Thin interpretation of lithium battery copper foil

Lithium battery copper foil is used as the anode current collector of lithium battery, accounting for 5%-8% of the cost of lithium battery. It is an important lithium battery material. It is assumed that the average usage of copper foil per GSH lithium battery is 0.09 million tons/GWH. In 2020, the global demand for lithium copper foil is about 200,000 tons. Corresponding to the global demand for lithium copper foil of 85,500 tons in 2016, the compound annual growth rate has reached 21.93%.

According to the public information inventory, there are about 10 domestic companies producing lithium foil and copper foil around 2015, but by 2018, with the increase of copper foil factories and the influx of new capital from the thick copper foil market, lithium copper The number of foil enterprises has doubled, more than 30, and is still increasing. 2016-2018 capacity planning in the 10,000-ton lithium battery copper foil project, a total of Warwick copper foil, Garden Group, Jiayuan Technology, Chaohua Technology Lingbao Huaxin, NORD, Tongling Nonferrous and other 8 companies announced the construction of a lithium-ion copper foil project with a planned capacity of more than 200,000 tons. According to the production cycle of lithium-ion copper foil, the new capacity is concentrated in the first half of 2017, 2018 Released in the first half.

The price of lithium copper foil consists of 'raw copper + processing fee'. For copper foil enterprises, the price of copper ingots is relatively stable in recent years (copper price is about 50,000 yuan), and the profit growth point mainly comes from processing fees. 8μm in 2017 Lithium-ion copper foil is hot, and the processing cost of copper foil has increased by about 30% to 40%. It once broke through to 70,000-80,000 yuan/ton. In the first half of 2018, it basically fell back to half, but as of August this year, 8μm lithium battery copper The overall price of the foil has fallen below 100,000 yuan / ton.

In order to meet the downstream mileage requirements, power battery companies have reduced the cost and efficiency, and the demand for thinning of lithium copper foil has become more and more intense. Thinning is the development direction of high-end copper foil. Allowing copper foil to be thinned can increase the mileage of lithium battery. It is one of the core areas of global new energy battery competition. Starting from the second half of 2017, the price of 6μm product market has exceeded 135,000 yuan / ton. The price of imported high-end lithium battery copper foil has reached 200,000 yuan / ton, the amount of 6μm products. Production will greatly lower the price of imported copper foil, and break the monopoly of Japan and South Korea, and establish the competitiveness of the domestic copper foil market.

Chen Lizhi, chairman of the board of directors of the domestic lithium battery copper foil industry, said that the company has developed and implemented mass production of 6 micron, microporous copper foil, etc., with ultra-thin anti-oxidation technology, these technologies can directly improve the power battery Density and meet the needs of 5G high-frequency high-speed. 8 micron to 6 micron, the battery can increase the energy density by 5%, which plays a very important role in the competitiveness of lithium battery enterprise products.

Although compared with 8μm lithium-ion copper foil, 6μm is a hot spot for current power battery companies. However, from the practical application, 6μm lithium-ion copper foil has not reached the expectations in the application of power battery companies.

According to the analysis, there are two main factors:

1, there are not many domestic copper foil enterprises capable of mass production of 6μm. At present, in the Ningde era, BYD is the most mature battery enterprise that applies 6μm lithium battery copper foil in China, and most of the batteries that can satisfy the supply in the market have entered the two battery companies. Pockets. Although Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Lishen, AVIC Lithium, Fueneng and other battery companies are also actively introducing, but the marketization process needs to be improved;

2, power battery companies encountered in the introduction process such as broken foil, die-cut copper powder and other technical problems need to be solved, 6μm lithium battery copper foil thickness is just one tenth of a human hair, from copper foil enterprises and batteries The company has learned that power battery companies have never used such a thin copper foil before, and they have encountered many challenges in coating, die cutting, cold pressing, baking, etc. For example, cutting copper powder is the power battery. The most difficult problem for enterprises.

With the technology of power battery companies, the improvement of technology and the gradual improvement of copper foil enterprise products, the industry's judgment is that in the second half of this year, the market demand for 6μm lithium battery copper foil will increase a lot compared with the first half of the year.