Lishen Battery launches 160Wh/kg cylindrical sodium-ion battery, and the sodium battery camp continues to grow

According to Lishen Battery’s official WeChat account, Lishen Battery recently launched a 160Wh/kg cylindrical sodium-ion battery.

Image source: Lishen Battery official poster screenshot

According to the company's official information, the technical advantages of this product include: 1. High specific energy, energy density of 160Wh/kg, 10% higher than the first generation sodium-ion battery; 2. Low temperature resistance, which can achieve a discharge capacity retention rate of -40℃ greater than 80%; 3. Ultra-fast charging, which can achieve 5C fast charging and reach 80% power in 12 minutes; 4. High safety, passing the GB38031-2020 safety performance test.

As the second generation sodium-ion battery of Lishen Battery, its application fields include electric bicycles, A00 electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage.

Lishen also said that the energy density of the next generation of sodium-ion batteries is expected to reach 170-180Wh/kg, which will rapidly promote the development of high-specific energy, low-cost and high-safety sodium-ion battery products, and greatly alleviate the current shortage of raw materials and common problems in lithium-ion batteries. Quickly replenish anxiety.

At the end of July 2021, CATL demonstrated to the industry a number of technological innovations in the material system, battery performance and structural design of its first-generation sodium-ion battery, triggering the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries.

Image source: CATL

Although the price of lithium carbonate has fallen since last year, the cost advantage of sodium-ion batteries has been weakened to a certain extent. However, whether from the perspective of the capital market or the layout of specific enterprises, its development prospects are still promising.

Cao Yang, chief analyst of Orient Securities Futures Nonferrous Metals, previously said that the current battery chemical system is too single. The development of sodium-ion batteries not only meets the strategic needs of resource security, but also plays an important role in reducing the cost of new energy battery systems. Therefore, even if the raw materials are not affordable in the short term Despite the pressure of high costs, the development of sodium-ion battery technology is still meaningful.

In addition, the development of sodium-ion batteries can ensure the security of my country's supply chain. You must know that global nickel, cobalt, and lithium resource reserves are small and unevenly distributed. my country's nickel, cobalt, and lithium resources are highly dependent on foreign countries, and supply exceeds demand in the short to medium term.

my country's sodium resources are abundant and easily accessible, so the development of sodium-ion batteries has strategic significance in effectively ensuring the security of my country's supply chain. Because of this, the national level is also currently supporting the acceleration of the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries.

In addition, from a cost perspective, although sodium-ion batteries currently do not have a very obvious price advantage over lithium batteries, the theoretical cost of sodium batteries is still lower than that of lithium batteries.

A senior analyst at the Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute once said that sodium-ion batteries have further expanded the space for cost reduction with large-scale mass production, and have obvious cost advantages compared to lithium iron phosphate batteries at the current price of lithium carbonate.

According to Zhongke Haina's calculations, when large-scale production of more than 100GWh is achieved, the direct material cost of each 1GWh of sodium-ion batteries produced will be 30% to 40% lower than that of lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Shenwan Hongyuan also previously predicted that after the large-scale production of sodium-ion batteries and the maturity of the supply chain, the cost of sodium-ion batteries is expected to be reduced to 0.3-0.4 yuan/Wh.

What can be seen is that in 2023, there will be constant news in the research and development and industrialization process of nano-ion batteries.

In terms of OEMs, domestic automakers such as BYD, JAC, Jiangling, and Chery, as well as many overseas automakers, have stated that they will introduce sodium-ion batteries into the passenger car market.

Image source: Battery Committee of 100

In terms of battery manufacturers, battery manufacturers such as CATL, BYD, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Penghui Energy, Huayang Technology, and Rongbai Technology have successively launched plans for sodium-ion batteries and electrode materials, and actively promoted industrialization.

It is worth noting that Lishen Battery is launching a cylindrical sodium-ion battery this time. In fact, since Tesla released the 4680 large cylindrical battery in 2020, the cylindrical battery camp has continued to grow.

Tian Xiujun, chief engineer of China-Belgium New Energy, has previously said that among the various forms of batteries currently available, square-shell sodium batteries will have problems such as uneven internal stress, uneven current density distribution, severe gas production, and poor circulation; soft-pack sodium batteries Batteries will have problems such as serious gas production and battery bulging; cylindrical products such as 18650 and 21700 have small capacities and cannot solve the pain point of low energy density of sodium electricity. Therefore, large cylindrical batteries are the best form of sodium electricity.

In July last year, China-Belgium New Energy officially released the first "Zhenna E1" car-grade large cylindrical sodium-ion battery 32140NS, and announced that it had reached mass production.

Previously, many companies such as Zhongke Hainan, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Duofuoduo, Mengshi Technology, Tianneng Co., Ltd., and Cube New Energy have also launched cylindrical sodium-ion battery products.

Now, with the launch of Lishen's 160Wh/kg cylindrical sodium-ion battery, another member of the cylindrical sodium-ion battery product camp has been added. With the implementation of many corporate layouts, related industrialization progress is also expected to accelerate.