Ningde Era First Generation Sodium Ion Battery Comes Out, Lithium Sodium Hybrid Battery Pack "Reshapes" Power Battery Track?

The release of sodium ion battery poses a great threat to lithium iron phosphate battery.

On July 29, in the video of Ningde era's sodium ion battery conference, a black SUV quickly drove by in the snow... The application scenarios of sodium ion battery envisioned by the company are obviously not limited to the field of energy storage.

In just 10 minutes, Ningde era made the first generation of sodium ion battery public.

The core performance indicators include: the energy density of the cell is as high as 160wh / kg; Charging at room temperature for 15 minutes, the power can reach more than 80%; In - 20 ℃ low temperature environment, also has more than 90% discharge retention rate.

The energy density of 160wh / kg has reached the highest level in the world at present, surpassing the counterparts of zhongkehai sodium, sodium innovative energy and the sodium ion battery products of faradion company in the UK.

More importantly, the lithium sodium hybrid battery pack also made its debut at the same day's press conference, that is, one battery pack is equipped with both lithium-ion battery and sodium ion battery, realizing the integration and hybrid sharing of the two.

This not only makes up for the short energy density board of sodium ion battery at the present stage, but also plays the advantages of high-power and low-temperature performance, thus increasing the applicable scenarios, such as the northern region where the performance of power battery in winter declines seriously.

The reduction of its comprehensive cost is also conducive to competing for more market share of LiFePO4 battery, which may change the existing power battery supply pattern dominated by LiFePO4 and ternary battery.

The release of sodium ion battery in Ningde era poses a great threat to LiFePO4 battery. Visual China  

"This is the highest level in the world."

The performance of the sodium ion battery announced on the 29th has exceeded previous market expectations.

There are two indicators to measure, one is monomer energy density, the other is cycle life.

First of all, the energy density of the first generation sodium ion battery in Ningde era reaches 160wh / kg. According to the recent statistics of Everbright Securities, the energy density of sodium ion battery of Kehai sodium and sodium innovative energy in China is 135wh / kg and 120wh / kg respectively, while that of faradion company in UK is 140wh / kg.

"This is the highest level in the world." Huang Qisen, vice president of Ningde times Research Institute, said at the press conference that Ningde era is still in continuous innovation, and the energy density of the next generation of sodium ion battery will exceed 200wh / kg.

Compared with the mainstream power battery products, the energy density of the first generation sodium ion battery introduced by Ningde is slightly lower.

According to industry insiders, the current energy density of LiFePO4 battery has reached 180wh / kg, and the energy density of ternary battery provided by a few power battery manufacturers exceeds 200wh / kg.

In terms of battery life, the number of cycles of zhongkehai sodium ion battery can be less than 2000 times, while that of faradion company in the UK and that of sodium innovative energy are 1000 and more than 1000 times respectively.

Although Huang didn't mention the specific number of cycles at the press conference on the same day, he learned from Ningde times after the 21st century economic report press conference that the number of cycles of the first generation sodium ion battery released this time could reach 3000 times.

In addition, the product can also realize the fast charging capacity of "charging at room temperature for 15 minutes, and the power can reach 80%". However, sodium ion has obvious advantages in manufacturing cost, which is determined by its material structure.

"In the aspect of cathode materials, we innovatively rearrange the charge of the bulk structure of materials and redesign the surface of materials, which solves the worldwide problem of rapid capacity attenuation of materials in the process of recycling, and makes innovative materials have the conditions for industrialization." Mr Huang said.

For anode materials, the products released by Ningde times are made of hard carbon materials, and the overall performance index is equivalent to the existing graphite.

In addition, both positive and negative current collectors of sodium ion battery are aluminum foil, and the cost is lower than that of copper foil for lithium-ion battery anode, and its comprehensive cost is expected to be significantly lower than that of lithium-ion battery.

According to the agency's estimated data, the material cost of sodium ion battery will be reduced by 30% to 40% compared with that of lithium-ion battery.

According to the planning of Ningde era, the company has begun to carry out the industrial layout of sodium ion battery, and plans to form a basic industrial chain in 2023.

Lithium and sodium mix or impact the existing supply pattern

Overall, the energy density of the first generation sodium ion battery is slightly lower than that of the current lithium iron phosphate battery. However, it has obvious advantages in low-temperature performance and fast charging, especially in high-power application scenarios in cold regions.

Under the low temperature of - 20 ° C, the discharge retention rate of sodium ion battery in Ningde era is still more than 90%, which solves the problem that the power battery consumes too fast in winter in cold areas, such as northeast China and Northwest China.

What's more, at this conference, the company also launched a hybrid battery pack for the first time, which may impact the current supply pattern of lithium iron phosphate and ternary batteries in the future.

"We have also developed an ab battery solution, which is an integrated hybrid of (sodium ion) and lithium-ion batteries." Mr Huang said.

In other words, the sodium ion battery and lithium-ion battery are integrated into the same battery system at the same time. The two kinds of batteries are mixed, connected in series, parallel and integrated according to a certain proportion and arrangement. The balance control of different battery systems is carried out through the precise algorithm of BMS (battery management system of new energy vehicles).

However, the video shows that the ratio of sodium ion battery to lithium-ion battery in the hybrid battery pack is 2:1.

In this way, lithium and sodium batteries can learn from each other to make up for the short board of energy density of sodium ion battery at the present stage, and also play its advantages of high power and low temperature performance, so as to increase more application scenarios of lithium and sodium battery systems.

According to the performance index of sodium ion battery, the industry has predicted that the product is more suitable for energy storage, electric two wheeled vehicles, and A00 level automobile fields, such as Wuling Hongguang miniev and Benben e-star models with the price below 50000 yuan.

However, the sodium ion performance released by Ningde times this time is very close to that of lithium iron phosphate battery. Due to the competitive advantage of the cost side, its application scope may be further expanded, and even replace the power battery of new energy vehicles with the price below 100000 yuan.

For listed companies, the release of sodium ion battery is conducive to the further decline of cost curve of Ningde times and the continuous growth of overall revenue scale.

Starting from 2019, the cost reduction rate of Ningde era power battery began to narrow. The technical upgrading of sodium ion battery will help the company break the previous cost reduction bottleneck.

In terms of revenue composition, in 2020, the company's power battery system is the largest, with energy storage system accounting for less than 4%. In the later stage, with the industrialization of sodium ion battery, it is expected to bring new income increment for the company.

The market scale of this increment cannot be ignored.

On July 23, the national development and Reform Commission and the State Energy Administration issued the guiding opinions on accelerating the development of new energy storage, pointing out that by 2025, the development goal of new energy storage will be 30GW, that is, it will be expanded by about 10 times in five years, and the average annual compound growth rate will be as high as 55.8%.

In this regard, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde times, also said on the 29th that "for this reason, we have made a lot of efforts in the power generation end, the power grid end and the user end, and made a key layout in the aspect of electrochemical energy storage."