The leading battery companies in China and South Korea intensively "flexed their muscles" and revealed the "offensive" in Europe!

"The growth rate of China's BYD, Funeng Technology, CATL and other companies in other markets around the world other than the Chinese market is 'frightening.'" At the beginning of this year, South Korea's SNE Research once commented on the development of installed capacity of China's leading power battery companies. status quo.

SNE Research also said that since Tesla has driven price competition for electric vehicles, Chinese battery companies are expected to target other markets around the world besides the Chinese market, especially in the use of lithium iron phosphate batteries, based on the price differentiation strategies of vehicle manufacturers. In Europe, where the production rate is relatively low, lithium iron phosphate batteries are the main product, opening up a new blue ocean.

In fact, Europe, as the birthplace of the automotive industry, occupies an important position in the global automotive industry chain. Affected by this, the world's leading power battery companies are actively accelerating their deployment in Europe, including new generation products such as ternary, lithium iron phosphate, lithium iron manganese phosphate, and sodium-ion batteries, covering square, large cylindrical and other types, as well as ultra-fast charging and other new technologies are rapidly penetrating into Europe.

Recently, at the 2023 German International Automobile and Smart Mobility Expo, about 70 Chinese companies participated in the exhibition. Among them, in the field of power batteries, all leading Chinese power battery companies such as CATL, Everview Lithium Energy, Sunwoda, and Ruipu Lanjun The presence at the event demonstrated the extraordinary strength of the "Chinese Battery Group", and each company also revealed its European market layout.

· CATL: German and Hungarian bases will produce Shenxing supercharged batteries

In addition to exhibiting its M3P batteries, condensed matter batteries and other products, as well as application solutions such as EVOGO battery swap and Qiji heavy truck battery swap, CATL also debuted in Europe for the first time the world's first lithium iron phosphate material that supports large-scale mass production. 4C supercharged battery - Shenxing supercharged battery.

In fact, in August this year, Ningde Times took the lead in releasing the Shenxing superchargeable battery in China. Through all-round innovation in materials, system structure, etc., it broke through the performance boundaries of the lithium iron phosphate material system. The battery life exceeds 700 kilometers and achieves "10-minute charging" , the ultra-fast charging speed of 400 kilometers, even in a -10℃ environment, it can charge to 80% of the battery in 30 minutes.

CATL said that it is currently actively negotiating with many European OEMs to promote Shenxing supercharged batteries, and announced that the batteries will be produced in its factories in Germany and Hungary to help the European new energy vehicle market achieve leapfrog development of supercharged batteries.

· Yiwei Lithium Energy: Hungary base plans to produce large cylindrical batteries

Yiwei Lithium Energy appeared at this exhibition with its power product matrix, and its large cylindrical "π" system has attracted much attention from the industry. It is reported that in terms of design, large cylindrical batteries with a diameter of 46mm can be made in different heights and use space flexibly, thereby easily adapting to A/B/C-class cars or SUVs. In terms of manufacturing efficiency, large cylindrical battery manufacturing has obvious advantages. Meet the needs of the era of mass manufacturing.

In June this year, Yiwei Lithium Energy completed the production of the millionth 46 series ternary high specific energy battery, officially realizing commercial delivery and application. In terms of production capacity, it is expected that Yiwei Lithium Energy will complete the implementation of the 20GWh annual production capacity of 46 series ternary high specific energy batteries within this year, and plans to build more than 50GWh production lines in Shenyang, Chengdu, and Hungary abroad. Can meet the needs of domestic and foreign customers in stages. In terms of orders, it is reported that its large cylindrical batteries have received intentional orders from customers in the next five years, totaling more than 472GWh.

· Sunwanda: Flash charging and sodium-ion batteries attract much attention

Sunwanda Power, a subsidiary of Sunwanda, exhibited a variety of products such as flash charging batteries, sodium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries, and large cylindrical batteries. Among them, public information shows that its flash charging battery not only has the characteristics of ultra-fast charging, high safety, low temperature resistance, and extreme durability, but also has a battery life of up to 1,000 kilometers and can be charged to 80% SOC in 10 minutes; it is a highly competitive ultra-low temperature sodium-ion battery. , with outstanding advantages such as ultra-low temperature discharge, high safety, high rate discharge, and high energy density. Its sodium supplementation method and preparation have obtained multiple patents and have attracted market attention.

Sunwanda Power stated that it had reached cooperation intentions with a number of European customers during the exhibition. At the same time, in order to deepen its global strategic layout and better explore the international market, Sunwanda has previously announced that it will invest approximately 1.9 billion yuan in Hungary to build the first phase of its power battery factory project, including the manufacturing and sales of lithium batteries and power battery systems. Waiting for business.

· Ruipu Lanjun: Asking for technical support, launching a European subsidiary

Ruipu Lanjun brought its Wending family series of products to the exhibition this time. As an innovative platform technology independently developed by Ruipu Lanjun, Wending Technology can be applied to lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium battery products to achieve the application of dual-high electrodes and improve the energy density and safety performance of the battery.

In early September, Ruiplanjun also announced the official launch of its European subsidiary located in Munich, Germany. Cheng Dandan, the person in charge of the subsidiary, said that in the future, he plans to use Europe (subsidiary) as another scientific research, production and marketing base for Ruipu Lanjun to achieve localization layout, intelligent manufacturing upgrade and production capacity expansion.

It is worth noting that among battery companies in other countries, South Korea's Samsung SDI also launched its lithium iron manganese phosphate battery products at this auto show. Information shows that in March this year, Samsung SDI revealed that it was trying to develop lithium iron phosphate batteries to diversify its business and customers. Three months later, the company demonstrated its lithium iron phosphate battery products for the first time. There was also news in August that Samsung SDI would build South Korea's first lithium iron phosphate battery production line at its Ulsan factory.

Currently, most of the world's lithium iron phosphate/lithium iron manganese phosphate batteries are produced by Chinese battery companies. With widespread market recognition, South Korea's leading battery companies have to follow the footsteps of Chinese companies in their layout.

In addition, Samsung SDI has also launched a new shape battery called "side battery". It is reported that this battery can move the positive and negative electrodes of the battery from the top and bottom to the side, and also supports the setting of heat dissipation systems on the top and bottom, thus Improve thermal safety.

Overall, the European market is one of the battlegrounds for global power battery companies. Chinese companies have leading advantages in technology, upstream resources, manufacturing experience, downstream customers, etc. However, in the face of various restrictions in European battery laws, domestic industries There are both opportunities and challenges for chain companies to enter Europe.

Regarding the question of "how companies can further accelerate their overseas expansion", Wang Wei, chairman of Sunwanda, recently told the media that power battery carbon footprint management will become a key factor for Chinese power battery companies to enhance their global competitiveness. At the same time, companies must build a company that meets relevant The bill requires a competitive key upstream raw material supply system to support localized supply chains.

In addition, Wang Wei also pointed out that auto parts companies must follow the future market layout direction of car companies when going global. At present, many Chinese car companies plan to focus on the main European markets such as Germany and France, as well as some North American markets, in the next 3 to 5 years; parts, especially lithium battery companies, should closely follow the overseas layout of complete vehicles to pave the way for the globalization of Chinese car companies. play its due role. This also raises more considerations for Chinese battery companies’ layout in Europe.