The former overlord of lithium batteries, Panasonic released the 4680 model, which can reduce costs by 56%!

　　On October 25, at a media roundtable, Panasonic released the company's new battery for the first time, the 4680 proto-type battery. The storage capacity of this advanced battery is 5 times that of existing batteries. Each battery has a rated capacity of 9,000 mA, which can increase the endurance of electric vehicles by 16%.

　　According to Tesla's statement when it released the 4680 battery on September 23, 2020, the 4680 battery will increase the cell capacity by 50%, including cell process, packaging technology, battery raw material mining, and chassis frame improvements. Measures will achieve a cost reduction of about 56%.

　　Panasonic is the world's largest lithium battery giant in the past. It can be said to be the originator of lithium batteries. Whether it consumes lithium batteries or power batteries, Panasonic is a well-deserved elder. Let's take a look at its development process and current planning.

　　As early as 1994, Panasonic successfully developed rechargeable lithium batteries. In the following 10 years, Panasonic has been firmly in the leading position of lithium battery consumption. Japanese companies including Panasonic and Sanyo have almost monopolized the global lithium battery market.

　　In 2008, Panasonic began to cooperate with Tesla in the field of power batteries. With the rapid growth of Tesla's sales, Panasonic won the top spot in power battery shipments. The global market share of Panasonic batteries was once as high as 30%.

　　This pattern continued until 2017. With the outbreak of China’s new energy market and the rapid rise of China’s power battery industry chain, Panasonic’s power battery shipments were overtaken by CATL and ranked second; by 2020, Panasonic was again LG Chemistry surpassed and fell to third.

　　In the first half of 2021, although Panasonic is still ranked third in the global power battery usage rankings, its market share is only 15%, while the first-ranked CATL reached 29.9%, and the second-ranked LG New Energy also has 24.5%.

　　On the technical route, Panasonic is still unwilling to develop lithium iron phosphate batteries; in terms of packaging, Panasonic intends to produce prismatic batteries, but the output is small.

　　In terms of production capacity, Panasonic currently has three main production bases located in the United States, Japan and China. In the United States is a joint venture between Panasonic and Tesla. The current capacity is estimated at 39GWh, and there is no further expansion plan; the factory in Japan has a capacity of 10GWh, and there is currently no further expansion plan; the current capacity of the factory in Dalian, China It is 5GWh and plans to expand to 20GWh by 2023.

　　From the perspective of corporate background, Panasonic belongs to the Sumitomo system, the third largest consortium in Japan. The most notable thing is that Panasonic’s battery business accounts for only about 9% of the group’s overall revenue, and its profit contribution is only about 1%. Therefore, the consortium behind the Panasonic battery is not active in its capacity expansion.

　　In terms of customers, Panasonic has been solely supplying Tesla before, and the willingness to develop customers is conservative. Although it is ranked first in the world by the needs of Tesla's family, the single customer structure is also a hidden danger.

　　Since 2020, Tesla has successively introduced LG New Energy and CATL. Panasonic’s share in Tesla has gradually been eroded. When Tesla’s share has been reduced, no other customers have made up for the lost market share.

　　Of course, Panasonic is also actively seeking change. Cooperating with Toyota to build a factory and produce prismatic batteries is an example. Expanding more customers is intended to increase market share.

　　According to news on October 27, Panasonic will supply batteries to Canoo, an emerging pure electric vehicle (EV) company in the United States, starting in 2022. It is understood that the two parties reached a supply agreement on October 26, Panasonic will continue to provide Canoo with cylindrical batteries used by Tesla for several years. The specific supply volume has not been announced. Canoo will install the battery in the "Lifestyle Vehicle" electric MPV that is scheduled to be launched in Europe and the United States in 2022. In addition, it is understood that a small number of models of manufacturers such as Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Mercedes-Benz have also used Panasonic batteries. The cooperation between Panasonic and Apple is of course also possible.

　　Lithium-ion battery (LIB) has become the main energy storage solution in modern social life. Among them, lithium iron phosphate batteries are a perfect substitute for lead-acid batteries, and are the first choice for grid-connected peak shaving, off-grid energy storage, photovoltaic energy storage, UPS, data center and other industries.