In 2022, China's lithium-ion battery industry will continue to experience rapid growth.

On December 21, 2022, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the operation of the national lithium-ion battery industry from January to October. According to the industry, enterprises and research institutes, from January to October, the total production of lithium-ion batteries in China exceeded 580 GWh, the installed capacity of power batteries was 224 GWh, and the export of lithium-ion battery products increased by 87% year on year.

Industry insiders said that the current lithium-ion battery industry is still in the expansion stage. It is expected that the global new energy vehicle industry will continue to develop rapidly in the next decade, with a compound growth rate of more than 20%, which will drive the lithium-ion battery industry to continue to grow rapidly.

First, the rapid growth of the lithium battery industry

While the total production of lithium-ion batteries is expanding, the output of related materials is also accelerating.

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first-order material link, the output of cathode materials, negative electrode materials, diaphragms and electrolytes from January to October was about 1.36 million tons, 1.02 million tons, 9.8 billion square meters and 645,000 tons, respectively. In the second-order material sector, the output of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide from January to October reached 295,000 tons and 182,000 tons respectively. At the same time, the market price continued to fluctuate at a high level, and the average prices of battery-grade lithium carbonate and battery-grade lithium hydroxide (micronized grade) from January to October were 465,000 yuan / ton and 445,000 yuan / ton respectively.

Wu Feng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the 7th International Summit on Power Battery Applications on December 20: "Coupled with the rapid growth of the power and energy storage markets, the industry predicts that global lithium battery shipments are expected to enter the TWh era in 2023. The momentum of industrial development is very rapid, which is inseparable from market driving and policy support, and benefits from the progress of battery technology. ”

Driven by the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle industry, the production and sales of power batteries have maintained a rapid growth trend. According to the latest data from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, in November, China's power battery production totaled 63.4GWh, a year-on-year increase of 124.6% and a month-on-month increase of 0.9%; The installed capacity of power batteries reached 34.3GWh, an increase of 64.5% year-on-year and 12.2% month-on-month.

Xiong Xunman, vice president of Ganfeng Lithium, said at the 7th International Summit on Power Battery Application: "It is expected that the global new energy vehicle industry will continue to develop rapidly in the next decade, with a compound growth rate of more than 20%, which will drive the sustained high growth of the power lithium battery industry. It is estimated that the global demand for lithium batteries will be about 1120GWh by 2025 and about 3000GWh by 2030. ”

"With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, the demand for lithium salt products is also growing explosively, and it is expected that the annual demand will reach 1.6 million tons in 2025 and 4 million tons in 2030, mainly from the demand for power batteries." Xiong Xunman said.

Second, the industry's leading companies increase production expansion

The total production of lithium-ion batteries maintained rapid growth, reflecting the continued high prosperity of the industry.

At the same time, the lithium battery industry chain has increased production. In terms of power battery companies, taking CATL as an example, there is good news in the near future. On December 19, CATL announced that the first phase of the Yibin project of Geely Power Battery was fully put into production. The project officially started construction in October 2020, with a planned annual production capacity of 15GWh.

In addition, CATL recently announced that Honda in China is expected to purchase 123GWh of pure electric vehicle power batteries from CATL between 2024 and 2030. The conclusion of this purchase agreement will help Honda consolidate a long-term and stable power battery supply and demand system.

Another power battery company, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, recently obtained a second mining right in Yichun, and announced on December 21 that it intends to increase its capital to Jiangsu Guoxuan by 1.634 billion yuan to accelerate the construction of power lithium battery production capacity projects.

In terms of lithium battery material enterprises, Corun said on December 21 that its holding subsidiary Yichun Liyuan signed a "strategic cooperation framework agreement" with Hunan Yacheng and Zhuhai Keheng, intending to jointly invest in the construction of lithium iron phosphate, lithium manganese phosphate and other new energy lithium battery cathode material production base projects in Yifeng County. Corun said: This cooperation, as one of the lithium iron phosphate industry links, will help enhance the company's competitiveness in the lithium battery industry and achieve the goal of building a whole lithium battery industry chain.

Third, terminal demand is still booming, and the future can be expected

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in November, new energy vehicles continued to maintain rapid growth. Monthly production reached a new high, with production and sales reaching 768,000 units, up 65.6% y/y, and 72.3% y/y, respectively, with a market share of 33.8%.

The promotion of car companies has been further increased. Taking Tesla as an example, Tesla uses "price reduction + tail payment reduction + insurance subsidy" and other methods to carry out promotions and sprint to the year-end sales target.

In addition, the recent intensive introduction of policies to promote consumption, new energy vehicles have become an important starting point.

"There is no suspense that the sales of new energy vehicles in the domestic market this year have exceeded 6.5 million units." On December 20, Liu Yanlong, secretary-general of the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association, said.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) predicts that China's new energy vehicle sales will reach 6.7 million units in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 90.3%. In 2023, sales of new energy vehicles will reach 9 million units, a year-on-year increase of 35%.