Power battery companies compete to "change the situation"

From technology wars to price wars and then to brand wars, the competition in the power battery industry chain has shifted from the relatively single product power competition in the past to multi-dimensional factors such as technology products, intelligent manufacturing , industrial chain ecological construction, green and sustainable development, globalization and localization capabilities, and brand marketing, which tests the ability of enterprises to forge comprehensive competitiveness.

In this context, the 2024 Gaogong Lithium Battery Annual Conference and Golden Globe Awards Ceremony will be held at the JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen Qianhai OCT from November 20 to 22. The theme of this annual conference is "Reorganizing Boundaries, Reconstructing Values, and Reshaping Ecology."

At that time, leaders of leading power battery companies will deliver keynote speeches at the Gaogong Lithium Battery Annual Conference. So far, leaders of more than 20 power battery companies have delivered speeches and attended.

Among them, the leaders of battery companies such as CATL , Sinovation, EVE Energy, Guoxuan High-tech, Honeycomb Energy, Ruipu Lanjun, Xinwanda Power, Juwan Technology Research, Lishen Battery, Penghui Energy, BYD Battery, Histar Power, Xiongtao Power , Camel Group, Lingding Energy, Hualiyuan, Siyuan Battery, Weilan New Energy , SES AI , Ganfeng Lithium Battery, etc. will give keynote speeches or roundtable discussions, and more battery companies are being invited and confirmed.

Judging from the development and changes of battery companies in the past year, a series of new changes are taking place from internal product research and development, efficiency improvement and cost reduction to external brand strategy and market approach:

1. Create independent categories with competitive strength for all scenarios

In the current fierce competition in the power battery market, the technical performance of battery products basically meets the terminal demand, and the technological gap is difficult to further widen the market gap. Independent category batteries can make the company's products unique, avoid falling into low-level competition such as price wars, and increase the added value and profit margin of products.

For example, CATL launched Kirin battery and Shenxing battery for the fast-charging market, Tianxing (B)-bus version battery for the commercial vehicle market, and Xiaoyao battery for the hybrid market. Different product categories can make it more recognizable in the market segments.

For example, China New Aviation released a full range of new products under the "Top Flow" brand, including top-flow all-weather-super pure electric battery, top-flow supercharge-super extended-range battery, top-flow high-power-super plug-in hybrid battery, top-flow high-energy-flight battery, etc., to meet the needs of different scenarios. The "Zhi" series of products include the "Zhiyuan" series of new products focusing on the commercial battery field and the "Zhijiu" series of new products focusing on the energy storage field.

Battery companies represented by EVE Energy and Honeycomb Energy emphasize the uniqueness of their product technology by expanding the product categories of "large cylindrical" and "short knife batteries".

2. Technology upgrades as ultra-fast charging and hybrid charging market share increase

Since 2024, fast-charging batteries have rapidly penetrated the new energy vehicle market . GGII predicts that domestic fast-charging lithium battery product shipments will exceed 10GWh in 2024 .

Companies including CATL, EVE Energy, Guoxuan High-tech, Juwan Technology, Xinwanda, Honeycomb Energy, Lishen Battery, and Ruipu Lanjun have all launched new fast-charging power batteries for diverse application scenarios.

For example, Guoxuan High-tech launched the "G-engraved" 5C ultra-fast charging battery at the 13th Science and Technology Conference; EVE Energy launched the " open source battery" with 3C ultra-fast charging speed for commercial vehicles; the LFP Xinxingchi battery in the Xinwanda Power Flash Battery 3.0 series has a peak charging rate of 6C; the ultra-fast charging commercial vehicle power battery jointly developed by Juwan Technology Research and Western Intelligent Link can be charged from 10% to 80% in 15 minutes and operate for 4 hours, etc.

The development of the hybrid new energy vehicle market should not be underestimated. From January to September this year, the cumulative sales of hybrid new energy vehicles reached 3.328 million units, a year-on-year increase of 84.2%.

From the battery side, the top-tier supercharger-super-range battery released by Zhongxinhang is the industry's first 5C supercharger-range battery, with a full-charge range of up to 500 kilometers, and is scheduled to be launched in 2025. The technical upgrade solution of Honeycomb Energy's "short blade + thermal composite flying stack" has enabled it to rank TOP3 in the installed capacity of the hybrid market.

3. Accelerate the industrialization of new batteries

The industrialization of new batteries is of vital importance to promoting technological innovation, meeting market demand, promoting economic growth, facilitating energy transformation, and solving common problems in the industry. At present, the industrialization of semi-solid and all- solid-state batteries has attracted the most attention from the outside world.

In addition to the above-mentioned leading batteries, Lishen Battery, Penghui Energy, BYD Battery, Weilan New Energy, Ganfeng Lithium Battery, etc. have all made breakthrough progress in the field of semi-solid and all-solid-state batteries, which are also worthy of attention.

For example, Lishen Battery unveiled its latest generation of semi-solid-state battery products, with an energy density of up to 402Wh/kg and a cycle life of 1,000 times, and plans to mass-produce them in 2025; Penghui Energy's 20Ah all-solid-state soft pack has an energy density of 280Wh/kg, and can maintain more than 90% of its capacity after 600 cycles at 3.00-4.35V and 26°C; BYD Power has successfully developed high-performance composite electrolytes and in-situ curing technologies for semi-solid-state batteries, achieving the characteristics of high safety, wide temperature range, low expansion, and low internal resistance for solid-state batteries ; Weilan New Energy's 360Wh/kg high-energy-density power cell has ultra-high energy density and a single-time cruising range of more than 1,000km. It has been mass-produced and delivered to NIO at the end of 2023 ; Ganfeng Lithium Battery focuses on oxide and sulfide technology routes. At present, the company has achieved a thousand-ton-level mass production capacity of oxide solid electrolytes.

4. New materials and new batteries explore AI smart manufacturing

Since the beginning of this year, the lithium battery industry has also embraced AI with greater enthusiasm. The industry has become increasingly aware that it is no longer possible to achieve a leap in innovation growth by relying solely on the human brain, and the lack of complacency in battery innovation has led it to move towards a deeper integration with AI.

Leading companies including CATL, BYD , Honeycomb Energy, and Sunwoda have all mentioned in public that they will accelerate the introduction of AI, especially in the innovation of battery material systems and intelligent battery manufacturing.

In September this year, SES AI teamed up with NVIDIA , Crusoe and Supermicro to accelerate the development of new battery materials. It plans to use high-performance supercomputers optimized for AI to draw small molecule databases , thereby improving the understanding of battery chemical systems and accelerating the development of energy storage solutions.

The industry believes that strategically integrating AI into its own development, covering three aspects: technology development, production and manufacturing, and downstream applications, can fundamentally reshape the business model and maximize its value.

From November 20th to 22nd, the above-mentioned battery companies will give speeches or share their views in roundtable discussions at the 2024 Gaogong Lithium Battery Annual Conference. You are welcome to register for the conference (press and hold to scan the QR code).