In recent months, the name CATL has been popping up in front of everyone's eyes.

From CATL's development path, we can also feel the pulse of China's new energy lithium battery industry, with the movements of the head manufacturers always leading the industry.

CATL's 811 battery and TSLA are the keys to its success

1. The wavering 811, how does the road of high nickel ternary battery go?

The opportunity for ordinary consumers to learn about CATL, other than those who have been following the new energy industry for a long time, was either when AIONS promoted the 811 battery in 2019 or when it became a supplier to TSLA.

We know from second grade that theoretically, the higher the nickel content, the more influential the battery and the higher the range; reducing the cobalt content also reduces the cost, so of course, we need a shot at something that works so well!

The era of the 811 explosions followed, with significant car companies using the 811 battery as a selling point, and there was even talk at the time that the 811 was used in high-end cars.

But it didn't last long, as AIONS, the first to take the plunge, had several spontaneous combustion accidents in 2020, and Weimar also had an automatic combustion accident, pushing the 811 into the limelight for a while; plus, there had been questions about the safety of the 811 battery, and this time, old scores were settled together, which made CATL, the leading promoter of the 811, drink.

The market quickly calmed down, and several newer cars launched in 2020, such as the ER6 and Geometry C, coincidentally used the NCM532 battery, and even AIONS quietly changed suppliers. In the same year, there was a rumor that "CATL abandoned the 811 and switched to the 523 battery", a short sentence with no evidence and no evidence, which screwed up CATL's 40 billion market value.

2. TSLA and the "cobalt-free battery" play on words

Next, we examine another CATL story - the TSLA cobalt-free battery controversy.

This operation wave directly pulled BYD, Guoxuan Gaoke, and other lithium iron phosphate activists' share prices. CATL also has lithium iron phosphate technology in hand, of course, also made a lot of money. Still, then TSLA very subtle rumor that "not necessarily lithium iron phosphate," and some media reports that it may be TSLA's research supercapacitor, so a mess, CATL and other lithium iron phosphate companies harvest a green meadow, but the supercapacitor concept shares are red. The concept of supercapacitor was a hot one.

In a later story, we also understand that CATL became TSLA's lithium iron phosphate battery supplier, plus the number one fan of lithium iron phosphate BYD war power, lithium iron phosphate battery directly to the green cloud. The major car companies have been testing the lithium iron phosphate battery for a time. Several batches of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology new car declaration directory, there are a variety of new and old models of lithium iron phosphate version, lithium iron phosphate is like today's Moore's Manor the same back into the public eye, the latest gadget for cars to socialize.

Lithium iron phosphate battery is also making a comeback. Data show that in May this year, lithium iron phosphate battery installed 4.5GWh, accounting for 45.9% of the total installed capacity; ternary lithium battery installed 5.2GWh, the proportion of the total installed ability fell to 53%. According to industry forecasts, the installed base of lithium iron phosphate batteries is expected to exceed that of ternary lithium batteries in June 2021. And from January to May 2021, the cumulative installed base of lithium iron phosphate reached 17.1GWh, accounting for 41.3% of the total installed base; the cumulative installed base of ternary lithium batteries reached 24.2GWh, accounting for 58.5% of the total installed base.

Although Zeng Yuqun loves to gamble and does not play ALLIN gambling king that set, he understands the reasoning for putting eggs into different baskets. Zeng Yun once said, "CATL does the whole industry chain, and as a bricklayer, we cannot be biased." CATL is multi-point flowering. I don't think I rely on the windfall of ternary lithium to start. It means abandoning iron phosphate lithium.

This also represents the two different winds of the current domestic new energy vehicle power lithium battery, ternary lithium OR lithium iron phosphate that is the question.

● From CATL to see China's power lithium battery technology route, more than you do not understand!

In fact, in addition to the "essence of the battle" between ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, there are also various technical routes for domestic lithium batteries. Of course, these technologies are not entirely separate from the ternary lithium battery and lithium iron phosphate, but complementary, such as "silicon doped lithium," can be used in ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries.

1. What the hell is lithium silicon doping? Can there be fewer new energy black words?

This term was first introduced by Jiji Auto, claiming that "the battery is developed by Jiji Auto and CATL through the cooperation of "silicon doped lithium" technology, with the highest energy density of 300Wh/kg, with 200,000km zero decay and never spontaneous combustion".

A brief introduction to the "silicon doped lithium" the current battery anode material is generally graphite, silicon than graphite can be more loaded with electrons, but silicon loaded X easier to expand, so in the graphite doped with some silicon, so that the anode in a "silicon, but not completely with silicon" state, new battery capacity and energy density.

The famous "silicon cathode followed this," As early as March 2019, CATL announced that its R&D team had overcome key core technologies such as high nickel ternary materials and silicon-carbon cathode materials and was the first to develop battery samples with an energy density of 304Wh/kg.

According to a report by the securities company, CATL's subsidiary Pingnan Times is building a 430 tonnes/year silicon-based anode project; the company maintains cooperation with Sugo, which is currently planning to develop 50,000 tonnes per year of anode material production, in addition to preserving supply relationships with Dongguan Kaijin, Putai Lai and Betray. This shows CATL's strong layout in the industry chain.

In addition to CATL, other head battery manufacturers are also laying out silicon doped lithium and silicon cathode technology, such as Guoxuan High Tech, which announced a lithium iron phosphate battery with silicon doped lithium technology in January this year.

Of course, the L7 has not yet been officially launched, so I have reservations about the various silicon-doped lithium batteries before the product has been tested. I hope it will bring us a high range and safe product.

2. What the hell is a sodium ion battery? Can salt be used as a battery?

Related sources said that sodium-ion batteries could be applied to the field of low-speed electric vehicles. The hit may be lead-acid batteries; in addition, sodium-ion batteries in the area of energy storage also use specific applications. According to statistics, by the end of 2020, China's cumulative energy storage installed 35.6GW, of which the cumulative installed capacity of lithium battery energy storage is 2.9GW, the primarily other pumped storage. Although this market is not as large as the capacity of lithium batteries, CATL's "side business" also proved its complete layout in the energy chain. At the same time, this break the monopoly, resist the speculation of metal behavior is also beneficial to the whole industry.

3. Solid-state batteries too

At NIODAY2020, Azera claimed that its 150kWh solid-state battery technology (which turned out to be a semi-solid-state battery) could give a range of 1,000km. This event sparked the "1000km range race" in the industry, followed by the announcement of the "1000km range" route by Jiji Auto and GAC Eyan.

Solid-state batteries are batteries with a solid electrolyte. After replacing the electrolyte with a solid, the thermal runaway problem of the battery is alleviated, and there are also advantages such as high energy density and small size. Of course, there are problems such as poor fast charging performance and high cost.

Solid-state batteries are such a Netflix product that CATL naturally wants to get in on the action. It is reported that in 2016, CATL announced its R&D path on sulfide solid-state batteries, with an energy density of 300 Wh/kg and the ability to achieve 300 weeks of cycling at a capacity retention rate of 82%. The all-solid-state battery is still developing and is expected to be commercialized after 2030.

In addition to CATL, companies in the upstream and downstream of the new energy vehicle industry chain, including Tianqi Lithium, Nandu Power, and Engine, have also laid out solid-state batteries. At the same time, some OEMs have also stated that they will use solid-state batteries.

In this way, the whole industry loves solid-state batteries, but will the next ten years be the world of solid-state batteries or semi-solid-state batteries? No one dares to say, looking at the current technological development, maybe in five years, new energy vehicles will be flying in the sky, or one of the bigwigs has discovered some great new material. The new energy vehicle industry has always been full of imagination and infinite possibilities, and no one can predict its development.