is 167wh/kg, BYD is about 157wh/kg, and Guoxuan High-tech has an average of about 170wh/kg. BYD has no advantage. In addition, BYD has made slow progress in the high-energy-density 811 battery.

In terms of market share, according to statistics from the Power Battery Application Branch Research Department, China's total installed capacity of power batteries in 2019 was 62.2GWH, of which CATL sold 31.71GWH, accounting for more than 51% of the market share. During the same period, BYD took 17% of the national market share, with a total sales volume of 10.76GWH, which was only one-third of CATL's market share. This data makes BYD's planned power battery production capacity of 100GWH very embarrassing. (Author Fisher)