Top 5 household and portable power station cells in H1 2022

The global energy crisis has intensified, and the household and portable power station cell market has ushered in a blue ocean since 2022. According to relevant surveys, energy storage lithium battery shipments will reach 44.5GWh in H1 2022, and the overall scale will be close to the level of 2021.

Among them, power energy storage accounts for more than 60%. The performance of home energy storage and portable power station exceeded expectations, among which China's home energy storage shipments reached 6GWh, mainly exported. The rhythm of communication energy storage shipments is relatively slow.

1. Top 5 household and portable power station cell manufacturers in H1 2022

A few days ago, the relevant data announced the 2022 H1 home energy storage and portable power station cells (mainly below 100Ah, including 100Ah) shipments Top 5. The rankings are BYD (Top 1), Great Power (Top 2), EVE (Top 3), Pylon Tech (Top 4), and REPT (Top 5).

2. Household energy storage cell manufacturers start high-speed competition

From the perspective of the global household energy storage battery solution, the battery technology solution includes the cylindrical 21700 (ternary lithium) used by the Tesla powerwall series. There are also square aluminum-shell lithium iron phosphate 50Ah/100Ah batteries and soft-pack lithium iron phosphate solutions that are mainly promoted in China. However, from the perspective of safety and cost, the lithium iron phosphate material system dominated by Chinese battery companies has obvious advantages.

With the acceleration of Chinese energy storage companies going overseas, the proportion of global household energy storage has further increased. However, with the rapid rise of new materials such as sodium ions, the material solutions for household energy storage batteries may be further expanded. According to relevant judgments, sodium ions will bring new development ideas for household energy storage to reduce costs and increase efficiency in the next five years.

From the perspective of cell capacity, the current common household energy storage cells mainly include three types: square, large cylinder, and soft pack. Among them, the single capacity of the square battery is 50Ah-300Ah, the large cylindrical battery is 10Ah-50Ah, and the soft pack battery is 30Ah-80Ah. Not long ago, HITHIUM released a large cylindrical battery for household energy storage with a single capacity of 10-50Ah. With the addition of HITHIUM, the large cylinder may become one of the mainstream routes for household energy storage in the future.

Relevant data show that, compared with electric energy storage, the battery selection capacity of household energy storage scenarios is smaller. On the one hand, the current smaller cell capacity can promote the faster formation of cell modules and realize the diversity of module capacity. On the other hand, smaller cell capacity can match household storage and portable energy storage systems with different charges. In addition, in the increasingly popular household storage high-voltage system, smaller cell capacity is more suitable.

At present, the European household energy storage market is undergoing product iteration from low-voltage to high-voltage systems. The current development trend of household energy storage in the European market is to reduce the current mainly by increasing the voltage platform, and finally achieve the reduction of system heat generation and the improvement of discharge efficiency. Generally speaking, as the voltage platform rises, to ensure that the total energy storage system capacity remains unchanged (household energy storage systems are usually within 10kwh), the cells need to be made with small capacity.

Therefore, small-capacity batteries below 100Ah have a long application life cycle in the field of household energy storage. Statistics show that in 2021, the global installed capacity of household energy storage is about 6.4GWh. According to this year's development trend, it is expected to exceed 15GWh in 2022, with a year-on-year growth rate of more than 134%. It is optimistically estimated that the global installed capacity of household energy storage is expected to reach 100GWh in 2025. Under the superposition of the above-mentioned factors, the field of household energy storage batteries will usher in a faster industry competition.

3. Portable power station cell manufacturers start a new round of competition

In the field of portable power station, the high prosperity of the portable power station market has also brought fire to portable power station batteries. At present, the core driving forces for the continuous growth of portable energy storage on a larger scale are the following three points:

• The charging capacity of a single portable power station unit has been increased, from the mainstream ≤0.5KWh in 2021 to the current popular 1KWh or more;
• The outbreak of markets such as outdoor and emergency backup power drives the scale of portable power station shipments to continue to grow exponentially;
• The continuous expansion of consumption 3C lithium battery production capacity has led to a rapid reduction in the cost of lithium batteries, and the sales price of portable power station has continued to decline.

Lithium batteries account for between 50% and 70% of the overall portable energy storage cost. Lithium batteries account for the highest proportion of portable power station costs, and are also a key factor in determining the service life and cost reduction speed of portable power station products. In terms of battery cell solutions, due to the special requirements of portable power station for safety and portability, downstream customers mainly use mature 18650 battery size in cylindrical lithium, and a small number of models that pursue high capacity use cylindrical 21700 or larger cylinders.

In addition to the cylindrical battery, the soft pack is also partially penetrated. In terms of material system, due to the tight supply of battery cells in Japan and South Korea in 2021 and the impact of the epidemic on the global battery supply chain, some leading power supply companies in China will gradually use China-made lithium iron phosphate cells. However, some usage scenarios that require high energy-to-volume ratios make ternary materials still the preferred material route for such scenarios.

At present, the progress of localization and replacement of portable power station cells in China is accelerating. Due to its better cost performance and safety, lithium iron phosphate batteries have gradually increased their market share in field rescue and outdoor operations, and lithium iron phosphate may occupy a dominant position. It is predicted that the global demand for portable power station lithium batteries is expected to exceed 15GWh in 2025. Overall, China's portable power station field energy storage battery companies will also usher in a new round of competition.

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