The promotion and application of new energy vehicles in China has achieved remarkable results. Now it has become a global leader in the production and consumption of new energy vehicles. According to statistics, in April 2018, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 81,000 vehicles and 82,000 vehicles, respectively, which was a year earlier than the same period of last year. The growth rate was 117.7% and 138.4%. From January to April, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 232,000 units and 225,000 units, respectively, an increase of 142.4% and 149.2% over the same period of the previous year.
Source of data: China Automobile Association, China National Industrial Research Institute
Among them, in April 2018, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles reached 64,000 units and 65,000 units respectively, an increase of 111.5% and 126.8% respectively from the same period of the previous year; from January to April, the production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles all completed 17,000 units. The year-on-year increase of 143.4% and 194.6%, respectively.
Under the vigorous promotion of new energy vehicles, the current penetration rate of electric vehicles in daily life has greatly increased, and at the same time it has also driven the rapid growth of power batteries. According to research, in 2016, the demand for power batteries in China reached 28GWh, and the effective capacity of the entire industry was about 56Gwh. Capacity utilization rate is about 50%. The China Industrial Research Institute predicts that China's power battery demand will reach about 31.3GWh in 2017. By 2018, China's power battery demand will exceed 50GWh.
Source: China Institute of Industrial Research
The rapid development of power batteries also brings about problems in recycling. It is estimated that by 2020, the scrapped amount of batteries for new energy passenger cars in China will reach 170,000 tons, and the market prospect for power battery recycling is broad. With the penetration rate of China's electric vehicles To increase, government departments are bound to formulate appropriate laws and regulations to require mandatory battery recycling to minimize the impact on the environment. On January 26, 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Commerce, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, The Energy Administration jointly issued the Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Powered Storage Battery for New Energy Vehicles. The "Measures" mentioned that it will emphasize the implementation of the producer responsibility extension system and require the automobile manufacturing enterprises to assume the main responsibility for the recovery of the power battery.
It is reported that the "Measures" will be implemented on August 1 this year. Automobile manufacturers will assume the main responsibility for the recovery of power batteries. The interim measures for the management of power battery recycling are about to be implemented. It is foreseen that more companies will deploy battery recycling markets in the future.
Future trends
Lithium compounds Due to the high concentration of lithium compounds market, there is no trading market index. It is also an industry practice for manufacturers and customers to negotiate contracts on a case-by-case basis. According to data compiled by the CRU, domestic lithium carbonate prices were relatively stable by 2015. US$6,000 per ton. Since 2015, due to rising demand for battery-powered electric vehicles, lithium carbonate prices have risen rapidly in the following 36 months, and finally peaked at the end of 2017 due to supply shortages, reaching about US$23,000 per ton.
Solid State Battery
The solid-state battery is considered as the next-generation battery technology for electric vehicle applications due to its high energy density, longer cruising range, accelerated charging, and improved safety. Currently, the battery industry has announced the ambitious goal of cost efficiency, and solid-state battery technology has achieved The goals are very promising.
Battery recycling
It is expected that the rapid increase in battery demand will result in a large amount of used batteries after reaching the end of their service life. Currently, there is no large-scale recycling business in the world. The reason is that the battery consumption in the past was not enough to make the business related to economic benefits. Nevertheless, there are still unresolved issues. The used batteries may become serious environmental problems and destroy the results of promoting the adoption of electric vehicles. Currently, environmental protection has been listed as a national priority and is actively addressing the pollution problem through strict enforcement.