Domestic lithium battery equipment enters Europe

The equipment procurement demand released by the European power lithium battery expansion competition has provided a good development opportunity for Chinese lithium battery equipment companies. Foreign media reported that German equipment manufacturer ManzAG (Manz) once again won an order from TEConnectivity, an international auto parts company, to supply its power lithium battery PACK assembly line. Prior to this, Manz also received orders for power lithium battery equipment including German battery system manufacturer Akasol, French battery manufacturer Saft, Slovak start-up battery company InoBatAuto, and many European OEMs. Behind Manz's successive orders for equipment from European battery companies and OEMs is the acceleration of European electrification. The European Union is accelerating the construction of local power lithium battery supply chains, getting rid of its dependence on Asian batteries, and achieving self-sufficiency and even export of power lithium batteries. In recent years, the European Union has invested heavily in supporting the local power lithium battery industry. Europe has successively created many local power lithium battery companies such as Sweden Northvolt, France Verkor, Norway Freyr, Norway Morrow, Italy Italvolt, Slovakia InoBatAuto, etc., to build battery production on a large scale. As an important part of the local supply chain, local European equipment companies represented by Manz have gained market opportunities in this wave of European battery infrastructure and provide smart manufacturing solutions for local battery projects. Currently, battery companies in China, Japan and South Korea, including Samsung SDI, LG Chem, SKI, CATL, Honeycomb Energy, and Panasonic, as well as European start-up battery companies and OEMs, are accelerating the production of European battery plants, thereby releasing huge power lithium Purchase demand for battery production equipment. Under this circumstance, a group of Chinese lithium battery equipment companies with core competitiveness have also gone out of the country to provide nearby supporting services for their major customers’ European plants, and are expected to take this opportunity to enter the supply chain system of Japanese, Korean and European battery companies in Europe. . Wu Juan, general manager of Haoneng Technology, said to Gaogong Lithium that Haoneng is accelerating the landing of its German subsidiary and is currently negotiating with a number of European customers on technical methods to provide European customers with nearby supporting services and enhance Haoneng’s international competition. force. In March 2020, Keheng Co., Ltd. (300340) announced a notice that Haoneng Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has recently received an equipment purchase order from Ningde Times (300750). The latter will purchase a total of 20 Haoneng Technology’s 'Slitting machine' is used in its German production base. At present, Haoneng Technology has successively shipped the lithium battery equipment produced by the German factory of CATL, which laid the foundation for the supply of other European battery customers in the later period. It is reported that the mid-to-end production line equipment for power lithium batteries at the German base of CATL has completed the bidding and entered the site for installation, and is expected to be put into production within the year. Under this circumstance, the manufacturing core station segments include Hymson, Han's Laser, Haoneng Technology, Leading Intelligence, Xinjiatuo, Yinghe Technology, Leiyu Technology, Times High-Tech, Liyuanheng, Zhuhai Titan, Hangke A large number of domestic lithium battery equipment companies such as Technology and Yuchen Automation are also expected to benefit. The above-mentioned Chinese equipment companies may use the supporting experience of the German base of CATL to enter the supply chain of the European battery industry in the later stage. Industry insiders pointed out that with the rapid rise of domestic lithium battery equipment and the demand for international market competition, my country's lithium battery equipment companies are expected to seize this wave of European power lithium battery investment and construction opportunities to achieve a leap-forward transformation from replacing imports to exporting. On the one hand, after years of development, the performance of domestic lithium battery equipment is no longer inferior to those imported from Japan and South Korea, and it is even in a leading position in some areas. At present, it has achieved large-scale substitution of imports in the domestic power lithium battery manufacturing and began to export, laying the foundation for domestic equipment to enter the supply chain of European and American battery companies and OEMs. On the other hand, the new European power lithium battery infrastructure will put forward high-efficiency and stable production and delivery requirements for the field of lithium-ion equipment. Compared with Japanese and Korean companies, my country's head lithium battery equipment companies currently have faster and more stable delivery capabilities, and will become an important choice for European battery companies to speed up production construction and release. Overall, the layout of my country's lithium battery industry chain in the European market has become an inevitable trend. At present, a group of internationally competitive batteries, materials, equipment and other Chinese lithium battery companies have established factories in Europe to provide nearby facilities for their international customers. It is expected that there will be more Chinese lithium battery companies going overseas to compete with Japanese and Korean companies. It is worth noting that domestic lithium battery equipment companies are also facing multiple pressures and challenges when entering the European market. 'European battery factories have particularly high requirements for the automation and intelligence of production line equipment, and they must pass CE certification and must comply with European standards.' A senior executive of a Chinese lithium battery equipment company told Gaogong Li Battery that European battery customers have some production lines. The design concept of the process is different from that in China, and there will be some difficulties, so the domestic production line cannot be copied completely. In addition to the different production line design requirements and the need to meet European standards, European customers may implement more stringent equipment performance verification or parameter requirements. This requires my country's lithium battery equipment companies to fully guarantee product performance to prevent the cost of long-term after-sales maintenance due to equipment failure in the later period. At the same time, if Chinese lithium battery equipment companies want to compete in the European market, they must also attach great importance to the construction of product patents, intellectual property rights, laws and regulations, personnel training, supply chain management, etc., and have core competitiveness and large-scale delivery capabilities.