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The market potential of silicon based anode is gradually opening up. Statistics show that China's composite silicon-based anode electrode shipments in 2020 were 60,000 tons, and in 2021, 11,000 tons, up 83.3% year-on-year.
Behind the rapid growth, on the one hand, from the power tools, smart home lithium battery market demand is strong, superimposed international power tool giants, cross-border e-commerce lithium battery supply to China, the increase of high capacity, high rate lithium battery demand drives China's silicon-based anode demand. At present, silicon-based negative electrode is mainly applied in the field of high-end cylindrical batteries, and the silicon-based negative electrode application in the above two plate markets accounts for more than 70% of the silicon-based negative electrode market consumption.
On the other hand, from the steady growth of power batteries. In terms of power battery, among the current mass production models, only tesla's extended range models add a small amount of silicon into the negative electrode, and the growth of model sales drives the growth of part of China's demand for silicon-based negative electrodes. As one of the few enterprises in China to realize the mass production of silicon-based negative electrode, Shanshan Technology has a fast supply of silicon-based negative electrode in power tools, smart home, high-end 3C digital and other markets. In 2021, the silicon-based negative electrode will achieve full production and full sales, and it has passed the multi-round evaluation of mainstream automobile companies in the field of power battery application.
The consensus judgment of the industry is that, taking into account the higher specific capacity and longer service life compared with graphite, silicon-based anode will quickly meet the large-scale application demand in the field of high-end lithium. At the same time, the large-scale mass production of 4680 large cylindrical batteries and long-life fast charging lithium ion battery models, as well as the expansion and acceleration of the superimposition of silicon-based anode industry chain, will promote the explosive growth of silicon-based anode materials.
1.Silicon based anode three incremental markets
Silicon based anode mainly refers to graphite doped silicon composite materials, doped products include silicon carbon (Si/C) anode materials and silicon oxygen (SiO/C) anode materials, the mainstream proportion of silicon doped in 5%-6%.
At present, silicon-based anode is mainly used in high-end 3C digital, power tools and other fields, and is expected to open up an exponential growth channel in the field of power batteries.
①Power tools market
Since 2021, EVE, Changhong Energy, BAK, Far East Battery, Great Power and other enterprises have seen different rates of growth in the shipment of lithium batteries for power tools, and are actively expanding production to meet the growing demand of the downstream market.
The lithium battery head supplier of power tools said that according to the customer's demand for battery performance, part of the capacity of 2500-2600mah high rate cylindrical battery has silicon based anode application demand, and the capacity of 3000-3350mah and 3500mAh products must use silicon based anode for most of them.
Entering 2022, the market demand for lithium batteries for power tools will continue to grow. At present, the order of Haishida Power supply has covered the production plan of the company in the first three quarters; Great Power is preparing more lines to supply TTI and other high-end tool customers; Tianpeng power received a 3-year supply order from Stanley Black & Decker.
Statistics show that driven by the growth of the global power tools market, the global shipments of lithium batteries for power tools in 2021 will be 22GWh; It is predicted that the shipment scale will increase to 60GWh in 2026 in the future, which is still 2.7 times greater than that in 2021. Driven by this, silicon based anode will also usher in continued growth opportunities.
②Power battery market
Downstream customers put forward higher requirements for fast charging performance and battery life, high energy density battery is favored by the market, and the advantage of silicon based negative electrode is more prominent.
At the end of the market, automotive companies have significantly accelerated the application of silicon-based anode. Tesla launched 4680 cylindrical battery with silicon-based anode, which started mass production and rolled out in February this year. Nio, Zhiji and GAC Aeon have mentioned silicon anode in battery technology, and plan to be on the market and delivered this year; Guoxuan 210Wh/Kg LFP cell also successfully applied silicon negative electrode for the first time.
Li Jin, senior manager of GAC Aeon Technology Center, said that GAC Aeon sponge silicon anode chip battery uses three positive electrode, with silicon oxide anode material, gram capacity and silicon mixing ratio are higher than the level of existing models on the market. Generally speaking, silicon-based negative electrode is most suitable for cylindrical battery, but GAC Aeon took the lead in applying it to square battery, improved the battery material system, and introduced the design idea of magazine battery into the whole package design.
Tesla 4680 battery application effect, superposition silicon based anode in the power battery field from cylindrical to square and soft package application extension, silicon based anode market will break out from hibernation.
③High-end digital market
The rise of products such as smartphone terminal demand, civil uav and smart wearable devices brought about by the promotion of 5G technology will drive the growth of high-end consumer batteries.
The industry expects silicon-based negative penetration in high-end consumer batteries to exceed 50% by 2025.
2.Enterprises in the industrial chain accelerated their progress
At present, only Shanshan And Beitrui have realized the mass production and batch supply of silicon negative electrode in China. Pu Tai Lai, Shi Da Sheng Hua, Xiang Fenghua, Silicon Treasure technology and other companies in the layout, pilot or research and development stage.
Downstream application market demand has been "wind", the silicon-based anode enterprises are also accelerating the industrialization process.
Shanshan shares said that the latest generation of fast charging products (3C, 5C) have been in trial production in the global mainstream consumer enterprises, is expected to be fully introduced in 2022, the company's fast charging consumer products will continue to lead the market. In the field of power battery application, it has passed several rounds of evaluation by mainstream car companies, and the project of a new generation of silicon oxygen anode materials has been implemented.
Putailai said that the company's silicon carbon anode materials are mainly used in lipo battery and square battery applications, with a certain number of pilot products in the client application. With the development of the industrial chain, such as the introduction of low expansion binder and additives to improve the first efficiency, the application of silicon carbon and silicon oxygen materials in square cells will be increased. The company has pilot-scale silicon carbon and silicon oxygen capacity, and will increase the scale according to market needs.
Shida Shenghua phase I 1000 tons of silicon-based anode has entered the trial production stage, and is expected to be shipped in bulk in the second half of this year. The company also plans a 20,000-ton silicon-based anode production line, which is expected to be completed and put into operation in December 2023.
Xiangfenghua said that silicon carbon anode material products in the pilot stage, has the conditions for industrialization.
Xin 'an shares pointed out that the silicon carbide anode project pilot project has been completed equipment installation into the pre-production stage.
The silicon carbon anode material of Jiibao Technology has passed the evaluation of several battery manufacturers and achieved small batch supply. In November 2021, the company announced the construction of a silicon carbon anode material project for lithium battery of 10,000 tons/year, with the capacity increased from 50 tons to 10,000 tons.
Dragon new material silicon carbon composite anode has passed the customer certification, to the mass production stage.
3.Several bottlenecks of silicon based anode mass production
It is worth noting that large-scale production of silicon-based negative electrodes still faces several bottlenecks:
- There are still silicon based anode easy volume expansion, poor electrical conductivity, first charge and discharge loss and other problems, the performance still needs to continue to optimize.
- Because the industrialization of silicon based anode is still in its early stage and the production capacity is small, silicon based anode lacks cost-effective advantage.
- At present, the composite doping ratio of silicon based anode is small, the increment space is limited, and the technology needs to be broken through.