In May 2024, the installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries reached 29.5GWh, an increase of 54.1% year-on-year and 15.8% month-on-month, with a market share of 74%. Why are more and more car companies more favored for lithium iron phosphate batteries? How did the once popular ternary lithium battery decline?
Ternary lithium batteries were once pinned on high hopes, but lithium iron phosphate did not meet the standard
In 2018, ternary lithium batteries ushered in a historical highlight moment. In that year, the annual installed capacity of ternary lithium batteries was 29,909.82MWh, accounting for 90.46% of the installed capacity of power batteries in the new energy passenger vehicle market, a year-on-year increase of 186.45%; The installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries was only 3146MWh, accounting for 9.51%, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%; The remaining installed capacity of lithium manganese oxide batteries was 8.83MWh, accounting for 0.03%, down 96.2% year-on-year.
The ternary lithium battery quickly occupied the market, which is inseparable from the implementation of the subsidy policy. In 2016, battery energy density became one of the assessment criteria of the subsidy policy, which made ternary batteries with higher energy density rise rapidly. The policy stipulates that the energy density of the power battery of pure electric vehicles cannot be less than 90Wh/kg, and the energy density is difficult to meet the standard due to the lag of lithium iron phosphate battery technology at that time. The ternary lithium battery can reach 120Wh/kg, which can easily get subsidies.
The advent of BYD's blade battery has become a turning point in the fate of lithium iron phosphate batteries
On March 29, 2020, BYD officially released the "blade battery" using lithium iron phosphate technology, which will first be installed on BYD's "Han" model. In 2021, BYD announced that the "blade battery" will be used in all its pure electric models. By 2024, CATL's Shenxing battery PLUS will increase the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries to an astonishing 205Wh/kg, with a cruising range of more than 1000km, and also support 4C supercharging. At the same time, BYD's second-generation blade battery will also be released soon, with an energy density of 190Wh/kg.
Through structural innovation, the "blade battery" greatly improves the volume utilization, and finally achieves the design goal of installing more battery cells in the same space. The volume utilization rate has been increased by more than 50%, the cruising range has been increased by more than 50%, and the range of 600km can be easily achieved. The system energy density of the "blade battery" is 140Wh/kg, which is equivalent to that of ternary lithium batteries with high energy density.
In addition, the safety of BYD's "blade battery" has been greatly improved, in an experiment, the "blade battery" has no open flame and no smoke after penetration, and the temperature on the surface of the battery is only about 30-60 °C. This result is enough to prove that the "blade battery" has completely got rid of the nightmare of "thermal runaway" that may occur in traditional power batteries, and its safety has incomparable advantages.
In addition, lithium iron phosphate batteries also have a prominent feature - ultra-long service life. Ordinary lithium iron phosphate batteries can reach a cycle life of more than 2,000 times, and some products can even reach more than 3,500 times.
More and more car companies are more favored for lithium iron phosphate batteries
According to the data, in April this year, the installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries in mainland reached 25.5GWh, accounting for 71.9% of the total installed volume. This is the first time in 8 years, following 2016, the proportion of domestic lithium iron phosphate battery installed capacity has returned to 70% for the first time. And in May, the proportion of lithium iron phosphate battery loading in mainland China further increased to 74%, reaching 29.5GWh, a year-on-year increase of 54.1% and a month-on-month increase of 15.8%.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries are favored by car companies, in addition to its own product characteristics, and the cost control caused by the current price war of new energy vehicles. In the view of Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger association, due to the high prices of nickel and cobalt, the differentiated growth of ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries has been formed.
The cost gap between lithium iron phosphate and ternary batteries is mainly reflected in the cost of cathode material cells. According to statistics, the price of lithium iron phosphate batteries is 380 yuan/kWh, and the price of high-nickel ternary is 550 yuan/kWh, which is 44.7% more expensive. Taking a 100kWh battery pack as an example, ternary lithium batteries are 17,000 yuan more expensive than lithium iron phosphate in terms of cells.
summary
Lithium iron phosphate can have today's market share, thanks to the new transformation completed by technological upgrading, "long life", "high safety" and "low cost", so that lithium iron phosphate batteries have developed rapidly, and gradually replaced ternary lithium batteries with poor stability.