Major lithium battery manufacturers move frequently

In response to the surge in demand for lithium batteries, major lithium battery manufacturers made frequent moves in 2018. South Korea's three major battery manufacturers LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation agreed to jointly develop core battery technologies. In addition, they will set up a 100 billion won (approximately US$90 million) fund to create the next-generation battery industry ecosystem. The LG Chemical Power Battery Project with a total investment of US$2 billion has started construction in Nanjing Jiangning Binjiang Development Zone. The project was signed on July 17, and the start of construction was announced in just three months, surpassing the 'Nanjing speed' of the real economy. LG Chem vice chairman and CEO Park Jin-soo (Park Jin-soo) revealed that the project is of great significance and will be LG Chem’s largest battery manufacturing base in the world. Toshiba has decided to invest 16.2 billion yen to build a new plant and expand lithium-ion batteries in the Yokohama office. The new plant will start in July 2019 and is expected to be completed in October 2020. Toyota’s subsidiary “PrimearthEV Energy (PEVE)” announced in January 2018 that it would build a new plant for lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles (HV). The goal is to increase HV lithium-ion batteries in the first half of 2020. The production capacity has been increased to 3 times the current capacity. According to a survey report by relevant Japanese institutions, the market size (manufacturer’s shipment value) of the four key materials (positive electrode material, negative electrode material, electrolyte and separator) of global lithium-ion batteries in 2017 is expected to increase by 49.0% annually to US$14.715 billion. In terms of market share in various countries, Chinese manufacturers continue to maintain a high sense of presence, and their market share in the cathode material, anode material, electrolyte, and separator markets are as high as 66.4%, 77.3%, 69.9%, and 54.8%, respectively. Korean manufacturers. It is said that China is already the world's largest electric vehicle market, and Chinese companies currently occupy 7 of the world's top ten lithium battery manufacturers. Japan's Panasonic ranked first, China's CATL and BYD ranked second and third, and two Korean companies, LG Chem and Samsung SDI, also entered the top ten. Some analysts say that the top three in East Asia are performing the 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' of electric vehicle batteries. Yano pointed out that driven by the demand for lithium-ion batteries for vehicles, the demand for boosting battery materials will continue to expand. It is estimated that the size of the world's four key material markets will increase by 24.0% annually to 18.247 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. Among them, positive electrode materials are expected to increase by 33.8% annually to 11.813 billion U.S. dollars, negative electrode materials will increase by 15.7% annually to 2.102 billion U.S. dollars, electrolyte will increase by 2.2% annually to 1.706 billion U.S. dollars, and separators will increase by 9.4% annually to 2.624 billion U.S. dollars. . It is estimated that the global market size of cathode materials in 2020 is estimated to expand to 16.587 billion U.S. dollars, which will increase by 87.9% compared with 2017; the anode materials will increase to 3.902 billion U.S. dollars, which will increase by 188.8% compared with 2017; the electrolyte will expand It will increase to US$3.095 billion, an increase of 85.4% over 2017; the diaphragm will increase to US$4.561 billion, an increase of 90.1% over 2017.