With the gradual exhaustion of lithium resources and the sharp rise in costs, the gross profit margin of lithium battery manufacturers has dropped significantly, and they even joked that everything is for the mine. SES Power regularly introduces new secondary rechargeable battery technologies such as sodium-ion batteries, lithium iron manganese phosphate batteries, all-vanadium flow batteries, and more in our knowledge section.

As a senior lithium battery industry practitioner with nearly 20 years of experience, SES Power prefers to use lithium iron phosphate batteries to manufacture lithium battery energy storage systems or lithium battery power systems, because lithium iron phosphate batteries have excellent safety and Low cost advantage, the products we use square aluminum shell lithium iron phosphate cells account for 90% of our total shipments, such as lead-acid replacement products 12V100Ah, 24V100Ah, 12V200Ah, 3kwh, 5kwh, 10kwh wall-mounted smart home energy storage system , rack-mounted energy storage system, split combined high-voltage power lithium battery system, polar lithium battery that can withstand -60 degrees Celsius, starting battery with a starting current of 2000CCA, customized metal shell lithium iron phosphate battery, etc.

SES Power is very concerned about the lithium iron phosphate lithium battery that claims to be able to replace the lithium iron phosphate battery and has done various investigations and researches. Below we will tell you where the lithium iron manganese phosphate came from and where it will go.

(1) Background and characteristics of lithium iron manganese phosphate

Lithium iron manganese phosphate is not a new species, it just brushes the sense of existence at the right time and breeds vitality.

With the price of lithium resources rising sharply and maintaining a high level, and it is generally expected that the price will be difficult to fall in the short term, in this context, alternative routes such as lithium manganese iron phosphate have begun to surge.

At the same time, under the wave of "carbon neutrality", the scenarios are diversified, and the demand for batteries is correspondingly diversified, providing the possibility of survival for more alternative technologies.

Under the background of high price of lithium resources and deepening of application scenarios, the supply side and the demand side work together, the relative advantages of lithium iron manganese phosphate are reflected, and development opportunities emerge as the times require.

The cathode material of lithium iron manganese phosphate does not contain rare metals such as nickel and cobalt, and theoretically has a lower cost. Compared with lithium iron phosphate, its voltage platform and energy density are higher, which is 15% higher than that of lithium iron phosphate. Compared with lithium iron phosphate, it is more stable than ternary batteries. And higher safety, high temperature and low temperature.

Compared with mainstream ternary batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries have certain cost-effectiveness advantages, and are especially suitable for small power, small energy storage and special energy storage and other segments.

At present, there is still room for improvement in the preparation process of lithium iron manganese phosphate. Subject to the stability of mass production, the preparation cost is far below the theoretical level. At present, the preparation cost is still about 10% higher than that of lithium iron phosphate, and the absolute advantage is limited. It is more suitable at this stage. Doping with ternary, lithium manganate, lithium cobaltate and other cathode materials can reduce costs or improve performance, while expanding application scenarios.

For example, lithium iron manganese phosphate is doped with the ternary system, and the energy density is similar, but compared with the ternary lithium battery, it has the advantages of high safety, low cost and high cycleability, and the doping compound value is obvious.

In other words, the current value of lithium iron manganese phosphate through doping with ternary and other cathode materials is greater than the value of working alone.

In the future, with the reduction of the preparation cost of lithium iron manganese phosphate, the preparation cost is expected to be more than 10% lower than that of lithium iron phosphate. In addition, the energy density of lithium iron phosphate is 15% higher than that of lithium iron phosphate. The cost performance is obvious, and the absolute advantage will gradually be reflected.

(2) Major enterprises or institutions have strategically deployed

The value of lithium iron manganese phosphate suddenly became hot, and the battery industry suddenly praised it.

Recently, Rongbai Technology held a strategy conference to strategically build lithium iron manganese phosphate, and invest and hold Tianjin Skoland in industrialization. Skoland focuses on the subdivision of lithium iron manganese phosphate. At present, it has an annual production capacity of 6,200 tons and is expanding its production capacity to more than 10,000 tons.

In addition, from the perspective of public information, Dangsheng, Defang, Yiwei and other material companies or lithium battery companies are also strategically deploying or stockpiling lithium manganese iron phosphate technology to varying degrees.

At the same time, non-listed companies are also active. Hengchuang Nano has recently completed financing of more than 100 million yuan. Yueda Investment, Wofu Capital, Hillhouse Ventures and other institutions participated. This round of financing will be used for 5,000 tons of lithium battery cathode material manganese phosphate For the research and development and production of iron and lithium, Hengchuang Nano has the global core patents of lithium manganese iron phosphate and other battery materials bought out from Dow Chemical.

In SES Power's view, this means that capital has made a choice with its feet.

(3) Future development trend

It is undeniable that lithium-ion batteries are the best technical route in the field of power and energy storage, because they have relatively balanced advantages in terms of cost, energy density, safety, cycle times and flexibility, and have no absolute shortcomings.

At present, the development opportunities faced by new technologies that replace lithium-ion batteries are relatively special: first, the price of lithium-ion batteries is relatively high, and the new technologies show certain relative advantages; It has certain market support in some scenarios.

However, in the medium and long term, the price of lithium carbonate will inevitably fall, the production capacity of lithium iron phosphate and ternary batteries, the industry chain game and other factors, the price of lithium iron phosphate and ternary batteries will likely fall to a reasonable level in the medium and long term, once the protagonist returns, It is bound to have an impact on the substitute role.

The cycle of the lithium battery industry is never absent, and we are not new to it.

Therefore, SES Power believes that for new technologies such as lithium iron manganese phosphate, it is necessary to recognize the leading role and cycle attributes of lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium batteries, and then seize the window period when the price of lithium carbonate is at a high level to accelerate the development from relative advantages. an absolute advantage in some aspect. Once a new technology forms an absolute advantage in a certain aspect, or forms an absolute advantage in combination with other technical routes, it is not an extravagant hope to go from a substitute to a replacement, which has long-term value. Otherwise, once the price of lithium resources falls sharply, the living space of new technologies will be extremely difficult.

At present, due to the high preparation cost of lithium iron manganese phosphate, the absolute advantage is not outstanding. At this stage, the cost-effective advantage of existing cathode materials such as high-nickel ternary materials is mainly improved by doping, that is, the value is reflected in a collaborative way, not Present industrialization in an independent manner.

If lithium iron manganese phosphate can reflect absolute value in a collaborative manner, it will certainly be able to occupy a place in the highly competitive lithium battery material market. Of course, if the preparation cost of lithium iron manganese phosphate is further reduced with the improvement of technology and scale, it may also have an absolute advantage, and become an independent cathode material to achieve higher industrial value.

Finally, SES Power summarizes: Whether it is collaboration or independent use, whether it is a substitute or a substitute, lithium iron manganese phosphate has finally ushered in an excellent window period. Whether it can prove itself is worth looking forward to.