As the demand for batteries expands, which battery can seize the market?

Anyone who has read Jin Yong's martial arts novels should know that although Jin Yong's arena is full of chivalrous tenderness, the struggle will never end. In order to win the Central Plains, people from all walks of life have worked hard to practice internal skills, and in the constant changes, formed a clear-cut faction such as Shaolin, Huashan, and Wudang, which is very much like today's power battery market. As we all know, with the opening of new energy market demand, the market demand for power batteries continues to increase, and related power battery companies are also accelerating their 'grabbing'. In the fierce market competition, the market has gradually formed a 'three-legged' situation of square, soft and cylindrical. Each of the three has its own unique skills, and the tricks are deadly square-Shaolin School Shaolin School is the sect with the widest range and largest system in Chinese martial arts. Its Shaolin martial arts has long been well-known in the world for its mighty combat, its broadness and profoundness. The square battery is also popular in the power battery market. There are two different processes for prismatic batteries: winding and lamination. The advantage of the square shape is that its structure is very simple. Unlike cylindrical batteries that use high-strength stainless steel as the shell and accessories such as explosion-proof safety valves, the overall accessories are lighter and have a higher energy density. In addition, the prismatic battery has the advantages of low internal resistance, long cycle life, high packaging reliability, and good endurance, and it occupies a certain share in the domestic market. Currently, the square-shaped companies on the market include Ningde Times, BYD, Guoxuan Power, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Lishen, AVIC Lithium, Maike New Energy, Zhongtian Technology, Lixin Energy, Narada Power, Harbin Coslight, and Camel Battery Wait. Soft Case-Huashan School Huashan Swordsmanship is exceptionally handsome and lofty, with the artistic conception of 'righteousness and odd victory, victory in danger' everywhere, which is like the soft-pack battery market. Different from square batteries and cylindrical batteries, which mainly use stainless steel shells or aluminum shells, soft pack batteries mostly use lighter and thinner aluminum-plastic films, which are light in weight and have high energy density. In addition, the soft bag also has the advantages of flexible size change, high specific energy, light weight, low internal resistance, many cycles, and not easy to explode. It is worth mentioning that, in the case of greater energy density, the advantages of the soft package will be more prominent. And this is also one of its 'weapons' to win the market. At present, China's enterprises producing soft pack batteries include Polyfluoride, AVIC Lithium Battery, Wanxiang, CITIC Guoan, and Weihong Power. It is worth mentioning that domestic mainstream new energy passenger car companies such as BAIC, Changan, Dongfeng, and Zotye have all begun to adopt soft pack power batteries. Cylindrical-Wudang Sect Wudang Sect, literally understood, it means that the brave are fearless, the benevolent is invincible, act decisively, and dare to act; Wudang martial arts emphasizes internal strength training, and emphasizes the use of softness to overcome rigidity; and the cylindrical battery manufacturer is not only professional and meticulous. In addition, they also pay attention to cost performance. Cylindrical batteries have many advantages, such as superior cycle performance, fast charging and discharging, and high output power. And this is also its 'magic weapon' that distinguishes it from square and soft bags. Currently, the companies that make cylinders on the market include Suzhou Ankor, BAK Battery, Lishen, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Zhuhai Yinlong, Far East Foster, and Zhihang New Energy, Shanghai Delang Energy, Dongguan Zhenhua, Yiwei Lithium Energy and Tianpeng Power Supply, etc. On the whole, square, soft-packed, and cylindrical batteries have their own advantages, and the market demand is increasing. In the short term, they will still maintain a 'three pillars' situation. According to data from the Starting Point Research Institute (SPIR), the total installed capacity of domestic power batteries in the first quarter of 2019 was 12.32GWh, of which the installed capacity of prismatic batteries was 10.11GWh, a year-on-year increase of 205%, and the installed capacity of soft-pack batteries was 1.2GWh, a year-on-year increase of 200%. The installed capacity of batteries was 1.01GWh, a year-on-year increase of 44%. Although the current mainstream market is still dominated by squares, from the data analysis point of view, the market growth of soft packages is very obvious. Some people in the industry even said, 'From the perspective of future passenger cars, soft-pack batteries have certain advantages in two aspects: one is the improvement of energy density, which is more advantageous than the square shape; the other is the solid state that is currently favored. Batteries will mainly rely on the soft package route to achieve industrialization.” This can be considered a high evaluation of the future development potential of the soft package. However, relative to the encouraging momentum of soft packaging, the growth of cylindrical enterprises is not very obvious. Under such circumstances, many companies have sought breakthroughs and found another way out. On the one hand, BAK, Lishen, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Zhihang New Energy and other leading companies, or upgraded products, launched 21700 large-capacity batteries, imported high-nickel materials such as NCM811, NCA, or deployed square, soft-pack batteries. A variety of routes go hand in hand; on the other hand, the second and third echelon of cylindrical enterprises have begun to turn to electric bicycles, small power, energy storage and other fields. For example, Zhihang New Energy will add 6Gwh prismatic batteries, mainly for the passenger car market. The plant has been completed and it is expected to start production in the second half of this year. Zhuoneng's battery cell production capacity will gradually shift to the small power field. This year, the company will focus on the small power battery market such as two-wheel and three-wheel electric vehicles and small energy storage.