News of Lithium Battery: Xuetian Salt extends the industrial chain to the battery industry! BMW adds battery production capacity!
Nov 30, 2022
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- In principle, the main feature of sodium-ion batteries is the use of Na+ instead of expensive Li+. In order to adapt to sodium-ion batteries, the positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials and electrolytes must be changed accordingly. On this issue, the editor also consulted ZESHENG’s professional technical team, do sodium-ion batteries need to use NMP(N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone) solvent? The answer is yes, the preparation process of sodium ion batteries also requires the participation of NMP solvent.
News Of Battery Material:
1. CATL became the restructuring investor of Yajiang County Snowway Mining Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Snowway Company).
According to the National Enterprise Bankruptcy and Reorganization Case Information Network, on November 28, the administrator of Yajiang County Snowway Mining Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Snowway Administrator) announced that after review by the selection expert review team, CATL was recommended as the restructuring investor, and GCL Nengke (002015.SZ) was the candidate restructuring investor.
2. According to the announcement of Xuetian Salt on the evening of November 25, Xuetian Salt and its controlling shareholder, Qingyan Group, and Qingyan Shengfu, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qingyan Group,it is planned to adopt the method of “agreement transfer + capital increase and share expansion”,holding Hunan Nonferrous Research Institute’s wholly-owned subsidiary Meite Company.
In the end, Light Salt Group will hold 41% of Meite’s shares, Xuetian Salt will hold 20% of Meite’s shares, and Qingyan Shengfu will hold no more than 9% of Meite’s shares. The announcement shows that after the capital increase, the total valuation of Meite is 572 million yuan, and the registered capital is 163 million yuan.
Extending from the salt industry to the battery industry, Xuetian Salt has something to say:
- This transaction is the need to extend the company’s soda ash industry chain and increase the added value of products.
- Through the extension of the industrial chain of soda ash-battery-grade soda ash-sodium battery cathode materials, entering an emerging industry with a relatively fast growth rate can improve the added value and market competitiveness of soda ash products.
- Meite Company is the industrial development platform needed by Xuetian Salt Industry to extend to the cathode material industry of sodium batteries.
But there is one more important announcement to add:
- The current main business scope of Meite is the production, sales and research of lithium-ion battery materials.
- At present, Meite’s products are mainly used in the field of consumer electronics, and do not involve the production of new energy batteries suitable for automobiles; and there is no sodium-ion battery-related production technology.
- It is reported that Meite’s sodium battery technology is still in the exploratory research stage; whether it will be commercialized in the future is still uncertain.
- Meite currently has no related technologies and patents for sodium batteries, nor does it have clear related research plans and projects; there is no talent team and technical solutions related to sodium batteries.
In fact, the industry has already given a judgment result:
Sdium-ion batteries have a cost advantage over lithium-ion batteries due to their abundant resources, and may replace lithium-ion batteries as the first choice for the industry chain.
And there are already many companies in China staking the field of sodium-ion batteries:
For example, the Ningde era released the first generation of sodium-ion batteries in 2021 and is expected to achieve industrialization in 2023.
- Huayang Co., Ltd. is deeply bound to Zhongke Haina, and the world’s first mass-produced 1GWh sodium-ion cell production line is officially put into production.
- Transart Technology transformed into sodium-ion batteries and invested 5 billion yuan to build a 10GWh sodium-ion battery production line and a production line of positive and negative electrode materials with corresponding production capacity.
News of the battery:
1. Hunan Xinhemei New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. also held a new sodium-ion battery product launch conference in Yongzhou, Hunan Province on November 28. Government leaders and major players in the new energy industry were invited to the meeting.
It is understood that Hunan Xinhemei New Energy has successfully tested sodium-ion batteries in March 2022. After continuous optimization tests, the final test has been completed in June 2022, and small batch production has been completed in October.
Chairman Wang Xingrong also revealed that the company expects to achieve an annual output value of 300 million yuan by 2023, 800 million yuan by 2024, and complete independence or mergers and acquisitions by 2026.
The research and development of sodium-ion batteries is crucial to the new energy industry chain, which breaks through the dependence on lithium carbonate, the material of lithium-ion batteries.
As we all know, China is short of lithium resources, 80% of which depend on imports, and the price of lithium carbonate materials has risen 12 times compared with the same period last year.
However, if sodium-ion batteries are used, the overall cost can be reduced by 35%. Moreover, China has abundant reserves of sodium salt raw materials and low prices, which will help promote the development of the new energy industry and contribute to China’s “double carbon” goal.
It is reported that Xinhemei was established in April 2018 with a registered capital of 50 million yuan, an existing factory building of 15,000 square meters, 200 employees, over 40 R&D teams, and an annual output value of 200 million yuan.
Xinhemei originally focused on R&D and sales of various types of lithium-ion batteries, but in 2021 when traditional lithium battery materials soared, it focused on the development of sodium-ion batteries,developed and tested stable sodium ion electrolyte and negative electrode material hard carbon with supporting suppliers, and finally realized mass production of sodium ion batteries.
In principle, the main feature of sodium-ion batteries is the use of Na+ instead of expensive Li+. In order to adapt to sodium-ion batteries, the positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials and electrolytes must be changed accordingly. On this issue, the editor also consulted ZESHENG’s professional technical team, do sodium-ion batteries need to use NMP(N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone) solvent? The answer is yes, the preparation process of sodium ion batteries also requires the participation of NMP solvent.
Inventory of Professional knowledge :
1) Compared with lithium elements, the advantage of sodium-ion batteries is that they are rich in resources, and sodium resources account for about 2.64% of the earth’s crustal element reserves;
The method of obtaining sodium element is also very simple;
Therefore, compared with lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries will have more advantages in cost.
2) In terms of working principle, sodium-ion batteries are similar to lithium-ion batteries:
When charging, Na+ is released from the positive electrode and embedded in the negative electrode through the electrolyte; at the same time, the compensation charge of electrons is supplied to the negative electrode through an external circuit to ensure the balance of the positive and negative charges.
The opposite is true during discharge, Na+ is deintercalated from the negative electrode and inserted into the positive electrode through the electrolyte.
Under normal charging and discharging conditions, the intercalation and extraction of sodium ions between the positive and negative electrodes will not destroy the basic chemical structure of the electrode material.
3) The energy density of sodium ions reaches 120wh/kg, the cost is only one-third of that of lithium iron phosphate batteries, and the safe service life cycle is 15-20 years.
In the organic system, the energy density of the sodium-ion battery can reach 170wh/kg.
The safety performance of sodium-ion batteries is higher, the electrolyte is more stable, and sodium batteries can be discharged to 0 volts;
4) Wide application prospects: Although the energy density of sodium-ion batteries is lower than that of lithium-ion batteries, in view of the current situation of high lithium carbonate prices, sodium-ion batteries still have very broad application prospects.
Sodium-ion batteries can be applied to fields that do not require high energy density, such as grid energy storage, peak shaving, and wind power energy storage.
5) In terms of storage and transportation, sodium-ion batteries are also safer and more stable. They are also superior in low-temperature fast charging and high-power performance. They can be fully charged to 80% in 15 minutes, and can maintain 85% of the power at -25°C.
In the future, sodium-ion batteries will gradually replace lead-acid batteries, and will be widely used in various low-speed electric vehicles, complementing lithium-ion batteries.
2. EST-Futai | Energy Storage Solutions – one of the world’s leading suppliers of marine batteries – has announced a new major order. The German office is going from strength to strength itself, having recently signed a long-term framework contract with Rolls-Royce Power Systems to equip 10 newbuildings with ‘Green Orca 1050’ battery modules.
News of Electric Vehicle:
On November 25th, BMW announced that it will nearly double its investment in a planned electric vehicle factory in Hungary and add battery capacity.
The BMW Group announced that the Debrecen plant in Hungary, which started construction six months ago, is currently building a high-voltage battery assembly plant for its NEUE KLASSE models.
According to Reuters, the initial investment plan of BMW’s Hungarian plant will exceed US$1 billion, and the annual production will reach 150,000 vehicles; with the increase in funds now, the plant’s production capacity will be upgraded again, but the exact scale is not yet clear.
“The close link between battery assembly and vehicle production is part of our strategy. Hopefully this will lead to higher volumes and lower production costs,” BMW’s senior vice president for battery production told Reuters in an interview.
Batteries are a decisive factor in the competitiveness of electric vehicles, BMW said. The new model NEUE KLASSE will use the next-generation battery, which can increase the cruising range by 30% and the charging speed will also increase by 30%.
BMW Group also stated that battery manufacturers will use cobalt, lithium and nickel, including a certain proportion of secondary materials, that is, recycling old materials in battery production to achieve a commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 60%.
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