Wei's self-developed 4680 and other batteries will be put into small-scale production next year

Recently, domestic media reported that NIO is developing its own lithium iron manganese phosphate and 4680 batteries, and plans to mass-produce these two batteries for NIO and its sub-brand ALPS. ALPS is a new sub-brand created by NIO, with products priced between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan.

In June this year, Li Bin said in the first quarter earnings call that NIO has formed a battery-related team of more than 400 people and will launch an 800V high-voltage platform battery pack in 2024. The above 800V high-voltage battery is a 4680 battery, which is planned to be installed in NIO's third-generation platform (NT3) models. NIO will also start small-scale production of lithium iron manganese phosphate batteries to supply NIO's sub-brand Alps. The brand is positioned in the 200,000-300,000 market range and is expected to be listed in 2024.

The 4680 battery is a cylindrical battery with a diameter of 46mm and a height of 80mm. It is currently mainly used by Tesla. It has been mass-produced in the Texas factory and successfully installed in some Model Y models. It will also be one of the development directions of major manufacturers in the future. At present, the disadvantage of the 4680 battery is that it is uncertain whether it will increase the difficulty of internal heat dissipation of the battery, expand the battery cell, and shorten the battery life.

In April last year, NIO started to build Neo Park, an automobile industrial park in Hefei, and planned to build a battery factory with an annual production capacity of 100GWh. In addition, NIO also built a battery pilot production line in Shanghai for battery R&D trials and testing. Currently, NIO has planned or matched 5 types of batteries, namely CATL's 70KWh, 84KWh, and 100KWh ternary lithium batteries, 75KWh batteries developed in cooperation with CATL, and 150KWh semi-solid batteries jointly developed with Weilan.

Editor's summary: After producing its own batteries, NIO will realize the layout of the entire life cycle from manufacturing to charging and battery recycling, and gain a certain say in power batteries. This means that NIO has the opportunity to gain benefits in every link of power batteries except raw materials.