Lithium price rises "high climbing" sodium battery is cost -effective to meet opportunities

At present, the supply of lithium resources is facing bottlenecks, and lithium prices are "high". Theoretically, the lithium battery alternative with cost advantages -sodium ion batteries has received the attention of all parties in the market.

On September 18, the reporter of the Securities Daily learned from the Ningde era that the upstream industrial chain of the company's sodium ion battery will be completed next year and will be put into production. Sodium ion batteries can be applied to both electric vehicles or scenarios such as energy storage power stations. Recently, the domestic power battery leader Ningde Times said in response to investors' questions that it is committed to promoting the industrialization of sodium ion batteries in 2023.

The reporter learned during the interview that the development of sodium ion batteries is still in the early stage and has not yet entered large -scale production and scenario applications. Mo Ke, chief analyst at Zhenzhi Research, told a reporter from the Securities Daily that the development prospects of sodium ion batteries are still uncertain. "Once the price of lithium carbonate falls, can sodium ionic battery -performance advantages with relatively low energy density be continued?"

Listed companies deploy sodium battery field

"Sodium ion batteries have attracted much attention, mainly due to rising raw material prices, rapid growth of new energy vehicles, and continuous progress of sodium ion battery technology." The reporter said.

It is necessary for investors to examine sodium ion battery boom from a longer time dimension. The price of battery -grade lithium carbonate two years ago was only 40,000 yuan/ton, and as of September 16, 2022, the price of lithium carbonate of battery -class rose to 502,500 yuan/ton, an increase of 1156.25%in two years. From the perspective of the sales of new energy vehicles, from January to August 2022, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in my country completed 3.97 million and 3.86 million, respectively, a year -on -year increase of 1.2 times and 1.1 times, respectively. In 2020, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in my country were 1.366 million and 1.367 million, respectively.

At present, the pressure of lithium battery raw material prices is conducted layer by layer, not only the terminal vehicle manufacturers feel the pressure, but the battery manufacturers such as Ningde Times have also felt the same.

The research report released by Huatai Securities stated that in the context of lithium resource tension, the strategic significance of sodium ion batteries is prominent. Compared with lithium batteries, the electrochemical properties of sodium battery are more stable and the cost is lower. Compared with lead -acid/whole pyrine flow battery, sodium ion battery is cost -effective.

"Theoretically, sodium ion batteries are more cost -effective than lithium ion batteries. The cost is 20%to 30%lower than the cheapest lithium iron phosphate battery, because sodium ion batteries do not use rare precious metals." Tang Yan told reporters.

From the perspective of cost material structure, the cost of lithium -ion batteries is the highest, with 43%; while the cost of the positive electrode material of sodium ion batteries accounts for only 26%.

As one of the earliest companies to enter the field of sodium batteries, as early as July 29, 2021, the Ningde Times released its first generation of sodium ion batteries. According to the company's introduction at the press conference, the energy density of the battery core monomer reached 160WH/kg; the power was charged for 15 minutes at room temperature, and the power could reach 80%; In addition, the Ningde Times also proposed the application plan for lithium sodium mixed -match battery packs.

At the same time, Huayang shares in A -share listed companies joined hands with the sodium battery sector of the sodium sodium in the sea; companies such as sodium innovation energy, Penghui Energy, Xinwangda, and the Great Wall of China have announced the deployment of sodium battery fields.

"After years of research and development of sodium ion battery technology, it has entered a period of product import." Tang Yan said in an interview with the Securities Daily reporter, but sodium ion batteries will not replace lithium ion batteries, and the two are more complementary relationships. The current application scenario of sodium ion batteries is a short -distance electric field such as two -wheeled electric vehicles, because these consumer groups are more sensitive to prices; another application scenario is areas with high energy density requirements, such as new energy access energy storage, etc. Essence

Industry insiders told reporters that although sodium ion batteries have obvious price advantages, whether they can be commercialized on a large scale depend on product performance.

Industrial development needs policy support

The market is more concerned about the "economy" of sodium ion batteries. Can this technical route go through?

According to the research report released by Huatai Securities, the current cost of sodium ion battery material is 2.3 yuan/WH (test). It is expected that under scale production, the long -term theoretical cost of sodium ion batteries can be reduced to 0.3 yuan/WH to 0.4 yuan/WH.

"The industrial chain of sodium ion batteries has not been completely formed and failed to be produced on a large scale. Various factors have caused the cost of sodium ion batteries to be greatly reduced." Tang Yan told reporters that at the current stage, the maturity of sodium ion battery technology is far away. Lithium battery technology is still required to actively invest in research and development. At the same time, this also means that there is still much room for improvement and optimization of sodium ion batteries. It is recommended to give more policy support in the early stage of the introduction of sodium ion battery products to accelerate the development of related technology.

"In the next three to five years, the development enterprises of sodium ion batteries are difficult to achieve profitability, and they are more pursuing technological leadership, and then make profitability at the stage of large -scale manufacturing." An industry insider told the Securities Daily reporter "The imagination space of sodium ion batteries is very large, but enterprises must come up with a set of highly economical solutions to enhance profitable space."

Cross -border needs to be cautious

Data from Flush Shun shows that as of September 16, a total of 36 sodium ion battery concept stocks have been available in A shares, of which listed companies from power equipment are mostly. Cross -border deployment of sodium ion battery. For example, Chuanyi Technology is mainly engaged in the design, research and development, manufacturing and sales of various types of input equipment. According to its introduction, as of August 31, the sodium Electric Electric Electric Power is conducting construction and patent applications in an orderly manner. According to the plan, the 2GWH production capacity of the sodium ion battery project is planned to complete the construction and product test of the plant and the mid -testing line by the end of 2022, and the 2GWH capacity was completed in early 2023. In the second phase of 8GWH production capacity, the company will put in time in time according to the situation of the subsequent sodium ion battery market, etc., and steadily promote the gradual expansion and release of sodium battery production capacity.

Data show that since June 28, Chuanyi Technology has increased by more than 300%as of September 8.

However, whether there is a blind investment and hot spots in this field, it is worthy of attention. The risk of the project issued by Chuanyi Technology states that because the production line of the project has just been built to prepare for production, the stability of operation needs to be further improved. ; Sodium batteries are new technical products, and there is also uncertainty in the cultivation and development of the market.

Mo Ke introduced to reporters that in general, a technology needs to go through the three stages of "small test", "medium test", "mass production" from laboratory development to industrial production. "Small test", that is, small batch production, observing the stability of the product, "medium test" is higher -level production than "small test", and mass production means that the stability of the product can already support large -scale production.

Tang Yan told reporters that "the research and development of sodium ion batteries requires the accumulation of underlying technology, and it also needs to be verified in the market within a long period of time. The attention of the current capital is conducive to the development of the sodium ion battery industry chain, but in the future, it needs to be proven by product quality. In the long run, only sodium ion battery companies with core competitiveness can survive in fierce market competition. "

Reporter Zhang Min Li Ting

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