Mengwei Technology CEO Zhou Lisha was invited to attend the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum and delivered a speech. The application of lithium metal batteries in new energy vehicles has gradually entered the industry's vision

From March 31 to April 2, 2023, the China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum was held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. The meeting invited representatives from relevant government departments and industry organizations and leading companies in the fields of automobiles, energy, transportation, cities, communications, etc. to discuss topics such as the development situation of the global automobile industry, the high-quality development path of new energy vehicles, and the development trends of core industrial chains and supply chains such as power batteries. Zhou Lisha, CEO of Anhui Mengwei New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (Mengwei Technology), was invited to attend the meeting and delivered a keynote speech at the Power Battery Forum on "Building a Globally Competitive Battery Industry", sharing Mengwei Technology's exploration and thinking on the mass production and installation of lithium metal battery products.

Lithium metal batteries are the ultimate solution for high energy density power batteries

With the advent of the global electrification energy revolution, China's new energy vehicle industry has entered a new stage of rapid development, driving the power battery industry to continuously break through the technological boundaries, and high energy density has become the long-term development direction of power batteries. Zhou Lisha said that in terms of battery system design, the positive and negative electrode technology routes determine the upper limit of battery energy density. From the perspective of high-energy-density lithium battery technology routes, the upgrade direction of positive electrode materials has developed from NCM622 and 811 to 9 series ultra-high nickel and lithium-rich manganese-based, and sulfur positive electrodes may also be used in the future; the upgrade direction of negative electrode materials has changed from graphite and silicon carbon to the use of metallic lithium, and in the future, a lighter ultra-thin lithium or even lithium-free negative electrode design will be adopted. Lithium metal batteries are the ultimate solution for high-energy-density power batteries.

The mass production and installation of lithium metal batteries requires balancing the comprehensive performance indicators of the product and solving the manufacturability engineering problems

What key issues will lithium metal batteries face in mass production and installation? In this regard, Zhou Lisha said that the mass production and installation of lithium metal batteries first need to balance the comprehensive performance indicators of the product. Unlike the breakthroughs in the laboratory stage, the comprehensive performance of product-level lithium metal batteries needs to take into account safety and energy density while greatly improving the cycle life, meeting the six core indicators of rate performance, environmental adaptability, and production cost. Secondly, at the engineering and technical level, mass production manufacturing process is an important factor affecting the comprehensive performance of lithium metal battery products. To achieve product-level lithium metal battery development, it is also necessary to solve problems such as manufacturing process optimization, production line equipment development, and key process control; in addition, the industrial ecology level also needs to improve the supply of the industrial chain and promote the coordinated development of the industrial chain such as vehicle-end design, intelligent safety management, and lithium battery recycling. Mengwei Technology has chosen the technical route of high-nickel ternary adaptation of metal lithium negative electrode. By adopting lithium negative electrode protection technology, combined with flame-retardant functional electrolyte and composite current collector technology, it effectively inhibits the growth of lithium dendrites, and has carried out continuous systematic innovation and development of key links such as basic materials, battery cell technology, manufacturing equipment, and structural design for the lithium metal battery system. At the same time, Mengwei Technology attaches importance to solving engineering and technical problems such as negative electrode processing, production and assembly, and has carried out research including process optimization, equipment upgrade and development, and back-end system integration. In September 2022, it officially launched the first lithium metal battery automatic manufacturing line to further enhance the company's engineering manufacturing platform's automation, systematization, and intelligent manufacturing capabilities.

Mengwei Technology's product-level safe high-energy lithium metal battery not only takes into account safety and energy density, but also greatly improves the cycle life and has been verified by users in specific application scenarios.

In her speech, Zhou Lisha demonstrated the evolution of Mengwei Technology's lithium metal battery products. Among them, Mengwei Technology delivered METARY®️ Exx series products with an energy density of 500Wh/kg in batches to electric aviation customers in June 2022, and the latest power and cycle products announced by Mengwei Technology this year have also been verified by users in specific application scenarios. The flight time of industrial drones equipped with Mengwei's METARY® P battery products can be extended by 60%-80%, demonstrating the endurance advantages of lithium metal batteries in actual application scenarios. At the same time, the 400Wh/kg-level lithium metal battery METARY®️ EL product released by Mengwei Technology has a capacity retention rate of more than 90% after 300 cycles, and after 250 deep charge and discharge cycles, the battery energy density is still more than 400Wh/kg, which means that the cycle life of ultra-high energy density lithium metal battery products has the basic conditions for vehicle installation verification.

The application of lithium metal batteries in new energy vehicles is gradually entering the industry's vision

Further improving the cycle life is a demand pain point for mass production and installation of lithium metal batteries. In this regard, Zhou Lisha introduced that Mengwei has achieved remarkable results through metal lithium negative electrode modification solutions and adaptation of new composite liquid electrolytes. The capacity retention rate of Mengwei Technology's product-grade lithium metal battery METARY®️ EL series products after 300 cycles exceeds 90%; and in the company's "z21 Innovation Laboratory (z21-Lab)", the R&D-level lithium metal battery prototype samples under testing have exceeded 480 cycles, and the capacity retention rate is still higher than 89%, which can basically meet the cycle requirements of vehicle installation verification. It is believed that with the continuous iteration of technology in the future, the problem of cycle failure will be further solved. It is expected that the cycle life of the prototype lithium metal battery will exceed 800 times in 2023, and by 2025, the cycle life of lithium metal battery power battery products will reach 1,000 times, which has the basic conditions for large-scale application in the new energy vehicle market. Finally, Zhou Lisha said that lithium metal battery products will face many challenges in terms of material research, engineering technology and industrial ecology from prototype development to mass production trial production and then to mass production and installation. With the iterative upgrading of technology, the continuous improvement of cycle life and the increasing maturity of mass production manufacturing technology, the application of lithium metal batteries in new energy vehicles has gradually entered the industry's vision. At the same time, Mengwei Technology pursues truly practical safe and high-energy lithium metal battery products. Customer demand has always been our inexhaustible driving force and source of innovation. We look forward to more exchanges, cooperation and co-creation with you in the future!