GM and Honda have formed an alliance with new batteries. What can Chinese car companies learn?

On June 7, 2018, General Motors and Honda Motor announced that they would cooperate in the field of next-generation batteries to achieve the goal of cutting costs and accelerating the promotion of electric vehicles. The two companies will cooperate on the next generation of advanced chemical energy battery components. GM's Warren Battery Laboratory Technology Center in Michigan, USA will cooperate with Honda's Ru0026D center in Tochigi. The scope of research and development includes new generation battery cells. And battery module. But GM has not yet announced the processing address of the new battery. The new generation of batteries will have higher energy density, smaller package volume and faster charging speed. In the future, Honda will purchase battery modules based on GM’s new-generation battery technology. The new batteries will be installed in GM and Honda’s respective new electric vehicle products, mainly for the North American market. A GM spokesperson said that the scope of this agreement overturned does not involve electric vehicles sold in my country. In 2017, GM and Honda announced the joint creation of fuel-powered batteries. In fact, Honda’s purchase of GM’s next-generation battery modules has added a new footnote to the grouping route in the new energy era. In 2017, the two parties announced the scope of technical cooperation between Zhang and Da, and it is expected that the jointly developed hydrogen fuel power battery will be put into practical use in 2020. In the process of conquering the new energy fortress, due to the difficulties of battery technology, supporting facilities and scale effects, car companies are increasingly pinning their hopes on alliances. At present, a major bottleneck of electric vehicles lies in the physical limitation of the energy density of lithium-ion batteries. As a result, the practical pure electric cruising range is often only 100-200 kilometers, which is difficult to respond to consumer demand and causes 'range anxiety'. The long charging time and the battery volume squeezing the space in the car also hinder the popularization and promotion of electric vehicles. For this reason, increasing battery energy, accelerating charging speed and reducing volume have become important issues for new energy sources. The energy density of lithium iron phosphate battery (unit/single) with common density is about 120-160Wh/kg, the energy density of ternary battery can be increased to 130-220Wh/kg, and the ternary battery can reach 300Wh/ under laboratory conditions. kg, the long-term goal is to reach 400-500Wh/kg or even higher. However, the current system architecture of liquid batteries uses liquid/gel-like electrolytes, and the electrochemical window is limited. It is difficult to be compatible with lithium metal anodes and newly developed high-potential cathode materials, and the energy density is basically difficult to cross the 300Wh/kg barrier. As a result, solid-state batteries and methods to reduce size and charging time have become the new favorites in the field of new energy. In the demonstration of this cooperation, no detailed technical route or cooperation amount has been given, so it is not yet certain whether GM and Honda will consider entering the field of solid-state batteries in the future, but for Honda, through cooperation, GM can get GM's lead in the battery field. Technology, and GM can reduce costs on a large scale. Honda started late in the field of pure electric vehicles. It only established an electric vehicle business unit in the second half of 2016. If you compare the cruising range under the same standard, the performance of its new energy products is not leading. For example, the cruising range of Clarity pure electric vehicles is 89 miles, only comparable to the first-generation Nissan Leaf, while the pure electric cruising range of the Clarity plug-in hybrid is 47 miles, which is lower than the 53 miles of the Chevrolet Volanda Extended Range Hybrid. On the other hand, Honda has set an ambitious goal for electric vehicles. By 2030, two-thirds of global sales will come from electrified vehicles, covering gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel-powered batteries. car. For General Motors, it will announce a new generation of electric vehicle products in 2021, and strive to be the first to realize profitability of electric vehicles. By 2023, it will launch at least 20 pure electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel-powered battery vehicles. Among the three major Japanese car companies, Nissan has already formed an alliance with Renault to be at the forefront of electric vehicles. Toyota has also established an electric vehicle business unit with Mazda and other auto companies to develop advanced technologies such as solid-state batteries and expand its electric vehicle parts business. Integrated with Denso. As for Honda, which is one step later, it is logical to choose to go hand in hand with GM. As a result, domestic car companies have been extended to domestic car companies. Although autonomous car companies have deployed electric vehicles in advance, they still have shortcomings. Their strengths are government support, entry into the parity category, and early landing and accumulation of relevant experience, while the actual electric vehicle technology Except for BYD's strength, most of them have not adequately mastered the three powers, and there is still a gap between the performance parameters and integrated calibration and the foreign powerhouses. Therefore, internal alliances and cooperation with external parties can also bring opportunities to catch up. We can already see examples of internal alliances such as Geely, Changan, and Corun, as well as Sino-foreign joint venture electric vehicle companies such as Zotye Ford and Jianghuai Volkswagen, but if internal disputes and coordination cannot be resolved, then they have all taken the same route. Compared with the rapid advancement of foreign alliances, independent car companies can hardly be optimistic about their new energy business.