At the recently held forum on "Frontier Technologies and Applications of Power and Energy Storage Batteries", Chen Chunmei, Director of the Automobile Division of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is currently speeding up the drafting and compilation of the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Automotive Power Battery Industry". The "Opinions" will make it clear that by 2025, it will accelerate the construction of the national power battery innovation center, strengthen the upgrade of lithium batteries and the research and development of new system batteries, promote the coordinated development of the industrial chain, strengthen the quality inspection of product safety, and improve the management business system, etc. to formulate further measures.
"It can be said that the introduction of the "Opinions" will provide a clear path for the development of the lithium battery industry in the future." Xiong Baiqing, vice president of the Beijing Nonferrous Metals Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from the "Economic Daily" that in recent years, with the The explosive growth in the production and sales of new energy vehicles and the rising demand for lithium batteries, especially power batteries, have brought great opportunities to the development of the lithium battery industry.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in the first half of the year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in my country reached 177,000 and 170,000 respectively, a year-on-year increase of 125% and 126.9% respectively. The forecast data of the Guolian Automobile Power Battery Research Institute also shows that by 2020, the production capacity of new energy vehicles in my country will reach 2 million, and the demand for power batteries will reach 100 billion watt-hours.
The improvement of the market has not only brought about an increase in the demand for lithium batteries, but also promoted the continuous improvement of the efficiency of power batteries. Xiong Baiqing said that 10 years ago, 20 kilograms of batteries were needed to load 1 kWh of electricity; now, only 9 to 10 kilograms of batteries are needed to load 1 kWh of electricity; by 2020, to load 1 kWh of electricity, the battery weight will be reduced to 4 to 5 kilograms, "the weight of the battery is reduced, and the raw materials for making the battery such as positive electrode material, negative electrode material, manufacturing process, etc. will be reduced, and the cost will also decrease. Today, the production cost of the battery has increased from 5 per watt-hour 10 years ago. Yuan to 6 yuan, down to 1.5 yuan." Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang also said at the 2016 China Auto Forum that by 2020, efforts should be made to double the unit energy density of power batteries and reduce manufacturing costs by 50%. While making the unit battery energy reach more than 300 watt-hours, the cost is reduced to less than 1 yuan.
The cost reduction is mainly due to the continuous advancement of technology. However, compared with some developed countries, my country's lithium battery industry is still facing problems such as short battery life and poor environmental adaptability. In particular, the situation of small, scattered and chaotic lithium battery enterprises is very serious, and the phenomenon of blind investment and repeated construction is also increasing. highlight. According to statistics, there are currently more than 200 lithium battery companies in my country, and the largest company actually sells only a few billion watt-hours every year.
"The technical demand of the lithium battery industry is developing rapidly, and without innovation, it will regress." Xiong Baiqing analyzed that because there are no large lithium battery companies in my country, innovation resources are relatively scattered, and the economic scale, profitability, and research and development capabilities of most companies are comparable to those of foreign companies. Far from it.
Fortunately, the support of a series of favorable policies has injected a strong impetus into the development of the lithium battery industry. It is understood that since the development goal of new energy vehicles was proposed in 2012, my country has successively introduced policies and measures such as financial subsidies, priority of road rights, and opening of license plates, and the newly introduced "Made in China 2025" strategy clearly proposes to continue to support electric vehicles, The development of fuel vehicles. As the heart of new energy vehicles, the lithium battery industry has also received great attention.
Chen Chunmei said that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will further revise and improve the "Regulations for the Automotive Power Battery Industry" issued last year, and strengthen the requirements and supervision of product scale, research and development capabilities, and product consistency. In addition, relevant departments are also accelerating the introduction of implementation measures for the recycling and reuse of power batteries. While clarifying the responsibilities of all parties, an extended producer responsibility system will be proposed. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will strengthen the construction of the power battery product resource management system. "Now a pilot program for the recycling of new energy batteries is being formulated. In the next step, pilot work will be organized in key areas and areas that can be recycled."