Our reporter Jiao Yue Li Ting

　　Recently, the release of the third-generation CTP technology Kirin battery of CATL has attracted great attention from the battery industry.

Although the Kirin battery has not yet been mass-produced, the industry has already made various speculations about the supplier of the Ningwang Kirin battery.

　　At the same time, the stock prices of related concept stocks are also rising.

Among them, the stock price of Songzhi shares rose the most fiercely. As of June 29, the company's stock price recorded 9 consecutive daily limit.

　　Thermal management technology a key challenge

　　Driven by the Kirin battery concept, the automotive thermal management sector continues to receive attention.

Among them, Songzhi Co., Ltd. stated on the interactive platform that the company's energy storage power station battery thermal management system products are mainly supplied to Envision Energy and Ningde Times.

At present, the company is the main supplier of JAC automotive thermal management system.

　　Mo Ke, chief analyst of True Lithium Research, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the key point of Kirin battery innovation lies in the structural design, so that the cooling system can cover the battery cell to the greatest extent, so as to ensure the best temperature control at the pack level.

　　Industry insiders believe that this marks the beginning of the battery system design from the internal optimization of the battery pack to the integration of the battery pack and other assembly designs of the vehicle. The improvement of thermal management technology will be a key challenge for battery integration design.

　　In fact, the Kirin battery has been warming up for a while this year.

As early as the Auto Hundred People Meeting held in March this year, Wu Kai, the chief scientist of CATL, said that the company has launched the third-generation CTP technology, which is called Kirin battery internally.

The main reason for the launch was in response to customer demand for "safe and heat-free" batteries.

　　Mo Ke told reporters: "Ningde era has been doing continuous technology development on how to improve battery safety, while Kirin battery technology tries to solve the battery safety problem by implementing temperature control from the outside of the battery cell."

　　Industry insiders believe that if Kirin batteries use high-nickel ternary materials, it means that CATL needs to solve thermal management problems and improve safety performance.

　　In addition, according to the analysis of CICC's research report, high-rate fast charging is an important layout direction for car companies and battery companies, and fast charging has high requirements for refined thermal management, which will promote the continuous upgrade of battery thermal management systems.

In 2025, the domestic new energy vehicle thermal management market space will reach 52.1 billion yuan.

According to the calculation, the value of the thermal management bicycle for fuel vehicles is about 2,000 yuan. Under the pure electric vehicle PTC/traditional refrigerant heat pump/CO2 refrigerant heat pump scheme, the value of the thermal management bicycle is 5,000 yuan, 7,000 yuan, and 11,000 yuan respectively.

　　In addition to the attention of Songzhi Co., Ltd., new parts of thermal management technology have also attracted attention. Among them, Yinbang Co., Ltd. recently stated on the interactive platform that the company's self-developed aluminum heat transfer material can be used in new energy vehicle cooling power battery thermal management, has been It was disclosed on April 18 that a memorandum was signed in CATL, and it will supply a minimum of 361,800 tons of battery water-cooled sheets directly or indirectly to CATL from 2022 to 2026.

　　High nickel ternary will increase battery cost

　　Mo Ke told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the essence of Kirin battery is the innovation of battery structure.

In 2019, CATL pioneered the module-free battery pack CTP, taking the lead in making the battery volume utilization rate exceed 50%; and the newly released Kirin battery, the battery pack space utilization rate increased from 55% to 72%, an indirect increase The energy density of the system, the energy density of the lithium iron phosphate system is 160Wh/kg, and the ternary energy density can reach 255Wh/kg.

　　It is understood that under the same chemical system and the same battery pack size, the power of the Kirin battery pack is 13% higher than that of Tesla's 4680 battery system, and the 72% volume utilization rate has refreshed the global battery integration efficiency.

　　A person in charge of a cathode material manufacturer told the "Securities Daily" reporter that from the perspective of battery materials, on the basis of improving the utilization rate of battery packs, more ternary or iron-lithium materials are loaded to achieve a substantial increase in cruising range. An important logic, the breakthrough of 1,000 kilometers of battery life will be the choice of high-nickel ternary.

　　Industry insiders believe that with the official release of the Kirin battery, the ternary battery is expected to return to its peak.

Lithium iron phosphate and ternary batteries have always been the two major technical routes for lithium batteries. From 2018 to 2020, the loading volume of domestic lithium iron phosphate batteries is lower than that of ternary batteries, and with the improvement of lithium iron phosphate technology, in raw materials Against the background of rising prices, the installed capacity of ternary batteries has been overtaken by lithium iron phosphate since last year.

With the increase in the price of lithium, the price advantage of lithium iron phosphate has become less obvious.

　　It is worth mentioning that some brokerages have speculated that the supplier of the high nickel ternary of the Kirin battery in the Ningde era is Rongbai Technology.

　　According to public information, Rongbai Technology has made it clear that from 2023 to the end of 2025, the company will serve as the "one supply" of ternary cathode powder in the Ningde era, and the company is leading the industry in high nickel and ultra-high nickel.

　　On June 27, Rongbai Technology stated on the investor interaction platform that while the company mass-produces NCM811 products, it is also accelerating the development of high-voltage technologies and products.

With the development of nickel content above the 9 series and the high voltage of high-nickel materials, high-nickel materials will occupy an increasing share of ternary materials in the future.

　　Although there are speculations about the suppliers of Kirin batteries in the industry, some people have suggested that if Kirin batteries use high-nickel ternary materials, the cost of batteries may be a problem.

　　An industry insider told reporters that the cost of ternary materials generally accounts for about 51% of the total cost of power batteries, and ternary materials with high nickel will undoubtedly increase the cost of power batteries.

In addition, the fluctuation of nickel price should also be considered. If the nickel price is too high, it will also affect the cost of power batteries.

　　Recently, nickel prices have continued to fall from high levels, and cost pressures have continued to ease.

On June 28, 2022, the ex-factory price of electrolytic nickel (large plate) of Jinchuan Group was quoted at 181,000 yuan/ton, a decrease of 9,000 yuan/ton from the previous trading day, and a correction ratio of about 25% compared with the price of 240,000 yuan/ton in early March. .

　　At present, Kirin batteries are planned to be mass-produced and marketed in 2023.

In this regard, Zhang Xiang, an automobile analyst, told a reporter from Securities Daily that the biggest challenge for Kirin batteries is still production cost control and technological improvement, which are the keys to mass production.

(Securities Daily)