On December 25, Changan Automobile and Ganfeng Lithium announced that the two sides signed a "Memorandum of Cooperation" to accelerate the promotion of (semi-)solid-state battery research and development joint venture projects and manufacturing industrialization projects, and at the same time explore the whole chain of strategic cooperation such as upstream lithium resources, midstream battery manufacturing, and downstream waste battery integration.
According to the news previously announced by Changan Automobile, the company is developing leading solid-state batteries, which will be gradually mass-produced and applied from 2025, with a weight energy density of 350-500Wh kg and a volume energy density of 750-1000Wh L, which will be fully popularized and applied in 2030.
From this point of view, the joint venture project between Changan Automobile and Ganfeng Lithium will be a key link in the follow-up Changan Automobile to promote the mass production of solid-state batteries. It is understood that the follow-up research and development of Ganfeng lithium battery-related battery products will be introduced into Changan Automobile's Changan Qiyuan, Changan Kaicheng, Deep Blue Automobile, AVATR Technology and other brand models for application.
The cooperation with Ganfeng Lithium has been the second important move in the field of power batteries by Changan Automobile in the past month.
On November 24, Changan Power, a joint venture with a total investment of 6 billion yuan and a 51:30:19 share ratio between CATL, Shenlan Automobile and Changan Automobile, ushered in the first 87ah standard battery cell off the assembly line. On November 2, Shenlan's first self-developed super 4C fast charging core Pre-A prototype rolled off the assembly line, which can achieve 30-80% SoC charging time of 8 minutes. "With the deepening cooperation between Chang'an and Ganfeng Lithium, the 'Golden Bell Jar' battery will be further improved, and the deep blue super range extension will also be further improved. Deep Blue said.
According to public information, in June this year, Changan Automobile and CATL jointly established a power battery project in Yibin, Sichuan, covering an area of more than 1,000 acres and an annual production capacity of up to 30 GWh. The factory automation rate is more than 95%, and in the whole cycle from feeding to finished product output, it can produce a battery cell in 1 second and a battery pack in 2 and a half minutes, and the battery that comes off the assembly line every day can be equipped with 2,500 new energy vehicles.
Although the cooperation between Changan Automobile and CATL and Ganfeng Lithium is concentrated in the field of power batteries, there are obvious differences in the content of cooperation.
It is understood that Times Changan's main positioning is the production of liquid batteries (lithium batteries at this stage), and the battery cells are the brand models of Changan Automobile.
In response to the cooperation with Changan Automobile, CATL said on the interactive platform that the company continues to deepen the strategic cooperative relationship with Changan Automobile, which is not only reflected in the excellence of battery products, but also in the all-round coordinated development of technology research and development, manufacturing, and market development. This in-depth cooperation will help promote the competitiveness of the two companies in China's new energy vehicle market, and also help promote the development of China's new energy vehicle industry.
The (semi-)solid-state battery R&D joint venture project will be mainly positioned in the technology research and development of (semi-)solid-state batteries, and after the technology is mature, the technology will be exported to the affiliated companies of both parties for industrial manufacturing, and related technologies can also be opened to the society.
But in the field of solid-state batteries, in addition to technology, cost is also a big issue. Ganfeng Lithium recently said that at present, the company mainly focuses on semi-solid-state batteries, and due to the structural characteristics of this battery, the cost of lithium metal as an anode material is high, reaching nearly 1 million yuan a ton. In terms of battery cooperation, Ganfeng Lithium said that it had previously cooperated with Dongfeng Motor, and would cooperate with Cialis in the future. The cost of solid-state batteries will drop dramatically before they can be widely used on a large scale.
According to the strategic plan previously announced by Changan Automobile, in terms of liquid batteries, it is necessary to comprehensively upgrade liquid batteries to achieve fast energy replenishment and worry-free mileage. Tackling key problems in battery (lithium iron phosphate, ternary) material modification and system optimization, continuously improving the energy density of the battery, applying 3C, popularizing 5C, and pre-researching 7C in terms of charging rate, so as to achieve 7 minutes of charging and a range of 400 kilometers, making electric vehicle charging as convenient and worry-free as fuel vehicle refueling.
In terms of solid-state batteries, it is necessary to deepen the cultivation of semi-solid-state and solid-state batteries to achieve high efficiency and ultra-long battery life. Promote the development of new electrolyte materials and key processes, and promote the gravimetric energy density of 350-500Wh kg and the volumetric energy density of 750-1000Wh L no later than 2027, and gradually mass production and application, and achieve full popularization by 2030, completely solving users' mileage anxiety.