The price of lithium rises again.

When the "tyrant" of lithium carbonate returns, the "master lithium" is still the "master lithium".

On August 24, Shanghai Steel Union data showed that the average price of battery grade lithium carbonate increased by 3500 yuan / ton to 491000 yuan / ton, up six times in seven trading days. This year, the price of battery grade lithium carbonate rose to 510000 yuan / ton at the beginning of the year. Although it has dropped, it still hovers at the high level of 470000 yuan / ton in recent months.

Now, the price of lithium carbonate has risen again to the 500000 yuan level, which shows that its "King" position in the lithium battery industry is still stable.

As for the price of lithium carbonate, there are many "famous words" in the industry: "the company did not expect that the price of lithium carbonate would rise from 30000 yuan (per ton) to 500000 yuan (per ton). It thought that it would rise by 20-30% (almost), but it did not expect that it would rise by 20 times!"

"The cost (per ton) is over 400000 yuan, and the selling price cannot be too low." A person in charge of a lithium carbonate enterprise expressed "helplessness".

Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde times, said harshly: "if anyone goes all out to raise prices here, we will exclude them."

In this regard, Huatai Securities recently said that the high price of lithium provides a commercial opportunity for sodium power, and the construction of sodium power industry chain will be accelerated. In the context of tight lithium resources, the strategic significance of sodium ion batteries is prominent. Compared with lithium battery, sodium battery has more stable electrochemical performance and lower cost. It is expected that sodium batteries will be widely used in low energy density electric passenger vehicles, electric two wheeled vehicles, energy storage, electric tools and other fields, and the market scale will reach 58.27 billion yuan in 2027.

"The development of sodium ion batteries will not only help alleviate the dilemma of 80% dependence on imports of China's lithium resources and maintain the safety of the supply chain, but also delay the price increase caused by the rise of lithium ion battery raw materials, thus reducing the cost pressure." The Research Report of CICC pointed out that:.

In July last year, Ningde times released the first generation of sodium ion batteries: the energy density of the battery cell reached 160wh / kg, which was almost the highest level in the world at that time; After charging at room temperature for 15 minutes, the power can reach 80%; Under the low temperature of - 20 ° C, the discharge retention rate is still more than 90%; The system integration efficiency is over 80%; High thermal stability, even exceeding the safety requirements of the national power battery strong standard.

At present, Ningde times has started the corresponding industrial layout, and the basic industrial chain of sodium batteries will be formed in 2023. Ningde times claims that the energy density of the second generation sodium battery will reach 200wh / kg and the system energy density can reach 160wh / kg.

In addition to the Ningde era, in July this year, the first GWH sodium ion battery production line in the world was completed in Fuyang, Anhui Province, with a planned capacity of 5gwh. It is reported that the current energy density of zhongkehai sodium sodium ion battery is 145 WH / kg, and the cycle life is 4500 times. Zhongkehai sodium plans to further increase the energy density of sodium ion batteries to 180-200 WH / kg and increase the cycle life to 8000-10000 times.

"In the case of mass production in the future, the material cost of the company's sodium ion batteries is expected to be 0.26 yuan / wh, which is about 30% lower than that of lithium iron phosphate batteries with the same capacity. In the battery manufacturing process, the production cost of sodium ion batteries is equivalent to that of lithium iron phosphate batteries." Expressed by zhongkehai sodium.

According to the planning of Chuanyi technology, another sodium battery enterprise, the company's phase I 2gwh production capacity is planned to complete the construction of the plant and pilot test line and the pilot test of products by the end of 2022, and complete the 2gwh production capacity in early 2023. For the phase II 8gwh capacity, the equipment and production line will be gradually put into operation according to the subsequent sodium ion battery market situation and the company's capital situation, so as to steadily promote the gradual expansion and release of the capacity.

"The company is an enterprise that started the research of sodium ion batteries earlier, and has many patents such as the method of sodium supplementation for sodium ion batteries, sodium ion batteries and their preparation methods. In the field of sodium ion batteries, the company actively explores industry university research cooperation, and cooperates with Nankai University to set up an academician work station," Xinwangda said.

In terms of materials, in July of this year, when receiving an institutional survey, polyfluorocarbon said that the pilot test line for positive electrode materials of sodium ion batteries had been completed, and the phase I production capacity would be about 1GWh. The company's Sodium hexafluorophosphate has been commercialized and mass produced, and there are customers who purchase in batches. It is reported that rongbai technology has the initial mass production capacity of sodium battery materials, and Zhenhua new materials has started the construction of relevant production capacity. Dangsheng technology, greenmead, Guangdong Bangpu, etc. have the relevant patent layout.

Yang Qingheng, general manager of Jiangsu Zhongxing paineng Battery Co., Ltd., said to battery China that paineng is actively laying out for sodium ion batteries. The sodium electric layered oxide material will become the fastest technical route for mass production. This type of battery will have a large application space in the field of two wheeled vehicles and low-speed electric vehicles. The characteristics of low cost and long life of sodium electric polyanion series materials will have a good application prospect in large-scale energy storage in the future.

Comparable to iron lithium battery in many aspects

In terms of resource reserves, sodium ranks sixth in the global elements. Sodium resources are widely distributed in all parts of the world, and the reserves are extremely rich. The reserves in the earth's crust account for 2.64%, 423 times that of lithium resources. Moreover, the extraction technology is simple, which is also a great advantage for the wide application of sodium ion batteries.

According to the Research Report of CITIC Securities, by 2025, the total potential demand of sodium battery in the three application fields of energy storage, electric two wheeled vehicle and low-speed electric vehicle will reach 190gwh, with a huge market space.

At the policy level, sodium batteries have also been supported at the national level. In June this year, the national development and Reform Commission, the national energy administration and other nine departments jointly issued the "14th five year plan" for renewable energy development, proposing to research and develop and reserve sodium ion battery technology. In July this year, the Ministry of industry and information technology officially issued the first batch of sodium ion battery industry standard plan.

In the view of the industry, the current obstacles to the industrialization of sodium ion batteries lie in the lack of electrode consensus and the limitation of application space. Leading companies have entered the industry to form industry demonstration. The first generation sodium batteries are comparable to iron lithium batteries in many aspects. In the future, with the large-scale production of sodium batteries, the cost is expected to drop significantly. Most of the sodium / lithium battery production systems are universal, and the existing lithium battery enterprises can quickly switch production capacity, which is expected to take the lead in benefiting from the industrial layout.