Recently, according to foreign media reports, South Korea's battery manufacturers are increasing their investment in China with the subsidy for new energy vehicles in China. The 'Ningde' era after 'Lightning' in April will officially be listed on the GEM in May. It is estimated that the market value of Ningde will surpass RMB 300 billion after its listing in the era of Ningde. It will become the largest stock on the GEM. The unicorn in the Chinese battery industry has just stood, and Korean battery companies are ready to do so to snatch China’s new energy vehicle market in 2020. ready.
Different from the huge disparity in the strength of the battery industry between China, Japan and Korea three years ago, the battery industry in Japan and South Korea once again launched an offensive against the Chinese power battery market. The Chinese power battery industry already has 'resilience' – it will be listed on the GEM. Ningde times.
Battery born under policy 'Unicorn'
Ningde was founded in December 2011. In just 7 years, it has grown into the world's largest power battery sales company (2017), more than 100 years old, and Matsushita, the only power battery supplier of Tesla, and Has 70 years of history in LG chemistry.
Last year, the global automotive power lithium battery production was 69GWh, and Chinese companies contributed 44.5GWh, accounting for 64.5%. Among them, Ningde Times sold 12GWh, ranking first in the world, and occupying 17% of global power battery sales, accounting for China's new energy vehicle last year. Power battery installed capacity 36.27Gwh 30%. According to public information, in January 2016, Ningde era valuation of 1.5 billion, by July the valuation has climbed to 23 billion, in November has reached 81 billion yuan.
Behind the rapid development and the scale of 'flying up to the sky', this private enterprise in China is full of mystery. From the time of the establishment of the Ningde era and the release date of the China's new energy auto policy, the Ningde era is always on the rise. This is a powerful pusher.
Since 2009, the Chinese government has clearly defined the route for the development of the new energy automotive industry. Therefore, the establishment of the Ningde era officially responded to the country's call for the development of the new energy automotive industry. The policy has played a huge role in promoting the Ningde era, and it performed incisively in 2016. .
Behind the rapid expansion of the Ningde era, formally originated on March 24, 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Automotive Battery Regulatory Industry Specification". This policy stipulates that the new energy vehicle promotion catalogue is bundled with the "Automotive Battery Industry Specification". That is to say, new energy automotive products that do not use batteries in the catalog will not enter the new energy vehicle promotion catalog starting May 1st of that year and will not be able to obtain policy subsidies.
In the list of several batches of power battery companies announced in succession, Samsung, LG and other foreign battery companies are not listed. Under the guidance of the policy, new energy auto companies have interrupted the procurement of foreign power batteries, and have switched to purchasing Chinese power batteries entering the catalog. The products of the company. Therefore, under the boost of the policy, the best time for the Ningde era to take off. In January 2016, the valuation of the Ningde era was still only 1.5 billion, in just 10 months, in 2016. In November, its valuation turned 54 times to reach 81 billion.
At present, the Ningde era has signed long-term cooperation agreements with major domestic vehicle companies such as Yutong, SAIC, Beiqi, Geely, Fuzhou, China Motor, Dongfeng and Changan. Among the joint ventures, the Ningde era also entered the supply system of BMW and the general public. After being listed on the GEM in May this year, its market value is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan. At this point, the Ningde era will complete its mythical growth listing.
China, Japan and South Korea power battery robbing battle is open
The time-to-market for the Ningde era can be described as 'just as it was'. Because the protection of the policy is always subject to deadlines. This time point is exactly when the subsidy for new energy vehicles is completely declining in 2020. And, driven by the dual-energy vehicle policy, 2020 The year is also the beginning of a large number of joint ventures launching new energy vehicles in the Chinese market. With subsidies completely eliminated, new energy vehicles will enter the stage of marketization, and the power battery industry will also enter fair market competition.
According to the plan, China's new energy vehicle sales will reach 2 million by 2020, and the number of vehicles will reach 5 million. According to industry forecasts, the demand for power batteries will reach 100GWh by 2020, and the corresponding market size will exceed 100 billion. With both the market and the conditions, Japan and South Korea's power battery companies apparently will not miss the opportunity to grab the world's largest new energy vehicle power battery market.
'Korean battery makers are accepting inquiries from automakers.' A South Korean battery company executive revealed, 'This is because, as China's electric vehicle subsidy policy will end in 2019, automakers need to do a good job for their new models.' Prepare. '
In the new energy vehicle market that is fully market-oriented in 2020, more competitive products will be the key to auto companies looting the market. Therefore, the leading Japanese and Korean power batteries will once again attract the attention of car companies.
As early as 2015, South Korea's Samsung, LG and SK three major battery manufacturers have invested and established factories in China to provide power batteries for SAIC, BAIC and other automakers. To meet the demand of the Chinese market in 2020, South Korea's SK will SK batteries China Holdings changed its order for 'SK Blue Dragon Energy' and invested 86.4 billion won. Samsung SDI also announced investment of 239.4 billion won in China to establish a battery material production joint venture.
In addition, in March this year, Panasonic officially launched production of the “new energy-specific square lithium battery factory” in Dalian, China. Its annual production capacity can meet the demand for 200,000 new energy vehicles. At the beginning of this year, Panasonic stated that it was considering with Tesla. Build a super battery factory in China.
Of course, in the face of competition from foreign companies, Chinese power battery companies are also actively expanding their production capacity to prepare sufficient ammunition for the upcoming “war.” Among them, Ningde Times plan to raise 13.1 billion yuan in listed financing, and 8.9 billion yuan will be used to build capacity. The new plant of 24GWh will reach a total capacity of 50GWh by 2020, accounting for half of the market demand by 2020.
Technical dispute
From the perspective of volume, whether it is Panasonic in Japan, or South Korea’s Samsung, LG or SK, and China’s Ningde era, the future can not meet the huge market demand. With the investment of Japanese and Korean battery companies in the Chinese market, the future In the Ningde era of the power battery industry, there will be no longer a single situation. The contest between several big giants may start quietly from this year. The competition behind this competition is more of a technical strength competition.
From the scale, production, sales, and market value of China, the Ningde era in China is comparable to Japan’s Panasonic, South Korea’s LG, Samsung, and even more than its competitors. Therefore, in a situation where the strength of the company is not much different, it is in a competitive market environment. 2. Technology will become the focus of competition.
The level of power battery technology is directly reflected in the new energy vehicles as the length of the cruising range. At present, the cruising range of China's new energy vehicle market is 150-199km, which exceeds half of the total, and only 10 models have cruising range. More than 400km.
According to the latest technology demonstrated by Samsung at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, the range of the vehicle can reach 600-700 kilometers when installing 20 battery modules, and the mileage can reach 300 kilometers when installing 10 to 12 battery modules. The production of NCM811 battery, cruising range can reach 500km, the new battery developed in 2020 is expected to reach a mileage of 700km. China's Ningde era is developing new energy products with an energy density of 300Wh/Kg. It is estimated that the cruising range will exceed 600km.
Driven by the new energy automotive industry, battery companies are also constantly upgrading the technology research and development of power batteries. In terms of technology research and development, Chinese battery companies have developed in parallel with Japanese and Korean companies in recent years. However, Professor of Automotive Engineering at Tsinghua University Chen Quanshi, director of the electric vehicle research department, said: 'In the era of technological development, the Ningde era is no weaker than Japanese and South Korean companies, but there is still a gap between Japanese and Korean battery companies in terms of process precision and production consistency.'
It is undeniable that under the protection of the policy, China's power battery industry has made significant progress in scale and technology, and has narrowed the gap with the international battery technology level. When the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles degrades, China's power battery Enterprises will re-evolve with the international battery companies to compete in the same starting line. Will China's current battery industry not provide a strong 'Chinese core' for the Chinese auto industry to change lanes?