Accelerating the pace of moving towards the global market has been the consensus reached by all links of the lithium battery industry chain to seek increments.
Among them, for lithium battery structural parts, the Advanced Industry Research Institute (GGII) pointed out that the market segment will maintain a rapid growth trend in 2023, and the increase in overseas market demand is an important driving factor.
From November 21st to 23rd, the 2023 Gaogong Lithium Battery Annual Conference with the theme of "Crossing the Cycle and Resilient Growth" was held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Qianhai Overseas Chinese Town, Shenzhen. Among them, the special session of "Material Session 1: Material Supply and Demand under the Dual Track of Dynamic Storage" was named by Kodali.
To expand overseas customers, lithium battery companies need to pay attention to the "risk reefs" in terms of environmental protection requirements, cultural differences, policy norms, quality requirements, and costs. In this regard, Kedali put forward the solution idea of "focusing, innovating, and doing the most certain things in an uncertain environment" at the 2023 Gaogong Lithium Battery Annual Meeting.
"Focus resources on one area and try to do the best you can,"Li Jianju, general manager of Kedaly, said in his keynote speech on "Opportunities and Reefs of Lithium Battery Structural Parts".
First of all, Li Jianju emphasized the important existence of structural parts as affecting the safety of lithium batteries. Lithium battery precision structural parts include aluminum steel shell, cover plate, connecting piece, etc., which play the role of transmitting energy, carrying electrolyte, protecting safety, fixing the support battery, appearance decoration, etc., and according to the different application environments, it has specific functions such as connectivity, seismic resistance, heat dissipation, anti-corrosion, anti-interference, anti-static, etc., which has a direct impact on the safety, tightness, and energy efficiency of lithium batteries.
According to reports,The structural parts customized by Kodali for customers have successfully achieved "zero resistance"., that is, there will be no loss of the battery cell at the structural end, which ensures the safety, long life and consistency of the battery. At present, the application scope of Kodali structural parts has covered a variety of specifications and forms of 3C digital, power and energy storage batteries.
With the continuous development of the trend of energy transformation, the form of Kedali lithium battery structural parts has also been continuously enriched, and the quality of structural parts has been effectively improved by strengthening the requirements for venues, equipment, capital, technology and talents.
Through independent research and development, Kedali has realized the upgrading and iteration of structural parts production equipmentIncluding fully automatic high-precision stamping equipment, new industry 40Intelligent precision aluminum shell automatic molding equipment, new industrial 40. Intelligent top cover automatic precision assembly equipment, composite material automatic precision friction welding equipment, etc.
On this basis, Kodali also has the confidence to go abroad and go global.
The domestic lithium battery industry has made great progress, and it has become inevitable for lithium battery structural parts to go abroad and go global," Li Jianju said.
Specifically, there are three main important factors that promote the globalization of enterprises in the lithium battery structural parts industryFirst, the domestic new energy vehicle market penetration rate has slowed down after exceeding 30%;Second, the battery manufacturers in China, Japan and South Korea downstream of lithium batteries have successively gone overseas;Third, China, the United States, Europe and other countries have driven the rapid development of the global lithium battery market.
Taking the European market as an example, the European new energy vehicle market has developed rapidly in recent years, and has the world's leading automobile production base and a strong manufacturing base. Driven by the consistent concept of "new energy vehicles instead of fuel vehicles", the most stringent carbon emission regulations in the European Union, and the fiscal and tax incentives for new energy vehicles in European countries, the pace of electrification transformation of mainstream car companies is also accelerating.
Based on the strategy of supporting the market demand of nearby supporting customersKodali has a total of 16 production bases around the world, including factories in Germany, Sweden and Hungary in Europe.
The globalization of lithium battery has become inevitable, which will bring development opportunities and risk reefs to the structural parts industry at the same time.
In terms of opportunities, Kedali believes that globalization is also localization, and lithium battery companies can "go global" to achieve domestic and international dual circulation, through efficient communication, rapid response, cost reduction and efficiency increase, shorten the delivery cycle and other close services, build a solid customer relationship, and enhance the overall advantages of the enterprise.
At the same time, the implementation of standardized management overseas and the cultivation of high-end international talents are conducive to improving the ability of transnational management of enterprises, which is also "very beneficial" for Kodali.
In terms of risks, lithium battery companies going overseas will inevitably face challenges such as high environmental protection requirements, large cultural differences, many policies and norms, and high quality requirements. For example, in terms of noise and odor control, the requirements of relevant European policies are different from those in China, and the size management and appearance management of structural parts are also more stringent, which requires enterprises to make corresponding adjustments, and also increases the cost burden of enterprises.
Li Jianju bluntly said that in the five years since Kedali went to sea, "the tuition has also been paid a lot", but at the same time, it has also prompted the company to be equipped with "higher environmental awareness, stricter management thinking, and stronger compliance capabilities".
In order to better cope with the challenge of lithium battery going overseas, Kedali believes that it is necessary to take "focus, innovation, and internationalization" as the axis and "do the most certain thing in an uncertain environment".
Among them, focus requires enterprises to concentrate resources in the same field and try to achieve the best product qualityInnovation is to do innovation based on its own advantages, and choose industries with a greater probability of outbreak in the next 5-10 years to invest in research and developmentInternationalization means to develop customers on a global scale, steadily implement the localization of overseas production capacity, and actively promote the internationalization strategy.
With profound technology accumulation, high-end product quality, fast customer response, and supporting the nearest production base, Kedali has formed a stable cooperative relationship with the world's leading battery customers. At present, Kodali has achieved batch supply and order locking to leading companies in major global markets such as CATL, LG New Energy, Samsung SDI, Panasonic, ACC, Tesla, and Northvolt.