On July 11, CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited), a lithium-ion battery manufacturer that ranks third in the world in terms of production of automotive lithium batteries and covers electric vehicles and energy storage, held its first "Power Battery Technology Open Class" to explain CATL's technological research and development capabilities and product quality.
CATL President Huang Shilin believes that when lithium-ion batteries were first introduced to China more than a decade ago, the overall level of Chinese lithium battery companies lagged behind international standards by nearly ten years. However, thanks to the national "12th Five-Year Plan," domestic lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries have continued to develop rapidly. Now, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, domestic and international levels have advanced in parallel, and my country's outstanding power battery companies have joined the ranks of the world's leading companies.
Looking at the global automotive lithium battery market in 2015, Panasonic, as Tesla's main supplier, maintained a dominant and stable position in terms of production volume. Domestic power battery companies also benefited from favorable national policies, continuously improving their competitiveness and expanding their production and sales scale, thus securing a place in the international market. Among them, BYD ranked second in lithium battery production volume, relying on its complete industrial chain from batteries to complete vehicles and its self-production and self-sales model, while CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited) ranked third.
It's worth noting that rapidly increasing market demand has become a powerful driving force for the entire industry. Relevant data shows that in 2011, my country's lithium battery production was less than 15 GWh, with power lithium batteries accounting for almost no share. By 2015, my country's lithium battery production had risen to 47.13 GWh, with power lithium batteries accounting for 36.07%. Accompanying this surge in market demand, the price of the raw material lithium has risen from tens of thousands of yuan per ton at the beginning of 2015 to over one hundred thousand yuan currently.
Based on the current market situation, Huang Shilin believes that with the continuous growth of new energy vehicle ownership, the demand for high-performance, safe, and reliable power batteries in the domestic market will experience explosive growth in the future. "Our country has elevated the development of power batteries to a strategic level. The national '13th Five-Year Plan' has clear science and technology research projects. The next generation of products will have twice the energy density of current power batteries by 2020, and the price will be half that of current power batteries. We are confident that we can achieve this goal during the '13th Five-Year Plan' period. This is also a very important indicator for the mass production of the next generation of power batteries."
