Why did the NIO 70-degree battery pack change to LFP?

Recently, it has been reported that Weilai will upgrade the existing 70kWh battery pack. The new battery pack will use lithium iron phosphate batteries, or the battery capacity will exceed 75kWh, and it is planned to be announced in the fourth quarter of this year. 'The new battery is still supplied by CATL and is currently undergoing B-sample testing.' According to a source who has contacted the senior management of CATL. As early as last year, it was reported that NIO had already contracted a production line of lithium iron phosphate batteries in the Ningde era. However, Wei Lai stated that 'discussing the possibility of using lithium iron phosphate batteries is related to the 100-degree power plan. We did not package the next production line. It is the Ningde era that uses one of its lithium iron phosphate production lines to produce our 100-degree batteries. 'It is reported that this production line of Weilai was originally reserved for Tesla in the Ningde era, and was contracted by Weilai to produce 100-degree battery packs. The upgrade of lithium iron phosphate battery packs may require a new production. Wire. And NIO will replace the original 70kWh ternary battery pack with lithium iron phosphate, first of all, it will have more advantages in cost, increase the gross profit rate of the vehicle, and create room for price reduction. NIO, which is gradually gaining a foothold in the high-end market, will include lithium iron phosphate in the method, which will also broaden the model level, which is expected to become a weapon for it to further seize the market. It is understood that Weilai has started the development of a new model in Hefei, which is positioned lower than the existing SUV and sedan models. On April 29th, NeoPark Hefei Xinqiao Intelligent Electric Vehicle Park started construction, with a planned annual output of 1 million vehicles and an annual output of 100GWh of batteries, with an initial investment of 50 billion. At present, the lowest price of the whole vehicle using the Weilai BaaS method can reach 276,000 yuan. This means that if more models use lithium iron phosphate batteries, Weilai's price range will be further expanded. It is understood that Weilai will solve the problem of performance degradation of lithium iron phosphate in winter through technical means. In the long run, with further technological breakthroughs, the continued expansion of lithium iron phosphate is accelerating the downward trend of its price. Tesla adopted lithium iron phosphate batteries on the domestic Model 3, which became the top seller through price reductions; after the G3 and P7 launched the lithium iron phosphate version, Xiaopeng launched the lower-positioned P5; the ideal car recently reported internally. Zhong said that future models will cover the price range of 150,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, and low-priced models use lithium iron phosphate batteries. Secondly, compared with ternary, because the string configuration is more flexible, the effect of lithium iron phosphate with CTP is better. Previously, the 100-degree battery pack announced by Weilai used the Ningde era nickel 55 ternary cell and CTP group technology. After the replacement of iron-lithium, there may be more possibilities. It is worth mentioning that CATL recently revealed that it will gradually increase the proportion of lithium iron phosphate batteries in the next 3 to 4 years. As more charging piles are built and the cruising range should not be too long, the production demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries will rise at a high speed because it is cheap enough. In this way, Weilai may be creating a set of 'LFP + charging pile' combo boxing. In the field of charging piles, NIO has become more and more in-depth in recent years. According to its quarterly report, as of now, Weilai has deployed more than 146 overcharging stations and 1826 destination charging piles across the country, and plans to reach 600 and 15,000 by the end of 2021, respectively. It is foreseeable that unlike the pursuit of high energy density in the past, when the market focuses on safety and low cost, after the installation of superimposed charging pile facilities, lithium iron phosphate batteries are bound to penetrate rapidly. Industry insiders pointed out that according to the current state, it is inevitable that iron-lithium will exceed the ternary demand in the second half of the year. And the penetration of lithium iron phosphate is not only A00 grade, but may gradually penetrate on B grade (Model 3, Han EV).