Tetsuro Honma: Panasonic plans to fully realize cobalt-free lithium batteries in 2-3 years

On January 16, the 7th China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum (2021) was held online. At the international forum with the theme of "Automobile and Transportation Transformation under the Goals of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality", Tetsuro Honma, Representative Director and Executive Director of Panasonic Group, President and CEO of China Northeast Asia Company, delivered a speech saying that Panasonic will develop and mass-produce more advanced lithium-ion batteries in the future, and plans to fully implement cobalt-free in 2-3 years. At the same time, it will also develop solid-state batteries, but there are still many technical problems that need to be solved.

Tetsuro Homma, Representative Director and Executive Director of Panasonic Corporation, President and CEO of China Northeast Asia Company

Tetsuro Honma said that last year, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the global economy suffered an unprecedented impact, but the business in China showed a growth trend. In terms of sales, the second quarter reached 104% year-on-year, the third quarter reached 102%, and the fourth quarter also achieved growth.  

In order to meet the uses and characteristics of different vehicles, Panasonic has developed many different types of on-board batteries to meet the performance, safety and reliability requirements of pure electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles produced by vehicle manufacturers. In recent years, large-scale investments have been made in square batteries for pure electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles in Dalian, China, Himeji, Japan and Kasai, Japan, and cylindrical batteries for pure electric vehicles in Nevada, USA. At the same time, the management of mass production supply chains and the high-quality production system on mass production lines are continuously improved at each base. The Dalian plant became a joint venture with Toyota Motor in April 2020. Taking this as a new starting point, it strives to contribute to the development of new energy vehicles and energy-saving vehicles in China.

Regarding the battery technology route, Tetsuro Honma believes that the battery life can be further increased through the innovation of lithium battery materials, and more advanced lithium-ion batteries in the future can effectively improve energy density, safety, long-term stability, and achieve reasonable costs. However, it is also necessary to solve the problems of raw material preparation and recycling caused by the rapid expansion of the market.

Tetsuro Honma said that the industry has begun to study solid-state batteries and new batteries. Although they have the potential to be the next generation of pure electric vehicle batteries, there are still many technical problems that need to be solved, and it will take a lot of time to solve these problems. In the future, Panasonic will develop and mass-produce more advanced lithium-ion batteries as the basis of its business, and will also develop solid-state batteries at the same time.

Regarding the trend of high performance development of automotive batteries, Tetsuro Honma said that currently, the industry often uses two types of round batteries, 18650 and 21700. As the preferred battery for pure battery vehicles, Panasonic will focus on the development of higher energy density brought by material innovation in the future. Starting from 2017, it is entirely possible to increase the energy density by more than 2 times in a few years.

There are many types of square batteries used in the market. They are applicable to high-capacity batteries for pure electric vehicles, high-power batteries for hybrid vehicles, and batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles that take both capacity and power into consideration. Panasonic hopes to significantly improve the physical performance through material innovation and optimization of internal structure. "We believe that square batteries will also achieve more than double performance improvement within a few years starting from 2017. We hope to improve power consumption and fuel consumption by improving battery performance."

Tetsuro Honma then introduced Panasonic's plans for cathode material innovation and next-generation battery models. He said that in 1994, lithium cobalt oxide was born as the first cathode material for lithium-ion batteries for information and communication technology. In 2006, high-nickel nickel-cobalt-lithium cathode materials were developed, with a cobalt content of 15%. Panasonic has been working hard to reduce the amount of cobalt used and plans to fully implement cobalt-free in 2-3 years.

As a rare metal, cobalt has always been a major issue from materials to prices. Panasonic is committed to the cobalt-free process for pure electric vehicle batteries, and strives to achieve safe manufacturing and safe production in terms of raw materials. In addition, Panasonic has begun the development of 4680 cylindrical batteries. With the large-scale battery cells and the battery capacity increased to 5 times the original, Panasonic will spare no effort to develop highly reliable and safe electrodes and battery structures and production methods that can achieve them.

In order to promote the popularization of electric vehicles, it is necessary to promote the optimization of quality, safety performance, energy conservation and environmental protection, and operation management, and to ensure safety and social costs. Panasonic has increased its investment not only in hardware supply, but also in software development.

First of all, safety is the guarantee. Tetsuro Honma believes that while pursuing high battery performance, safety is also an important factor that cannot be ignored in promoting the popularization of electric vehicles. Therefore, the safety of the battery cell must be ensured first. Secondly, the assembly of materials, diaphragms, electrode plates, and battery cells is completed by machines and equipment, so the ability to control impurities, stable operation, and traceability in the entire process also become very important.

In terms of environmental protection, Panasonic and material manufacturers are working together to actively promote the recycling of used batteries and renewable materials. Action has already begun in North America, striving to achieve a smart society that takes the environment into consideration.

In October last year, Panasonic and NavInfo established a joint venture, whose main business is to provide Chinese users with the planning, development, sales, operation and maintenance of commercial solutions, with the goal of providing users of automotive batteries with more convenient and efficient battery solutions.