Starting in 2020, the prices of raw materials for batteries have increased significantly. Taking the electrolyte as an example, the increase has more than doubled, and the cost of the entire battery has also increased by 35-40%. The direct driving force behind the rise in the price of lithium iron phosphate materials is the surge in prices of battery-grade lithium carbonate. Lithium carbonate is an indispensable raw material for current lithium battery cathode materials and electrolytes. The price of lithium carbonate has climbed since last year, directly increasing the cost of battery cathode materials and electrolytes.
Data shows that the current list price of battery-grade lithium carbonate is 88,000-95,000 yuan/ton, 71.2% higher than the price at the beginning of the year and almost double last year's lowest price. 48,000 yuan/ton.
Beware of quality issues with low-cost battery cars
As the most important component of a battery car, the Battery cost can represent almost 20% of the total vehicle cost -30%.
According to the three mainstream batteries on the market, the price of 48V?12Ah battery is about 480 yuan, the price of 48V?20Ah battery is about 850 yuan, and the price of 48V?24Ah battery is about 480 yuan. more than 950 yuan. The corresponding price of ordinary single battery cars is about 1,500 yuan, the price of conventional battery cars is between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan, and the price of high-end battery cars is more than 3,500 yuan. Consumers should be wary of quality issues with cheap battery-powered vehicles.
The price of lithium battery raw materials has doubled. What is the reason for the price doubling?
Thereason for the increase in lithium carbonate is a serious imbalance between supply and demand, and the main reason for this serious imbalance between supply and demand is our lack of pricing power for bulk products . Considering the production expansion cycle and the current situation at home and abroad, although this will help combat hoarding, the shortage is fundamental.
Lithium carbonate prices have no inflection point and will remain high for some time. As upstream prices increase, profit margins in the midstream and downstream sectors will be further reduced. The most intuitive manifestation is that the profits of midstream and downstream companies are worrying. There will be differentiation within the lithium battery industry this year, and it will not be a generally rising market. The batteriesrepresent approximately 40 to 60% of the total cost of the vehicle. As the prices of the four major lithium battery materials rise, battery suppliers will face increased supply cost pressure, profits will decline, and may even suffer losses.
The listed price of battery-grade lithium carbonate is about 100,000 yuan/ton, and it is currently close to 500,000 yuan/ton, an increase of 400% in early 2021; or 50,000 yuan/ton, an increase of 900%. However, there is still a trend towards supply shortages. The rapid rise in the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate is mainly due to the urgent demand for lithium carbonate from lithium iron phosphate manufacturers, especially in the field of overseas energy storage batteries. The rise in lithium carbonate prices is arguably a period ofrare bonus for upstream companies, but it is not so easy for the entire industrial chain.
The lithium carbonate craze is not only happening on the raw material supply side, but also in the area of used battery recycling. According to CCTV reports, previously the use of used batteriesThe price is already higher than that of new batteries. At its lowest level previously, the price of recycling electric batteries represented only 60% of new products. There is now a phenomenon of price reversal, with the discount factor exceeding 100%. Even “120% of people dare to say it” and “used goods” are more expensive than new products. Moderately accelerate the development of lithium, nickel and other domestic resources, and crack down on unfair competition behaviors such as hoarding and price gouging. Improve the waste recycling systemelectrical batteries, support technological research on efficient dismantling and recycling, and continuously improve recycling rates and resource use efficiency.
The price of lithium battery raw materials has doubled The reason behind the doubling of the price is that the new energy vehicle market continues to be booming, which which attracted a large number of people. orders to upstream electric battery factories and lithium product factories New energy vehicles The raw materials used in lithium batteries are also increasing. Driven by various favorable policies, new energy vehicle manufacturers are making great efforts, and the global market is ushering in a new round of development opportunities, which has also led to a continuous rise in battery raw material prices in China. lithium such aslithium carbonate.
Attracting the attention of authoritative media:On April 30, even CCTV Finance began to pay attention to the rising prices of lithium and lithium battery raw materials. The rise in lithium battery raw material prices has attracted more and more attention. According to reports, currently, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate has more than doubled from last year's low of 38,000 yuan per ton to 90,000 yuan per ton; lithium hydroxide rose from 60,000 yuan per ton to more than 80,000 yuan per ton. .
Lithium-ion battery classification:According to different classification standards, they can be divided into different types. According to the material of the negative electrode, they can be divided into lithium cobalt oxide batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries and. ternary batteries; according to the shape of the product, there are square batteries,cylindrical batteries and soft batteries according to application scenarios, they can be divided into consumer electronics, energy storage and power batteries; Among them, mainstream lithium batteries are mainly used in 3C products; energy storage batteries are mainly used in household energy storage and distributed independent energy systems such as solar and wind power generation are mainly used in various electric vehicles, power tools and new; energy vehicles.
Usage:Lithium batteries are used in 3C, electric power, energy storage and other fields. Guohai Securities estimates that the global demand for lithium batteries will be 1,202 GWh in 2025, and the corresponding demand for electrolytes will be 1.32 million tons. However, due to the tendencyWith the continued decline in prices of electrolytic products and the overall reduction in capital expenditure in the industry, only a few leading companies such as Tianci Materials will deploy new production capacities in the coming years, and the supply is relatively rigid.
From a global perspective, China is the largest consumer of lithium, with lithium demand accounting for 57% of the global total in 2019. And 60% of the demand comes from lithium batteries. In recent years, the importance of new energy vehicles has become more and more important. As the "core" of new energy vehicles, the importance of lithium batteries cannot be ignored. With the increasing certainty and rapid increase in the penetration rate of new energy automobile industry, the market size of lithium batteries as the main energy source is also constantly expanding.if we. In China, thanks to policy support and technological development, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China has reached more than 1.2 million units, and the installed capacity of power batteries has reached more than 60 GWh.
Conclusion:According to some experts' analysis, lithium product companies are increasing their investment in production capacity. ExpectedThe relationship between supply and demand will improve in half a year, and the price of lithium products will fall back to a reasonable range of 50,000-80,000 yuan/ton.