Pre-lithiation drives demand for the lithium industry. Institutions expect the industry to grow at an annual rate of nearly 20%
According to the Shanghai Securities Journal, the new refinancing regulations were officially implemented in February this year. More than 10 lithium battery industry chain companies have disclosed a total of 40 billion yuan of fixed increase plans, of which nearly 26 billion yuan has been used Expansion of production capacity. According to industry insiders, the expansion of production by leading companies will promote the sound development of the lithium battery industry.
A few days ago, the "Action Plan for Promoting the Development of the Automotive Power Battery Industry" issued by four ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clearly stated that increased investment in the research and development of solid-state batteries and other new batteries. Judging from the R&D progress of various companies, Guoxuan Hi-Tech is already developing solid-state batteries and solid-state electrolytes. Ganfeng Lithium's solid-state lithium battery pilot production line was built in Xinyu, Jiangxi, and is currently progressing smoothly. Jiawei New Energy has taken solid-state lithium batteries as the company's main strategic development direction, and has released solid-state lithium battery related products.
Yesterday, the lithium battery sector rose well, but the performance of the leading lithium industry continued to decline. Ganfeng Lithium announced that it expects a net profit of 7 million to 10 million yuan in the first quarter of 2020, a decrease of 96%-97% from the same period of the previous year; and Tianqi Lithium’s estimated net profit loss in the first quarter of 2020 is 450 million yuan – 510 million yuan, with a profit of 111 million yuan in the same period last year.
Guotai Junan observed that China’s imports of lithium carbonate from Argentina and Chile increased by 97% from January to February, putting greater pressure on the overall excess supply and demand. In terms of prices, the global import and export prices of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide have declined to varying degrees. Combined with the cost curve of the lithium industry, Guotai Junan believes that the current lithium price is supported by the cost curve and there is little room for a drop.
He believes that the epidemic will affect the pace of demand in the short term, and is still optimistic about the rapid development of long-term new energy vehicles, which will correspondingly drive the rapid growth of the lithium industry. It is predicted that the lithium industry will maintain a growth rate of 18%-20% in the next 5 years, and the growth will accelerate year by year.
Everbright Securities believes that with the popularization and application of cathode materials such as NCM and NCA, and Tesla's tireless pursuit of cobalt-free, it has promoted the development of ultra-high nickel-based ternary materials, and the energy density of cathode materials has been greatly improved. However, the specific capacity of the existing graphite anode is close to the limit. In order to increase the overall energy density of lithium batteries, it is urgent to develop new lithium battery anode materials.
图源：光大证券
Almost all new anode materials have a shortcoming. SEI film is formed during the first charge and discharge process, which causes irreversible loss of active lithium, which further hinders their commercial application. Therefore, prelithiation technology came into being. The electrode material is recharged with lithium through prelithiation to offset the irreversible lithium loss caused by the formation of the SEI film, so as to increase the total capacity and energy density of the battery.
图源：光大证券
Silicon material is the negative electrode material with the highest specific volume. Through material recombination and pre-lithiation, Si/C is expected to become a new generation of ideal negative electrodes. Maxwell dry electrode production maintains a solvent-free dry state, which is very suitable for pre-lithiation and promotes the industrialization of Si/C. In the future, ultra-high nickel ternary materials + silicon carbon anode will become the mainstream direction, and pre-lithiation will increase the demand for lithium metal.