At the Chengdu Auto Show, Great Wall Motors officially unveiled the ORA Cherry Cat, equipped with a cobalt-free battery. This car will be available in two versions. The lithium iron phosphate version has a 61kWh battery pack and an NEDC range of 470km; while the cobalt-free lithium-ion version, supplied by Svolt Energy, features an 82.5kWh battery pack and an NEDC range of 600km. This is also the world's first new energy electric vehicle equipped with a cobalt-free battery. I'd like to use this as a starting point to discuss the overall direction of battery technology and to conduct some interviews with Svolt Energy.
Part 1: Technical Directions of Power Batteries
From the current perspective of China's power battery technology roadmap, CATL mainly involves several aspects, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP), medium-nickel high-voltage, high-nickel ternary, and sodium batteries, dividing its development into two major paths: high cost-effectiveness and high energy density, coupled with a long-term plan for sodium batteries. BYD, on the other hand, has returned to LFP from ternary cell chemistry, focusing on both EV LFP and PHEV LFP. Second-tier domestic battery companies, such as CALB, Guoxuan High-Tech, and Farasis Energy, are also strategically following and replacing these technologies based on the overall market structure. These two technological directions have become the mainstream in China.
Category 1 high-performance batteries
The biggest advantage of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries is their low dependence on metals, which is why more and more automakers are choosing LFP for their entry-level models. In the past two years, the technology route for large-capacity LFP power cells has achieved a mass energy density between 180-200 Wh/kg (volume energy density 350 Wh/L-450 Wh/L). This is comparable to the current 520 Wh/L of ternary lithium batteries, and can replace demand below 65 kWh. The core change here lies in the fact that LFP batteries have achieved high volume utilization through current de-modularization and CTP (cell-to-pack) methods.
In 3-5 years, with the optimization of material systems and processes, lithium iron phosphate is expected to move towards a mass energy density of 210-230Wh/kg (volume energy density of 450Wh/L-500Wh/L). From a macro perspective, the future technology of lithium iron phosphate could cover all A0-B class entry-level models. In particular, we see BYD currently using blade batteries with lithium iron phosphate, covering all its vehicle models.
The second type of high-performance battery cell uses a high-nickel route.
The main goal of this type of battery is to create high-capacity batteries based on high energy density, using a high-nickel system and silicon-carbon anodes.
Currently, the mass energy density of high-nickel battery cells ranges from 240-300 Wh/kg (volume energy density 560 Wh/L-650 Wh/L), with a fast charging time of 18-30 minutes (3.3C-2C). In the next stage, by introducing a silicon-carbon anode into the negative electrode, the mass energy density of high-nickel battery cells is expected to reach 300-400 Wh/kg (volume energy density 630 Wh/L-750 Wh/L), with a fast charging time of 9-15 minutes (4C).
We can see that the main directions of several foreign battery companies are, on the one hand, moving from medium-nickel to high-nickel designs, and on the other hand, reducing the amount of cobalt used to make cobalt-free batteries.
Part Two: The Cobalt-Free Route of the Honeycomb
I pondered with questions what this cobalt-free battery route of SVOLT was, and whether it could become a possibility for China in addition to the two current technological routes.
1) What is Honeycomb's cobalt-free battery?
This cobalt-free NMX material uses two elements with stronger chemical bond energies to replace cobalt, doping them into the material to stabilize the oxygen octahedral structure through strong chemical bonds. Then, single-crystal technology and nano-network coating are employed to achieve a stable structure and reduce side reactions between the cathode material and the electrolyte, resulting in a long lifespan.
2) Is it possible that the cobalt-free battery developed by Svolt will become the mainstream approach in the industry?
From Honeycomb's perspective, the lithium iron phosphate system currently used in the industry has a lower cost, but its energy density can only reach ~190Wh/kg, limiting its widespread application. The ternary system has a higher energy density, reaching over 250Wh/kg, but ternary materials use cobalt, and due to limitations in reserves and mining, the international market price of cobalt is extremely unstable and has remained at a high level for a long time.
SVOLT Energy's cobalt-free materials achieve zero cobalt content, thus completely eliminating the influence of the cobalt market and achieving low costs, while maintaining an energy density comparable to ternary materials. Therefore, in the long run, cobalt-free batteries have a significant competitive advantage compared to lithium iron phosphate and ternary battery technologies, making them an irreplaceable trend in industry development.
3) Besides vertically integrating and producing its own cathode material, is it possible for third-party material and battery manufacturers to adopt the cobalt-free technology route, and how could they cooperate with SVOLT?
From Svolt's perspective, Svolt Energy currently plans to reach a production capacity of 200GWh by 2025, with products covering a complete range of chemical systems and requiring a wide variety of cathode materials in huge demand. Svolt's approach to cobalt-free technology is a vertically integrated cathode material strategy, focusing on the R&D and production of innovative and more competitive cathode materials that address industry shortcomings, such as cobalt-free and quaternary materials. On the one hand, such a large production capacity is not entirely focused on cobalt-free materials; it also requires conventional lithium iron phosphate and ternary materials. Therefore, Svolt still has a significant demand for traditional materials and will actively seek third-party collaborations. Thus, from the perspective of cobalt-free material technology, Svolt Energy maintains a positive and open attitude, and various cooperation methods can be explored, such as patent licensing, patent exchange, patent pool sharing, joint ventures, and external material sales. The goal is to expand this technological route.
4) From a long-term perspective, can the cobalt-free material route achieve optimal cost? Will this technological route require large-scale industry collaboration to reach its inflection point and expand, achieving a similar position to ternary and lithium iron phosphate lithium batteries?
The removal of cobalt from the raw materials used in the synthesis of cobalt-free materials firstly reduces costs from a BOM (Bill of Materials) perspective. Secondly, the synthesis process of cobalt-free materials can be carried out on the same production line as conventional ternary lithium batteries, eliminating the need for dedicated production lines, which facilitates large-scale promotion. Svolt Energy's cobalt-free materials have undergone rigorous verification at the material, cell, module, pack, and vehicle levels, achieving excellent results and fully meeting usage requirements. Vehicles equipped with cobalt-free batteries will soon be available. Once the performance of cobalt-free materials is recognized by users, large-scale promotion can be achieved quickly. Of course, large-scale industry collaboration will undoubtedly be more conducive to generating economies of scale. After the company's demonstration effect is established, competitors and upstream and downstream companies will gradually join this technological route, further enhancing Svolt Energy's position.
5) From a usage perspective, what exactly is the positioning of the cobalt-free technology route? Which automotive technology products is it suitable for?
The cobalt-free technology route primarily aims to balance the demands of electric vehicle users for long range, high safety, fast charging, and low cost. The NMX cobalt-free route, derived from the ternary lithium battery system, still requires product support. Currently, cobalt-free materials enable the design of high-energy-density battery cells. Battery products built with cobalt-free cathode materials from Svolt Energy's H platform have shown impressive performance based on test data. At room temperature, the cycle life of cobalt-free batteries will reach over 2500 cycles. In terms of energy density, cobalt-free batteries can currently achieve 240-245 Wh/kg, far exceeding the 170-180 Wh/kg level of mainstream lithium iron phosphate batteries, and very close to the 240-250 Wh/kg level of 811 system ternary lithium batteries.
Regarding the safety concerns that are of general interest, SVOLT's cobalt-free batteries not only have a natural advantage in overcharge resistance, but also exhibit excellent thermal stability. The 150℃ hot box test it passed far exceeds the national standard requirement of 130℃. This represents better thermal stability compared to ternary lithium batteries using the 811 system. SVOLT's first cobalt-free product, the 115Ah, began mass production in July 2021. Great Wall's Cherry Cat series vehicles equipped with this cobalt-free product will soon be launched. Considering the performance of cobalt-free products, they are suitable for use in mid-to-high-end long-range automotive products.
As mentioned above, due to the energy density limitations of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, vehicles using LFP cells generally suffer from relatively low driving range. Furthermore, LFP batteries exhibit poor low-temperature performance, leading to a significant decrease in driving range during winter. In contrast, cobalt-free batteries have a significantly higher energy density than LFP batteries and exhibit superior low-temperature performance. Therefore, in the same vehicle class, consumers will clearly perceive a noticeable increase in driving range when using cobalt-free batteries, and the range is less affected by weather temperature.
6) The cobalt-free E-series directly competes with lithium iron phosphate batteries.
It's also worth mentioning that, facing the long-term cost competitive advantage of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, the ultimate goal of the 115Ah battery cell developed from the low-nickel, cobalt-free E platform is to increase the energy density by 20% compared to LFP batteries of the same capacity, while simultaneously reducing costs by 17%. In other words, the aim is to achieve performance and cost competitiveness for the cobalt-free E cell in mid-range vehicles, making it a viable alternative to LFP products. This goal is extremely challenging, but once achieved, its potential is immense.
summary
Through some interviews with Hive, I think readers may have a deeper understanding of the technology roadmap that Hive is promoting, and I sincerely hope that this roadmap will be successful.
