Dozens of Chinese and foreign companies have invested in the development of cathode materials, and production capacity is expected to be released quickly.

The lithium battery industry is welcoming "spring."

At the "2012 China Lithium Battery and Cathode Materials Symposium" held in Shanghai yesterday, the experts at the meeting agreed that China's lithium battery in the context of the country's vigorous development of new energy vehicles and pure electric vehicles, and the integration of lead-ACID battery industry. And the development of related upstream and downstream industries has ushered in new development opportunities.

"At present, there are more than a dozen Chinese and foreign companies investing in R&D and production of lithium battery cathode materials, and production capacity is expected to be released quickly." Wu Hui, general manager of China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute, told reporters. The development of cathode materials has benefited from the rapid pull of the entire lithium battery industry. According to the statistics of the agency, in 2011, the total sales volume of the global cathode materials market was 59,470 tons, an increase of 29%. This year's increase is expected to continue.

It is worth noting that at present, China's lithium battery market is still in a state of short supply. Tang Weiping from Shanghai Space Power Research Institute told reporters that taking lithium carbonate as an example, China's existing lithium carbonate production capacity is about 33,000 tons, of which battery-level lithium carbonate production capacity accounts for only 1/3. The domestic supply of lithium carbonate is 12,000 tons, and the market demand is 19,000 tons.

When talking about the Chinese market, Wu Hui said that under the strong promotion of the policy, lithium batteries ushered in a new investment boom. At present, dozens of companies have invested in the development of cathode materials, including Nichia Chemical, Dangsheng Technology, BYD, Hunan Shanshan, and Tianjin Bamo Technology.

According to him, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "12th Five-Year Development Plan for New Materials Industry" issued in February, clearly stating that in 2015, the cumulative production and sales of new energy vehicles will exceed 500,000 units, requiring energy-type power battery modules of 15 billion watt-hours. / year, power type 3 billion watt-hours / year, battery separator 100 million square meters / year, lithium hexafluorophosphate electrolyte salt 1000 tons / year, cathode material 10,000 tons / year, carbon-based anode material 4000 tons / year; passenger car demand More than 12 million vehicles require about 170,000 tons of aluminum alloy sheets and 100,000 tons of magnesium alloys per year. At the same time, the Ministry of Science and Technology issued this month's "Electric Vehicle Technology Development "12th Five-Year Special Plan" also clearly proposed to focus on the research of new lithium-ion power batteries, research and development of nickel-based oxides, layered manganese and vanadium, silicon An acid-based positive electrode, a high-potential polyanion system, and a fluoride-based positive electrode.

The use of cost links, the state has also given quite favorable conditions for new energy vehicles. "Since January 1, 2012, the vehicle and vessel tax will be halved for energy-saving vehicles and ships; the vehicle and vessel tax will be exempted for vehicles and ships that use new energy." The introduction of the above policies has promoted the rapid entry of capital into the upstream and downstream industries of lithium batteries. .

In the view of the researcher of Everbright Securities Industry, in the "12th Five-Year Plan" for the development of electric vehicle technology, "pure electric drive" will become the development direction of China's new energy vehicle technology. This will definitely benefit the development of the lithium battery industry. As the integration of lead-acid battery industry increases, the replacement of lead-acid batteries by lithium batteries will accelerate.

“Lithium batteries have always been the most important and most promising part of the development of new energy vehicles throughout the industry chain; and in the capital market, the performance of the lithium battery sector far exceeds that of other industry chains, so with the new The development direction of the energy auto industry is determined, and market funds are expected to focus again on the lithium battery sector," the researcher said.