Abstract: Jinmei new materials copper composite current collector products have continued to receive orders from downstream major customers, and will start large-scale supply in 2024.
At present, new energy vehicles have undoubtedly become the backbone of promoting energy reform, in November this year, China's new energy vehicle production and sales exceeded one million for the first time, and the annual production and sales of 9 million vehicles are no longer a problem. Some industry insiders believe that it is expected to hit 9.5 million vehicles this year, and 13 million vehicles may be achieved next year.
While the development of new energy vehicles continues to reach a new height, the market demand for power batteries has also put forward higher requirements. Improving energy density, reducing production costs, and improving safety are all common technologies in the battery new energy industry chain in recent years, and constantly pursuing breakthroughs.
In the field of materials, under the trend of cost reduction and weight reduction of lithium battery copper foil, the emergence of copper composite current collector is like a "special drug" that has attracted the attention of the industry. For a time, players from all walks of life have increased their weight, and the industrialization process continues to accelerate.
In this context, on December 28, Shenzhen Jinmei New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jinmei New Materials") copper composite current collector MC large-scale product landing ceremony was successfully held in Qijiang, Chongqing, marking the official launch of the company's large-scale production of copper composite current collector.
Large-scale production opens to lead the industry into a new era of mass production
Copper composite current collector, also known as MC, is a new type of current collector material with a sandwich structure of "metallic copper-polymer material-metallic copper". Compared with traditional pure metal copper foil, the main advantages of copper composite current collector are that it replaces some metal materials by polymer materials, reduces the thickness of the metal layer, reduces the weight of the battery, and improves the safety performance of the battery.
It is understood that as early as 2015, Jinmei New Materials began to focus on the research and development of composite current collectors, and in 2020, it has successfully broken through the whole industrial chain of 6 m copper composite current collectors, and realized the production and commercialization of small and medium-sized MC at the level of 1 million square meters.
At present, it is different from that time, the process route is gradually converging, the cost performance is slowly emerging, and the "eve" of the industrialization process of the composite current collector plate has arrived.
Through independent design and development of equipment and processes, the application of digitalization and automation, and the efficient process of green and low energy consumption, the new generation of 6 m copper composite current collector, that is, the large-scale product of copper composite current collector, has ushered in the official landing. In the view of Jin Zang Shiwei, chairman of Jinmei New Materials, the company's large-scale production of MC will inject new momentum into the development of the entire battery industry chain and open up a new situation.
It is reported that compared with the previous products, the 6 m copper composite current collector mass-produced by Jinmei New Materials has tackled a number of technical problems, successfully verified the new process route and ensured that the new product will be rolled off the assembly line in a short time.
Specifically, the main nodes of Jinmei New Materials' new products have achieved high-speed continuous coating of more than 5,000m in terms of volume length, with a maximum of more than 15,000m, the hole level has been upgraded from C-level to A-level, the equipment efficiency has been doubled, the process yield has been increased to more than 80%, and the width can reach 14 meters, the roll is tens of thousands of meters long......After C-end verification, the comprehensive performance of the product is excellent and higher than expected. At the same time, the company's polished mass production process route has also been cost-effective, and the production cost is basically the same as that of traditional copper foil.
At present, the mass production line of 6 m copper composite current collector of Jinmei New Materials has been in the stage of capacity ramp-up, and the production capacity of a single production line will reach 3 million square meters per month after full production. In the future, with the large-scale production of products, the cost advantage may be more significant.
It can be said that after achieving the leap from 0-1, the landing of Jinmei New Materials' new generation of 6 m copper composite current collector has also started its new journey from 1-100, leading the copper composite current collector industry to officially enter a new era of large-scale mass production.
The production capacity continued to increase, and the progress of several projects accelerated
A generation of materials, a generation of industry. "The growth and progress of any new technology is not achieved overnight, and the same is true of the research and development progress of Jinmei new materials copper composite current collector. Liu Wenqing, general manager of Jinmei New Materials and chief engineer of R&D center, emphasized: "Unlike the automobile industry, copper composite current collectors have long been established and complete. ”
Since 2015, the company has been working with major battery customers to jointly develop composite current collector products. At that time, the company thought that the product was easy to make, but after eight years of research and development and several mass production experiences, it was found that the production of composite current collectors was very difficult. In particular, the step of achieving mass production may account for more than 90% of the overall development difficulty. Zang Shiwei said in an interview that overcoming technical difficulties cannot be achieved by piling up capital, but must rely on real R&D investment. After the product is landed, it is the right way to expand production on a large scale with the help of capital.
In the continuous research and development, Jinmei new materials have more and more "skill packages". Up to now, Jinmei New Materials has formed more than 600 patents related to core products and processes, including more than 100 invention patents, more than 50 PCT and international patents, and has comprehensively built a composite current collector patent pool.
With the empowerment of technology, Jinmei New Materials' copper composite current collector products have continued to receive orders from downstream major customers, and will start large-scale supply in 2024.
Although it has been at the forefront of the field of composite current collectors, Jinmei New Materials believes that the company's copper composite current collectors are still in the youth stage of a product cycle, and there is still great potential for growth in the future.
In terms of products, while completing the mass production of the second-generation copper composite current collector, Jinmei New Materials has begun to develop the third-generation products. The second generation of 6 m copper composite current collector is benchmarked against 45 m pure metal copper foil, ahead of 6 m pure copper foil, 3rd generation 4The 5 m copper composite current collector will have no market benchmark product, which is 4. ahead of the market5 m pure copper foil.
In terms of market prospects, CICC's previous set of data shows that according to the assumption of the average price of materials of 6 yuan square meters, it is estimated that by 2026, the global market size of lithium battery copper composite current collector materials will be about 33.7 billion yuan, corresponding to the cumulative production capacity of copper composite current collectors of about 780GWhConsidering that there is a certain amount of time for the ramp-up of production capacity, it is estimated that the sales volume is about 468GWh, and the permeability of the corresponding copper composite current collector material is about 17%.
Considering that there are no clear restrictions on the application of copper composite current collectors, except for a few scenarios, CICC judges that the long-term penetration rate of copper composite current collectors may be expected to reach more than 70%. In addition, there are also institutions, in the lithium battery market growth and copper composite current collector penetration rate increase in the double incremental background, the future copper composite current collector market will be more than 100 billion.
In the face of incremental market demand, Jinmei New Materials has continued to improve its production capacity. Among them, the Sichuan Yibin base is expected to start construction in the first quarter of 2024, and the products are expected to be implemented by the end of 2024, and the production capacity will start to ramp up in 2025. In addition, according to the plan, the long-term production capacity of the copper composite current collector of the company's Chongqing base may reach 100 million square meters per year. At the same time, the company is also negotiating with a number of local ** base expansion matters.
Conclusion:
The first landing of the large-scale copper composite current collector product undoubtedly makes Jinmei New Materials successfully out of the circle at the moment when many players are stuck in the copper composite current collector. So far, Jinmei New Materials has also officially developed into a composite current collector in the lithium battery industry that mass-produces copper composite current collectors and aluminum composite current collectors at the same time, and has independent intellectual property rights and loading experience.
At the landing ceremony, Zang Shiwei emphasized that "the key to the success of an innovative enterprise is the accumulation and core competence. "I believe that under the guidance of technological innovation, Jinmei New Materials will continue to promote the accelerated development of the industry.