Why can soft-packed lithium batteries become a favorite for battery companies
With the announcement of the new version of the subsidy policy in 2018, higher requirements have been put forward for battery energy density. Soft pack technology, as an important means of battery lightweight and high-energy, continues to increase the penetration rate in the new expansion of production capacity, and is achieving high Investment growth rate in the scale of industry expansion. Compared with hard-shell batteries (square and cylindrical), soft-pack batteries have the characteristics of flexible design, light weight, small internal resistance, not easy to explode, many cycles, and high energy density. In the short term, flexible packaging, as a means of battery lightweight and high-energy, will occupy a relatively high proportion of the incremental market. In the long run, all solid-state batteries need to adopt soft packaging technology to point the industry's direction. As the subsidy threshold continues to increase, flexible packaging can help more battery companies improve energy density and product competitiveness. In the future, flexible packaging technology will occupy a place in the incremental market. What is a soft pack battery? A soft pack lithium battery is just a liquid lithium-ion battery covered with a polymer shell. In the structure, the aluminum-plastic film packaging is used, and the soft-packed battery will only be vented and cracked in the event of a safety hazard. Advantages of soft-packed lithium battery packs 1. Good safety performance. Soft-packed batteries are not explosive like steel shell and aluminum shell batteries. 2. The light weight soft pack battery is 40% lighter than the steel shell lithium battery of the same capacity, and 20% lighter than the aluminum shell battery. 3. The capacity of a large-capacity soft pack battery is 10-15% higher than that of a steel shell battery of the same size and 5-10% higher than that of an aluminum shell battery. 4. Small internal resistance The internal resistance of soft-pack batteries is lower than that of lithium batteries. At present, the minimum internal resistance of domestic soft-pack battery cells can be less than 35mΩ, which greatly reduces the self-consumption of the battery. 5. Flexible design The shape of the soft pack battery can be customized according to customer needs, and new battery cell models can be developed. Large upgrade space for soft-pack lithium battery production The soft-pack battery cell adopts a lamination process, which places high demands on the control of the production process. At present, the domestic production of soft-packed lithium batteries is still immature, the standardization is low, the battery consistency is poor, and the raw material aluminum-plastic film relies on imports, resulting in relatively high unit costs. However, driven by demand, these development bottlenecks are expected to be eliminated in the future through production scale, automation, enhanced battery management system, and improvement of aluminum-plastic film quality. Soft-pack lithium battery structure Soft-pack lithium battery became popular in China at this time. On the one hand, with the maturity of technology and the influx of capital, the performance advantages of soft-pack batteries have become prominent, especially in energy density. On the other hand, due to the rise of the domestic passenger car market, especially the 'favor' of soft-pack ternary power batteries by foreign car companies, it has greatly stimulated the domestic soft-pack battery market. The frequent influx of funds indicates that soft-pack lithium battery packs will further expand the penetration rate of the power market. Among them, battery companies with competitive strength in terms of product quality, technology, scale and capital will also get more opportunities.