Electrochemical energy storage surged 260% in the first half of the year! The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the lithium battery "report card"!

In the first half of 2021, under the guidance of the grand goal of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality", the national lithium-ion battery industry achieved rapid growth, product quality and process technology continued to improve, the trend of photovoltaic and storage integration was obvious, the investment and financing market was active, and the overall trend of industrial development was positive.

First, the scale of the industry is growing rapidly. According to estimates by industry associations and research institutions, the national lithium-ion battery output exceeded 110GWh in the first half of the year, an increase of more than 60% year-on-year. The output of upstream positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials, diaphragms, and electrolytes were 450,000 tons, 350,000 tons, 3.4 billion square meters, and 130,000 tons, respectively, with an increase of more than 130%. The total output value of the industry exceeded 240 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Product exports have increased significantly. According to customs data, the total export value of lithium-ion batteries in the first half of the year was 74.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 70%.

Second, product technology is updated rapidly. The energy density of square-shell lithium iron phosphate and soft-pack ternary batteries mass-produced by mainstream enterprises has reached 160Wh/kg and 250Wh/kg respectively. Energy storage lithium-ion batteries generally achieve a cycle life of more than 5,000 times, and the cycle life of leading enterprises' products exceeds 10,000 times. New cobalt-free batteries and semi-solid batteries are accelerating the pace of mass production. Battery safety is receiving increasing attention, and multiple protection measures such as temperature measurement, heat insulation, water cooling, thermal conductivity, exhaust, and pressure resistance are accelerating the promotion and application of system-level fields.

Third, the integration of photovoltaic and energy storage is accelerating. While the sales volume of consumer lithium batteries has increased by more than 10% and the sales volume of power lithium batteries has exceeded 58GW, as "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" has become a broad consensus of the whole society, energy storage lithium batteries have ushered in explosive growth. The energy electronics industry chain integrating innovations of "photovoltaic power generation, battery energy storage, and terminal applications" has gradually accelerated its development pace. Key enterprises in the fields of lithium batteries and photovoltaics have strengthened cooperation, and the construction of photovoltaic and energy storage integration has accelerated. In the first half of the year, the national output of energy storage lithium-ion batteries reached 15GWh, a year-on-year increase of 260%.

Fourth, the level of intelligent production continues to improve. The downstream market has continuously increased its requirements for the consistency, yield rate, and safety of lithium-ion batteries. High-cleanliness workshops, automated production lines, intelligent management systems, and remote control systems have become standard features of production. The overall cleanliness level of the workshops of key enterprises has reached Class 10,000, and the cleanliness level of key process workshops has reached Class 1,000 or above. Intelligent vehicles are widely used in the transportation of semi-finished products, the level of unmanned production processes has been continuously improved, and battery traceability and process management systems have been widely established and applied.

Fifth, the investment and financing environment of the industry is relaxed. According to research institutions, in the first half of the year, key enterprises announced nearly 100 investment projects in the lithium-ion battery industry chain, with a total investment of more than 490 billion yuan, of which the investment in batteries and four major materials exceeded 310 billion yuan and 180 billion yuan respectively. In the first half of the year, more than 20 lithium-ion battery industry chain companies applied for listing, with a total financing scale of nearly 24 billion yuan. The new pattern of domestic and international dual circulation is accelerating, domestic leading enterprises are investing in and building factories in key overseas regions, and international capital and enterprises are strengthening cooperation with domestic enterprises through equity participation, long orders and other forms.