Due to market demand and various subjective and objective influences, the price of lithium carbonate has finally fallen to the bottom. From a peak of 600000 yuan per ton to less than 200000 yuan per ton now, lithium carbonate has transformed from once a "sweet cake" to now a "popular commodity".

　　Yes, it's great!

　　Both the performance of car companies and changes in the market environment attribute the sharp decline in lithium carbonate to a good thing. From another perspective, at this critical stage of the development of new energy vehicles, the superstructure will not allow the power battery to become a shackle restricting the development of the entire industry.

　　Please note that the era of disorderly expansion in the power battery market has passed; The upcoming will be a new order.

　　From a horizontal perspective, starting from power battery products, it is a systematic project that requires strong integration. Positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials, separators, electrolytes, packaging methods, and battery thermal management systems collectively form the battery power system, providing power for pure electric and hybrid vehicles.

　　Vertical extension, starting from the power battery industry, it has a complete supply chain system, and benefits are transported along this chain. Upstream raw material suppliers, midstream battery manufacturers, downstream vehicle manufacturers, and transit battery recycling plants all fulfill their respective responsibilities, forming a complete closed-loop.

　　But both in terms of products and industries, power batteries seem to have significant shortcomings that cannot be ignored.

　　For example, the occurrence of a series of events last year, such as "working for Ningde Times", "hyping upstream raw materials", and "high power battery costs", all indicate that the power battery technology and industrial chain system are not mature enough.

　　How to achieve success in one task and promote the development of the entire power battery industry?

　　Firstly, it can be affirmed that as long as the domestic automotive market is firm in its new energy vehicle development strategy, the market size of China's power batteries can always be maintained and continue to expand. In this process, technological innovation and supply chain restructuring are two unchanging bright lines.

　　At the moment of transformation in the new energy vehicle industry, an opportunity for the development of the power battery industry has emerged.

　　Two major development directions that are becoming increasingly clear

　　Ternary lithium battery, lithium iron phosphate battery, blade battery, large cylinder battery, soft pack battery

　　People always use the application materials and packaging methods of some battery products to distinguish various types of power batteries. Among them, the most mainstream way to distinguish is based on raw materials, there are two kinds: ternary lithium battery and lithium iron phosphate battery.

　　Lithium iron phosphate battery, with its low cost, occupies most of the market share. But with the soaring prices of raw materials such as lithium carbonate, people are focusing on products that are lower in cost - sodium ion batteries.

　　Compared with last year, the price of lithium carbonate plummeted to 200000 yuan/ton and gradually stabilized. Although the cost of lithium iron phosphate battery also decreased, it was still higher than that of sodium ion battery.

　　Chen Liquan, an academician of the CAE Member, said at the Forum on the Development of Sodium Ion Battery Industry Chain and Standards that the cost of sodium ion batteries is expected to be more than 20% lower than that of lithium iron phosphate battery.

　　However, on the other hand, sodium ion batteries are emerging things that require the improvement of the industry chain, technological maturity, and economies of scale. Currently, sodium ion batteries are still in the promotion stage.

　　The good news is that sodium ion batteries have gradually started to be used in cars, and their popularity is much higher than before. Not only did Ningde Times launch Chery related models with sodium ion batteries, but the Jianghuai Yttrium 3 also released a sodium version at the Shanghai Auto Show.

　　Is the wind from the sodium ion battery really coming? Perhaps so.

　　In fact, the intensification of the "price war" for new energy vehicles has made vehicle manufacturers more sensitive to the cost of power batteries. But besides low cost, there is another development direction for power batteries - high-performance.

　　The performance of power batteries involves many aspects, such as safety, energy density, cycle life, cold resistance, heat resistance, etc. For consumers, whether they can obtain longer range is the more obvious performance.

　　So, in order to improve the energy density of the overall battery system, both vehicle manufacturers and power battery companies have put in a lot of effort.

　　The most prominent way is "structural innovation". Through the design and application of space, various battery manufacturers have launched a series of battery brands, such as the Kirin battery from Ningde Times, the OS battery from China Innovation Airlines, and the Wending battery from Ripland Jun

　　Car companies are certainly not willing to fall behind. GAC has launched magazine batteries, NIO's ternary lithium iron batteries, SAIC's Rubik's Cube batteries, and the long established BYD blade batteries.

　　In addition, it cannot be ignored that innovation from battery materials is the fundamental way to improve product performance.

　　Nowadays, there have been many innovative materials products in the industry market, such as the M3P battery from Ningde Times and the lithium manganese iron phosphate battery from China Innovation Airlines. At this auto show, the condensed state batteries displayed by Ningde Times were even more impressive.

　　High specific energy and high safety, with a single energy density of up to 500Wh/kg, this type of condensed state battery has exactly the opposite number of paths compared to sodium ion batteries. In other words, condensed state batteries are a type of semi solid state battery, with the aim of gradually improving battery performance to the maximum to meet consumers' requirements for "long range".

　　Of course, having something to give is what you get. To achieve such performance, you need to spend more money, and these additional costs will always be paid by a specific audience.

　　Restructuring the industrial chain and dividing up discourse power

　　To do one thing to the extreme is better than doing ten thousand things mediocrely. The same is true for battery manufacturing. Whether it's cost reduction or stack performance, as long as we achieve the ultimate, we will always open up a bright future. However, it cannot be ignored that power batteries have gone through countless twists and turns from scratch.

　　That's right, it's about the entire industry chain.

　　Starting from the upstream raw material suppliers, many raw material enterprises have taken the initiative to "reduce work and production" due to the impact of the lithium carbonate slump. On the one hand, avoiding its sharp edges and selling less is "earning"; On the other hand, reduce supply, increase demand, and wait for the opportunity.

　　Self rescue "is not useless. When the price of lithium carbonate dropped from 600000 yuan/ton to below 170000 yuan/ton, its downward trend finally stopped and began to slowly recover.

　　But no one knows whether the "stabilization" of lithium carbonate prices at this time is due to a rebound or a return to value and restructuring. Yes, the era of upstream raw material suppliers making money by lying down has passed, or in other words, their voice is gradually being "divided".

　　In fact, when it comes to the discourse power of the power battery industry, it can never be separated from the Ningde era. Whether in the domestic market or the foreign market, the strength of the Ningde era is unquestionable.

　　According to the latest data from South Korean market research firm SNE Research, in the first quarter of this year, Ningde Times once again achieved the world's number one crown with a market share of 35%.

　　From the perspective of technological leadership, the M3P, condensed matter, sodium ion, and Kirin batteries of the Ningde era are gradually stirring up the market.

　　From this perspective, the reason why 'King Ning' is called 'King Ning' is truly 'worthy of the name'. However, in such a changing market environment, no one can always stand on the top of the mountain, and the same is true of the Ningde era.

　　In other words, when the exclamation of 'the king of suffering and peace has been in the world for a long time' appears, its discourse power has already been taken seriously.

　　Recently, according to foreign media reports, Tesla has obtained EU approval to start producing the new Model Y using BYD blade batteries at its Berlin factory in Germany. The blade battery of this Model Y will be manufactured by BYD in China and shipped to Germany for loading.

　　In this way, at least in Tesla's order, Ningde Times was given a piece of cake by BYD. In the domestic market, Ningde Times must face not only BYD, but also a series of battery manufacturers such as China Innovation Airlines, Guoxuan High Tech, and Honeycomb Energy, which are flocking to the market.

　　When battery manufacturers urgently need orders from vehicle manufacturers to win various market competitions in terms of price, technology, and customers, the voice gradually flows to downstream car companies.

　　We often say that the trend of new energy vehicles is unstoppable, but the current domestic automotive market environment indicates that if hybrid models take the lead in occupying the mainstream of pure electric vehicles, the demand for power batteries will not be as exaggerated as imagined, and this is also the main reason for the weak demand in the power battery market today.

　　It's expensive, and the demand can be temporarily put on hold, so car companies will naturally wait for the price to sell.

　　So, the question arises, when car companies gradually take control of the power battery industry, will someone still call batteries expensive? Subsequently, when the distribution of benefits in the entire power battery industry chain is once again uneven, will upstream raw material suppliers "rebel" and seek a say through more drastic production cuts and shutdowns?

　　The twists and turns are a circle, and the story continues. Different characters have different positions, but the test of time and market will ultimately provide the correct answer to China's power battery industry.