Lithium battery usher in opportunities, Chinese and foreign capital layout of the new energy automotive market

Recently, a reporter from the China Business News learned from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that the long-awaited “Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Development Plan” (hereinafter referred to as the “Planning”) has been submitted to the State Council and entered the final approval process. If there is no accident, it will be Introduced before the end of the year.

According to the "Plan", in the next decade, the Chinese government will invest 100 billion yuan to support the development of the new energy automobile industry chain. By 2015, the number of new energy vehicles in China will reach 500,000 units, which will be the core zero for electric vehicles. One of the components of the lithium battery industry undoubtedly ushered in new opportunities.

Right now, a lot of capital is pouring into the lithium industry. From foreign capital to setting up factories in China to the acquisition of mines by Chinese-funded enterprises abroad has gradually become a trend. Capitalists have started on lithium-ion Nuggets.

Chinese and foreign capitals are escaping the industrial chain Although China's new energy automobile market has not really started yet, Chinese and foreign capital have already been laid out in advance.

Zheng Yonggang, chairman of the Shanshan Group Board of Directors, is optimistic about lithium batteries. "If the policy of using new energy vehicles is fully launched, the entire lithium industry will develop geometrically. Like the Internet, it will be a revolutionary thing." At the end of September, Zheng Yonggang told reporters.

At present, Shanshan is the world's largest supplier of lithium battery composite materials. Prior to this, Shanshan Group had been working for many years in the lithium battery industry. Zheng Yonggang regards the lithium battery industry as an important path for the company's transition from traditional clothing and textiles to technology companies. Since 1999, Lithium has been involved in lithium power and acquired the only carbon research institute in China. At that time, few companies in China involved in this industry. Business.

In the first half of 2010, Shanshan Electric’s main business revenue accounted for 49.44% of its apparel business, while lithium battery business accounted for 48.77%, while net profit accounted for 25.13% of its textile and apparel business, and its lithium battery business accounted for 66.90%.

Recently, Shanshan Group acquired a partial stake in Australia's Heron Resources Limited Minerals Co., Ltd., and established a joint venture named Yerilla Nickel-Cobalt Minerals Project in the upper reaches of the industry; Ningbo Aerospace Shanfa was established jointly with Shanghai Aerospace Power Technology Institute in the downstream. Shan Electric Vehicle Technology Development Co., Ltd., holding 94%. This completes the overall industrial layout from the upstream mine (Yerilla), the midstream lithium battery (Hunan Haina) to the electric vehicle terminal (Space Shanshan).

People in the city want to go out, people outside the city want to come in.

At the same time Shanshan Group Daxie acquired foreign mines, foreign capital also poured into China to set up factories to share the lithium industry cake.

The latest entrant is Australian listed company Galaxy Resources. Recently, the company announced that it will invest 134 million Australian dollars in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province to build a domestic lithium carbonate plant, is expected to start debugging later this year, annual production of 17,000 tons of high-level content of more than 99.5% of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

“Everything needs to be prepared as early as possible.” Xie Geng, executive director of Galaxy Resources, told reporters that the upcoming “planning” and other incentive policies have made him very optimistic about the Chinese market. Also this year, a series of “blood lead” incidents have emerged. Let the traditional lead battery industry face a wide range of rectification, lithium batteries will get more opportunities.

It is reported that the Galaxy Resources plant has not yet begun production, it has already implemented the underwriting agreement. According to Xie thanks to the reporter, this included the 5,000 tons/year that Japan's Mitsubishi Group had represented, and also included 12,000 tons/year of 13 major battery material suppliers in China.

“Before, Galaxy Resources operated mainly upstream lithium-ion projects, but the Chinese market has great potential, and the lithium carbonate industry is more and more downstream and more space, so we will extend to the downstream industrial chain later.” He said.

The latest plan of Galaxy Resources is to build an electric bicycle battery production plant in Zhangjiagang. The first batch of production will reach 350,000 sets. As a result, the company also opened up the entire industrial chain and completed the layout of lithium batteries to lithium batteries.

Followed by Japan's lithium battery maker Matsushita. The company plans to reduce its eight lithium battery factories in Japan to four and shift production capacity to China. It will invest 720 million U.S. dollars in the construction of a new lithium battery plant in Suzhou next year, and will use 3-4 years of production capacity in China. From the current 10-20% to 50%, the local parts will be purchased in China in the future, further reducing production costs.

However, the lithium battery industry is also an industry with obvious characteristics of competition and cooperation. At present, some of its rivals also supply materials to each other, and the relationship is "an enemy and a friend." With the approach of the "planning" approaching, seeking the full layout of the lithium-electricity industry chain is the key to the current ambiguous competition between Chinese and foreign capitals.

The long-term favorable prospects for the transition period make the lithium battery industry attract hundreds of companies when it is still immature, and it also triggers many listed companies to hype the concept of lithium.

"The majority of fish inhabited by muddy water," a lithium battery maker pointed out to reporters. He said that in the lithium power industry, the upper threshold is high, the downstream threshold is low, there is strength to do upstream, and small capital to do downstream. However, many companies are not optimistic about their prospects and do it. Instead, they speculate on the concept of circling money. As a result, cheating land and lenders from the hands of the government are not uncommon.

"Lithium-ion battery not only needs capital, but also requires technology. The lithium battery of Shanshan Group has been researched for more than ten years before it has achieved breakthroughs and achievements. Now, except for large companies such as Shanshan Group, which have core technologies, most domestic companies have There is no technology, just simple assembly.” The above person said.

In fact, there is still a long period of transition between the lithium industry's return from written planning and real money.

Technology and cost are the direct thresholds. Thanks and thanksgiving, the current reason why lithium batteries are not widely used in electric vehicle technology, defects are one of the reasons. He believes that if large-scale applications are needed, it is necessary to solve the problems of lithium battery capacity and endurance. "From the current point of view, it will take at least 5 to 8 years for the technology to fully mature."

However, in the view of Almagengenhardt, Chairman of the Board of Automotive Components Manufacturer Continental Continental Group, when the lithium battery electric vehicle market can really start, the technical level is not a big problem, the key is the cost is too high. . Current electric vehicle engines cost more than 15,000 Euros more than traditional internal combustion engines. "In the next few years, the speed of cost reduction will determine the speed of development of the electric vehicle market."

Elma Degenhardt told reporters that if the lithium-electricity electric vehicle market really needs to start, it needs the government to help each other in two aspects. First, it can be stipulated in the policy that the major in China in 2016 or 2018 Some central cities in the city can only use electric vehicles to reduce air pollution. Second, because of the high R&D expenses in electric vehicles, the government needs to provide certain subsidies in the R&D of enterprises and promote the enthusiasm of enterprises.

Whether the related industry linkages can be successfully implemented is another important factor affecting the return on investment of lithium power. The electric vehicle industry has always been high hopes. Prior to this, BYD Vice President of Sales Wang Jianjun (microblogging) once told this reporter that domestic product R&D and supporting facilities for electric vehicle charging have been lagging behind in recent years, and the charging stations are too large. Small, simply can not meet the demand for electric vehicles. "This is one of the reasons for the slow development of the electric vehicle market."

According to report, at present, most of China's first-tier cities have failed to build electric vehicle charging stations, and some of the built charging stations are still in dispute due to the delay in the national standards for electric vehicles. Most of them are idle. Today, auto companies are pushing for battery life, while China Southern Power Grid and others are pushing the charge-based model.

“The two models have their own advantages and disadvantages. Changing the battery model can allow auto companies to produce more batteries to get subsidies. The direct charging model implemented by China Southern Power Grid has aroused the interest of the auto companies. The construction of the station is more lagging behind,” an industry source commented.

The above-mentioned sources believe that from the current point of view, if the Chinese electric vehicle market really starts, it must solve problems in technology, cost, and supporting facilities. “This time must be at least five years. At present, many companies entering the lithium battery industry It is necessary to survive this period of transition. If there is not enough capital in this period, it will be eliminated."

Although the current development of application terminals is full of uncertainty, but thanks to Thanksgiving, the outlook for lithium is still very good.

"By 2015, China will have 500,000 electric vehicles and will need 12.5 million kilowatts of lithium batteries, which equals the battery capacity of 500 million iPads. What is this concept?"