Honeycomb energy: let technology run ahead of products

As a rising star in the power battery industry, the development speed of honeycomb energy has attracted much attention from the industry. Although it didn't start early, the starting point was very high. Backed by the industry resources of Great Wall Motor, Honeycomb Energy has been looking at the world since its establishment and has carried out business simultaneously at home and abroad. In order to further understand the technical development of this new type of power battery, Auto Watch contacted Mr. Rao Zhongru, chief technology officer of Honeycomb Energy, during the epidemic period, and discussed the new battery technology that was hotly discussed recently.

Although Honeycomb Energy is a young company founded on 20 18, its predecessor, Great Wall Motor Power Battery Division, started the research and development of batteries as early as 20 12. In terms of technical route selection, Honeycomb Energy focuses on the square lamination process, and the first mass-produced product adopts the current leading NCM8 1 1 ternary material system.

In the view of Honeycomb Energy, square hard shell battery has more advantages than cylindrical and flexible batteries in space efficiency and safety, and will become the mainstream demand product for the large-scale development of electric vehicles. Compared with the traditional winding process battery, the laminated battery has better structural adaptability at the corner and can increase the energy density by 5%. In addition, it is not easy to deform and expand, and its cycle life can be increased by 65,438+00%-20%. Lamination technology is the best choice for manufacturing large-size and large-capacity power batteries.

▲? High speed lamination

For CTP (cell? Where to? Pack) and "blade battery" technology, honeycomb energy has already been laid out. "For the research of blade batteries, Honeycomb Energy started a year and a half ago, and our current second-phase factory is the production line of blade batteries." Rao Zhongru introduced that for square batteries and soft-package batteries, it is the general trend to make the batteries thinner and longer, which can not only improve the energy density, but also increase the heat dissipation area. The blade battery production line planned by Honeycomb Energy has selected the most mature batteries at present.

Rao Zhongru also admitted that although the battery is thin and long, it is a general trend, but according to the survey results, there are still some problems to be solved to make the battery exceed 1000mm due to the limitation of equipment accuracy. Although several batteries can be connected in series or in parallel to further increase the battery length, this will expose the solder joints to the electrolyte, which has a great impact on the reliability and life of the battery. Only by applying the most mature technology to mass-produced products can we see the rationality and restraint of honeycomb energy.

▲? Positive hot rolling

With the application of "blade battery" technology, the market share of lithium iron phosphate battery will be improved. On the one hand, with the decline of subsidy policy, the cost advantage of lithium iron phosphate battery will be highlighted; On the other hand, if this new technology is applied to lithium iron phosphate batteries, the endurance of A-class vehicles can be increased to 500 kilometers, which is equivalent to that of fuel vehicles. Judging from the needs of users, ternary lithium battery will no longer be its only choice.

"According to our forecast, the new technology will greatly promote the development of A-class cars. Due to the requirements for battery life, lithium iron phosphate batteries were basically used in A00 and A0 models in previous years, and now they can be extended to cheap A-class cars. " Rao Zhongru said. It can also be seen from Tesla's layout in China that its high-end models will choose ternary lithium batteries at present, while its low-cost models will choose lithium iron phosphate batteries. Honeycomb Energy will also launch corresponding lithium iron phosphate battery products. "The ternary lithium battery with high energy density has always been our main direction, but we can't give up the market of cheap cars." Rao Zhongru said.

Market-based, technology first.

For the "blade battery" technology, it is not only as simple as making the battery cell thin and long, but also the corresponding process and battery assembly method must be changed, which also poses a great challenge to the flatness and consistency of the battery shell, and the whole process equipment needs to be greatly adjusted according to the new design. It can be seen that in the period of rapid iteration of power battery technology update, if there is no accurate layout and long-term planning, it may be a fatal blow to enterprises. "If the existing production line is difficult to upgrade, the original production line of VDA batteries will be basically unusable. For a young company like Honeycomb Energy, there is no such burden. Moreover, we have been laying out since a year and a half ago, and we have made sufficient preparations for the planning of production lines and the research and development of equipment. " Rao Zhongru said.

We must keep up with the pace of current mainstream technology development and aim at the future direction. For this, Honeycomb Energy also has its own methodology. Rao Zhongru said: "We will carry out pre-research layout according to market trends, and at the same time keep up with international advanced technology, not only keeping ahead in the design of battery physical structure, but also constantly exploring high-safety and high-energy density material systems."

In the choice of technical route, with the help of Great Wall Motor, Honeycomb Energy can establish good communication channels with domestic and foreign vehicle companies. Especially for foreign first-line vehicle manufacturers, we cut into their systems three years ahead of mass production time and do research and development with vehicle manufacturers. Harmonious cooperation also helps Honeycomb Energy to obtain the real demand of vehicle manufacturers more easily. Early involvement in vehicle development and more accurate customer demand have become the unique advantages of Honeycomb Energy, which also makes its technology research and development work more targeted.

The effectiveness of this method of honeycomb energy has gradually been reflected. From July 2065438 to July 2009, Honeycomb Energy introduced cobalt-free batteries and quaternary batteries. In the existing ternary lithium ion power battery, the cost of cathode material accounts for 30%~45%. Cobalt contained in the positive electrode is a strategic resource, which is expensive and fluctuates violently, and has a great influence on the cost of the battery. Therefore, low cobalt and cobalt-free batteries are the research and development direction of the next generation of power batteries. Based on the forward-looking research and development of the material system, Honeycomb Energy is the first to release cobalt-free battery products in China, which is of great significance.

In addition, with the increasing nickel content, the balance between energy density and safety of ternary lithium batteries has become an unavoidable problem. In this regard, Honeycomb Energy took the lead in developing NCMA quaternary cathode materials and released quaternary material batteries. The quaternary material is doped with Mx on the basis of NCM system, which makes its cycle performance better than that of NCM8 1 1 material, and at the same time, it can realize the characteristics of better heat resistance, less gas generation and higher safety.

Honeycomb Energy's laboratory responsible for cutting-edge technology research and development is currently developing solid-state batteries, and the prototype of dry electrodes will be completed in the second half of this year. Rao Zhongru believes that when the problem of poor conductivity of solid-state batteries is broken, its outstanding safety performance will make it the best choice for the next generation of electric vehicles, and related technologies are expected to be applied within five years.

Honeycomb Energy makes product application based on the present, and makes technology development for the future, so that technology can run ahead of products and make it more calmly face the ever-changing technical pattern of power batteries. As Rao Zhongru finally concluded: "With the increasing concentration of the power battery industry, Honeycomb Energy, as a young company, will inevitably be attacked. However, with our profound technical accumulation, although we cannot guarantee overtaking in corners, we can at least stand out. "

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.