Power Battery Expects Singularity Moment: Three Technical Routes of Graphene Blade Cobalt-free Battery Meet Breakthrough Together

Some people say that the battery has reached the bottleneck, and the frequent spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles proves that charging piles should be popularized in a wider range in the next step, but others say that battery technology is about to break through, and the future use scenarios of electric vehicles are no different from those of fuel vehicles. In the era of electric vehicles, safe and high-capacity batteries are an unavoidable hurdle, which is also the core of whether electric vehicles can really replace fuel vehicles. When battery technology reaches the ceiling, it may also mean that the singularity of new technology is no longer far away.

Yan Wen Automobile Company drives Wang Shuoqi.

These days, the news in the field of power batteries has been constant.

These voices affect consumers and capital markets.

On May 13, GAC New Energy, a subsidiary of GAC Group, announced that at the end of this year, the research and development of graphene battery mass production will finally move from laboratory to real vehicle, and the AI 'an model of GAC New Energy will be equipped with relevant technical achievements.

"The' ultra-fast rechargeable battery' based on GAC 3D graphene (3DG) material has completed the battery cell, module and battery package sample test, and has been loaded into the vehicle for high-power charging test. The battery life and safety have reached the use standard.

According to the test, the "super fast charging battery" can charge the battery to 85% in just 8 minutes, and the charging time is equivalent to the refueling time of traditional fuel vehicles. "

On May 1 1, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. held an online briefing on its 20 19 annual performance. At the briefing, it was said that the successful research and development of cobalt-free battery technology means that the battery cost will be further reduced.

16 In April, a new patent issued by Tesla showed that the battery with a life of 1 10,000 miles was further developed.

This patent describes a kind of new lithium battery, which can improve battery quality, prolong battery life and even save cost. The patent is entitled "Method for synthesizing Ni-Co-Al electrode".

On March 29th, BYD officially launched the blade battery. At the press conference, the most feared acupuncture test of the battery was displayed, and it was claimed that the blade battery has the characteristics of high safety, long battery life and long service life, which will bring the development route of power battery back to the safe and correct road. (See: blade battery: a big step in the field of new energy, a small step for Wang Chuanfu).

Four new energy companies released three completely different battery technologies around the first half of this year, and the problems to be solved by the new technologies just illustrate the current predicament of new energy.

Charging is slow,

A short life,

Unsafe,

High cost.

The battery technology promoted by GAC Xinyuan in cooperation with Tesla, BYD and Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. just perfectly solved the above four defects. ("This is the most direct and shocking explanation I have ever heard about the battery safety of electric vehicles, but it doesn't mean that electric vehicles have no future")

Has the singularity moment of power battery really come?

The commercial prospect of graphene is still unknown.

The discoverer of 20 10 graphene won the Nobel Prize in physics.

Graphene has since become a prominent genre.

In 20 17, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology formulated the 13th Five-Year Plan for Scientific and Technological Innovation in Materials Field, which listed graphene material technology as a key development field.

It is undeniable that the term "graphene" is appearing in our lives more and more frequently. Because of its ultra-light, ultra-high strength and ultra-high conductivity, it is considered to be an important technology to improve the charging speed of batteries and promote the technical progress of power batteries.

In recent years, more and more enterprises have joined the R&D and manufacturing camp of graphene batteries, but they only heard its "sound" and did not see its "thing".

And the more products worth looking forward to, the easier it is to be hyped into graphene technology. Strictly speaking, the application of graphene in consumer goods we can buy today is still zero.

20 14 according to Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla, Tesla is ready to upgrade the performance of Model S, the upcoming Model X crossover and the affordable electric car Model 3. The cruising range of our car may exceed 500 miles. At that time, he said this in an interview with Auto Express, a British auto weekly.

However, Musk did not disclose the details of this plan, but according to many media reports, the "super battery" made of graphene may be the key to Tesla's realization of this plan. If you carefully search several foreign related reports, all of them say that the news comes from China media reports.

Recent hype also includes that Huawei's P40 will be equipped with graphene batteries, but it has not been realized so far.

In fact, there is no so-called "graphene battery" in the international lithium battery academia and industry. There is no explanation for the terms "graphene battery" or "graphene lithium-ion battery" in Wikipedia.

At present, almost all commercial lithium-ion batteries use graphite anode materials. In the case of similar cathode performance, the performance of lithium-ion batteries depends largely on the cathode material, so now lithium-ion batteries also have the habit of being called cathode, such as lithium iron phosphate battery, lithium cobalt oxide battery, lithium manganate battery, ternary battery and so on.

Therefore, the application of graphene in batteries may be positive or negative, and because the cost of graphene is thousands of times that of previous materials, no manufacturer will replace all the materials of one electrode with graphene, so there are basically no graphene batteries, only "lithium ion batteries/lead acid batteries doped with graphene" exist.

As GAC New Energy has not announced the technical details, it is still a mystery whether graphene appears as a main material or an additive in the "super fast charging battery" that GAC New Energy Ai 'an will carry.

At present, only Samsung has announced the development of graphene batteries, but some critics point out that Samsung's methods and raw materials determine that this cannot be an industrialized solution.

In addition, the biggest problem of graphene is cost and technology. In addition, there is still a difference in volume difficulty between mobile phone batteries and automobile power batteries. There is still no mature academic solution.

Therefore, the "super fast charging battery" of GAC New Energy is inevitably suspicious. It is not difficult for manufacturers to take out test cars or mobile phones to claim that the charging speed is extremely fast. The real difficulty of graphene lies in cost and reliable commercial technological breakthrough.

According to the existing conditions, the prospect of graphene industrialization is still slim.

Fast charging and safety are contradictory. Enterprises that have solved this problem can become the key figures in today's automobile industry by focusing on the battery itself rather than producing cars.

We don't reject imagination, but cruel truth is more meaningful than false gimmicks.

The blade battery patent has the name of Wang Chuanfu, which is highly credible.

On March 29th, more than a month ago, Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Group, said at the press conference: "Blade battery will completely erase the word' spontaneous combustion' from the dictionary of new energy vehicles."

For BYD, the safety of new energy vehicles has always been regarded as the highest level, and has maintained zero accidents in battery safety of new energy vehicles so far. Over the years, BYD has also been committed to the innovation of battery safety, hoping to completely solve the safety pain points of new energy vehicles and lead the global power battery technology route back to the right track.

In the acupuncture experiment at the press conference, the surface temperature of ternary lithium battery quickly exceeded 500℃, and it began to burn violently at the moment of acupuncture. The traditional lithium ferrous phosphate block battery with higher stability has no open flame and smoke after acupuncture, and its surface temperature reaches 200℃~400℃, while BYD's "Blade Battery" has no open flame and smoke after acupuncture, and its surface temperature remains at about 30℃-60℃.

At present, the national standard "Safety Requirements for Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles" is still in the stage of soliciting opinions, and it is still selectively implemented by enterprises as an optional item, a large part of which is because most ternary lithium batteries can't pass the test at present.

From the cost point of view, BYD changed the battery size on the original basis, showing a "flat" and "long" shape, and BYD did not disclose too many technical details.

But the conclusion can be summarized as three points:

1, which improves the volume energy density of the blade battery;

2, the overall cost of the blade battery is reduced;

3, the blade battery has high safety;

In addition, BYD also announced that the blade battery has been mass-produced and will be installed on the "Han" model that will be launched next month.

The importance of enterprises can also be used as an important basis for judging the reliability.

Due to the upcoming mass production, BYD also needs to protect its intellectual property rights. Generally, patents as the core competitiveness of enterprises will bear the names of business leaders.

As can be seen from the public information, the name of BYD founder Wang Chuanfu is written on the core patent of BYD blade battery.

In summer, many spontaneous combustion incidents of electric vehicles occurred again in China. By releasing technology, rapid mass production and high secrecy, BYD has solved the problem of spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles as a breakthrough, so that BYD's power battery, which was once not optimistic and considered to have gone astray, has returned to the spotlight.

However, safety has always been a contradiction with battery density and capacity. Whether the blade battery has solved this contradiction, I believe that the evaluation of consumers after the listing of "Han" will be more objective.

Tesla, who slowly began to develop the battery road.

Tesla's current battery suppliers are Panasonic and Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., but Tesla's intention to develop its own battery has never stopped. The high probability may be that even the best battery on the market can't satisfy Musk.

At present, it is reported that Tesla has issued a patent for the latest battery technology, which is relatively more pragmatic and improved on the basis of the past.

Tesla claims that previous battery heating methods sometimes lead to the formation of impurities called lithium matrix Li5AIO4, thus reducing the lithium content in the battery.

Although it can reduce pollution, it will also make the performance of the battery worse.

In order to solve the above problems, Tesla proposed "the method of synthesizing Ni-Co-Al electrode".

As stated in the patent, the battery will be heated to a temperature sufficient to grow a single crystal.

After changing the ratio of lithium to other metals, the formation of impurities will be limited in the first heating process. Lithium will be heated for the second time at a temperature lower than that of the first heating cycle.

The researchers involved in the patent pointed out that this process is helpful to develop a single crystal NCA without impurities, so that the battery can reach more than 4000 charging cycles.

Tesla wrote in the patent that the use of NCA electrode in the battery will make the single crystal material free of impurities, and the reduction of pollutants may extend the overall life of the battery, which will help Tesla to manufacture a battery with a battery life of 654.38+00,000 miles for its car. Take a big step.

In fact, Tesla's battery has been improving. Over the years, the company's batteries for vehicles and energy storage systems have become more energy-intensive. The economies of scale achieved with the help of Gigabit factories and other facilities have also helped Tesla to approach the level of $65,438+000 per kWh to a great extent.

It is generally believed that at this level, the price of electric vehicles can reach the same level as that of diesel locomotives.

In other words, Tesla still adheres to the technical road of ternary lithium batteries, and is constantly improving and optimizing to save costs. At present, Tesla's technical route is the safest way. Although the probability of fundamental technological breakthrough is small, it is the best choice for a sustainable business.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd.: "Blade battery" is better for us, and the research and development of cobalt-free battery is smooth.

On May 1 1, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. held an online briefing on its 20 19 annual performance. At the briefing, the details of the cooperation between Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and Tesla became one of the most frequently mentioned issues by investors.

Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. said at the performance briefing: "Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. will officially supply Tesla in the second half of this year, and the products supplied will not be limited to lithium ferrous phosphate or ternary batteries, depending on market demand."

"Musk told me that Tesla wanted to make his own battery. As far as I know, their technical route will not affect us. Moreover, we are discussing how to make the battery better in * * to serve the new energy industry. " Zeng Yuqun further revealed that Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. has its own "cobalt-free" battery technology reserve. At present, research and development are progressing smoothly, and efforts are being made to do a good job in the supply chain, because this is a brand-new and subversive product.

In addition, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. expressed its views on the "BYD Blade Battery Technology" proposed by investors: "Blade battery is also one of the structural innovation concepts of CTP (Modular Power Battery) mass-produced by Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. on 20 16. We chose the best CTP structural innovation, such as CTP-0, CTP- 1, CTP. Zeng Yuqun said.

At present, Contemporary Amp Technology Co., Ltd., as the largest battery supplier in China, has not only developed rapidly in ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, but also made great progress in the research and development of new generation batteries.

It is understood that most batteries currently on the market contain cobalt, which is a rare metal and one of the most expensive materials in battery components. Because the cobalt-free battery contains no cobalt, the cost of the battery is about one-fifth lower than that of the ternary lithium battery.

And the dialogue with BYD from a distance, because the new generation batteries of both sides have not yet been mass-produced, the technology is still incomparable.

However, BYD also replied a Weibo from a distance, and was skeptical about Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd..

But in any case, the comprehensive strength of contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. in multi-category batteries is beyond doubt, and the pain point of battery cost is also a problem that must be solved to restrict the development of new energy. Cobalt-free battery technology is expected in the future.

The development of various technical routes.

No matter how the battery technology route changes, its fundamental purpose is to make electric vehicles charge quickly, safely and run far.

The emergence of various routes also shows that there is still no optimal solution for the current technical road. For China, we hope to find a way to overtake in corners and have more imagination, which is the driving force for the progress of human society.

But we don't want to advocate anything for gimmicks. The development of battery technology seems to be slow, but even since 20 14 Tesla entered China, the development of power battery technology has been earth-shaking.

However, in the face of endless spontaneous combustion incidents of electric vehicles, it needs the joint efforts of the whole industry, just as the battery capacity of Panasonic 18650 has increased by 3.2-3.5-3.7-4.0Ah.

This non-explosive but cumulative progress may be the best model for the stable and healthy development of the electric vehicle industry.

Will the power battery usher in a predictable singularity moment?

Without a major breakthrough in basic science, a breakthrough above 100% may become a joke in a few years.

However, when electric vehicles become a healthy industry and form a profitable industrial chain, it is only a matter of time before a breakthrough is ushered in, both technically and commercially.

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