【Pacific Automotive Technology Channel】In one year, can a factory start production from 0?In August 2022, GAC Aion established Inpai Battery Co., Ltd., focusing on the development of its own battery industry, with a total investment of 10.9 billion yuanIn December 2022, Inpai Battery Technology officially started constructionOn September 15, 2023, the cathode pulping production line of Inpai Battery Plant successfully completed the first feedingOn December 12, the intelligent ecological factory of Inpai Battery was officially completed and put into operation, which also marked that GAC Aion officially mastered the ability of full-stack self-development and self-production of battery cellsAnd the magazine battery 2The latest and most important product in the 0 series, the P58 microcrystalline supercell, also officially rolled off the assembly line on the same day. This battery factory, which was completed and put into operation in only one year, how can it dare to be called a "global benchmark factory"?What is the unique secret of this power battery, which integrates the 12 years of technology accumulated by GAC Group?
How is 12 years of technology accumulation calculated?Since 2010, new energy vehicles have been listed as one of China's seven strategic emerging industries, under the strong promotion of policies, in recent years, domestic new energy vehicle companies have sprung up, but there are very few car companies that really have full-stack self-development and self-production in the field of electric power. The GAC Group is one of the first domestic automakers to start the development and application of electrification and independent power batteries, but when did the "12 years of technology accumulation" mentioned at the beginning of this article begin?We might as well first sort out the R&D trajectory of GAC Group in the field of three electrics, so as to understand the progress of its technology accumulation.
In 2011, GAC Group began the research and development of battery systems and BMSIn 2015, GAC Group's first self-designed PHEV battery pack was installed in the GS4 PHEV and was officially put into productionIn 2017, GAC Aion's first self-developed EV battery pack was put into production, and in the same year, it also started the independent research and development of power battery cells and the construction of battery cell test linesSince 2021, GAC Group has successively released a number of advanced battery technologies such as magazine battery system safety technology, sponge silicon anode sheet battery, and ultra-fast battery, and the battery cell pilot line will be completed and put into use by 2022In March 2023, GAC Aion officially released the magazine battery 20 technology, the first public display of the whole battery pack, the first time to solve the battery safety problems in extreme environments such as instantaneous short circuit and burst damage of multiple cells.
After careful calculation, it is indeed reasonable to say that GAC Group has 12 years of reserves in the field of battery research and development - it is precisely because of years of technology accumulation that Aion can lay a solid foundation for the large-scale mass production of today's independent power batteries.
Tough!This battery can't be exploded with a gunLet's turn back the time to the end of March this year: on March 30, Aion officially released the magazine battery 20 technology, in order to further improve the safety of the battery, Aion in the magazine battery 10 on the basis of research and developmentUltra-stable electrode interface, thermal resistance phase change material, cell fire extinguishing systemA series of original safety technologies make the magazine battery 2The comprehensive thermal runaway management capability of 0 has been increased by 5 times, which can resist the impact of thermal runaway of multiple cells at the same time.
To demonstrate more intuitively the magazine battery 20 safety protection level, Aion also showed the battery pack test at that time, and successfully realized that the battery pack is not **no** after the battery system shell is disassembled, the overall structure is complete, only three cells are burst and damaged, and the temperature returns to normal temperature after standing for 24 hours.
The reason why the battery pack can withstand ** is mainly because the internal P58 microcrystalline super cell adopts reliable protection technology. For lithium-ion batteries, the electrode interface is the most active area within the cell. In order to enhance the stability of the electrode interface, Aion has developed the "ultra-stable electrode interface" technologyUltra-high stability, ultra-high heat resistance of nano-ceramic materials and high-temperature resistant polymer composite coated separator, which greatly increases the interface toughness of the electrode;The application of composite current collector materials can quickly collapse when heat accumulates, avoiding continuous short circuitsAt the same time, the electrolyte of the P58 microcrystalline supercell contains an oxidation-resistant flame retardant, which can capture the free radicals of the combustion reaction and cut off the conditions for continuous combustion when activated at high temperature.
The organizer also showed us the acupuncture test of the P58 microcrystalline super energy cell. Under the protection of triple technology, the battery cell can achieve no smoke and no ** during the acupuncture process, and the temperature rise is less than 1, and the battery has almost no change from the outside. This battery can also not fail under high-intensity extrusion, its voltage capacity exceeds 1200kN, the deformation tolerance reaches 45%, and its heating rate can be reduced by 20% even if thermal runaway occurs.
Aion's P58 microcrystalline super-cell acupuncture test].
In addition to its strong protective properties, the P58 microcrystalline supercell also has:High energy density, in which the mass energy density is 195 Wh kg, and the volume energy density is 450 Wh L, which is even higher than the density of many ternary lithium batteries. In addition, through the optimized design of square lamination and direct connection welding of the top cover tab, Aion has achieved an internal volume utilization rate of more than 90% of the battery, and finally the vehicle mileage can exceed 700kmAt the same time, this battery also has a 3C fast charging capability, which can be charged in 10 minutes and has a range of 250km, which further solves the user's range anxiety.
Another key feature of this battery is:Long life。Thanks to the application of technologies such as multi-step film formation and low-consumption lithium anode, the service life of P58 microcrystalline super cells has been greatly improved, with a cycle life of more than 4,000 weeks at room temperature and more than 3,300 weeks at high temperature, and a theoretical mileage of more than 1.5 million kilometers for the vehicle.
After the P58 microcrystalline super battery cell is mass-produced, it will be given priority to the assembly and use of the two major brands of Aion and Haobo, and the scope will be expanded to other brand models of the GAC Group in the future to achieve self-sufficiency in power batteries.
As soon as it debuted, it was a global benchmark factoryThe first phase of the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory can achieve a production capacity of 6GWh, and the 36GWh production line will be introduced in the later stage, while meeting the sales demand of 600,000 units. A variety of batteries such as sodium-ion batteries and all-solid-state batteries will also be mass-produced on this production line.
Advanced battery cells must not only be developed, but also manufactured efficiently and with high quality. In order to achieve large-scale and high-quality mass production of P58 microcrystalline super cells, Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory has developed three major process manufacturing groups, including:Ultra-thin foil, ultra-high stability, ultra-high compaction electrode piece intelligent manufacturing technology。It is worth mentioning that the high-speed cutting and stacking technology of large-size pole pieces and the highly integrated packaging technology of ultra-thin and ultra-long battery cells applied in the factory have greatly improved the overall control accuracy by more than 30% compared with the industry standard.
Demonstration of Aion P58 microcrystalline super cell packaging process].
Based on the three major process production technology groups, the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory also uses big data, AI and other advanced technologies to empower and set five benchmarks for battery factories, which are mainly manifested in safety, quality, flexible production, intelligent manufacturing, low-carbon environmental protection, etc.
Based on the prevention of thermal runaway of battery cells, the intelligent ecological factory of Inpai Battery has established process safety control standards to ensure process consistency from the system, so as to achieve "zero" foreign matter and "zero" burr for the pole piece, strengthen the limit verification, and improve product safety.
In order to meet the quality requirements of the aviation grade, the Inpai Battery Intelligent Ecological Factory has increased the quality defect target to 10-9, built an advanced intelligent production line through high-level process design, achieved high-precision inspection, and made it the world's first aviation-grade quality benchmark factory.
The Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory also has a second-level production cycle of battery cells (2S) and the world's highest single-line production capacity of 6GWhIt can realize the mixed production of a full range of products, hour-level changeover of cells, seamless changeover of pack, and reduce the capacity switching loss by more than 90%, while still taking into account efficiency.
In terms of digital application of intelligent manufacturing, the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory adopts a cloud-native technology architecture, with digital twins, data-driven and digital intelligent decision-making as specific measures, and sets up a super 150,000 data monitoring points can realize data connection and coverage in the whole business field of R&D, production, supply and sales, effectively improve operational efficiency and R&D iteration speed, and reduce production waste and comprehensive energy consumption of factories.
In addition, the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory can also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2 percent annually through three major measures: green electricity, energy saving, and waste recyclingThe target of 50,000 tons is equivalent to planting more than 2.52 million trees per year.
The Inpai battery plant is the last piece of the puzzle of Aion's ecological closed loopThe official operation of the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory is not as simple as the battery production line, but it is of great significance to GAC Aion.
With the further evolution of the electrification era, the competition in the automotive industry is shifting from a single "product" competition to a "product + ecology" competition. For new energy vehicles, the battery is the key factor related to the power and manufacturing costs, from the past few years, the floating of the power battery, closely affecting the trend of the new energy vehicle market;This also further illustrates that power batteries will be the core and one of the keys to winning in the future competition in the new energy vehicle industry.
Compared with purchasing batteries directly on the market, if car companies have the technical ability to develop and produce their own battery cells, they can combine batteries for integrated design of the whole vehicle, and empower products through R&D and manufacturing capabilitiesIn the future, according to the attributes of the developed models, more extreme and high-quality battery-enabled products can be launched to bring users a better product experience. GAC Aion and its Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory are such a combination.
With the completion and operation of the Inpai Battery Intelligent Ecological Factory, it also marks that GAC Aion has fully opened up the layout of the energy ecological industry chain including upstream raw materials, R&D, manufacturing, battery ** and cascade utilization, completed the core puzzle of energy ecology, and officially became an energy company.
GAC Aion also officially revealed that in the future, it will take the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory as the core, and build an energy ecology around "electricity + battery" that includes optical storage, charging and swapping energy supply network, energy network automatic driving, battery cascade utilization, battery banking and other businesses.
Full text summaryThe completion of the Inpai Battery Smart Ecological Factory and the production of P58 microcrystalline super energy cells have made GAC Aion one of the very few OEMs in the world to achieve full-stack self-development and self-production of batteries. This ability to develop battery products exclusively is also the only way to create high-end pure electric products, which is a crucial step for GAC Aion to impact the high-end market and enhance the comprehensive strength of its high-end luxury brand Haobo.
In addition to the Inpai battery plant, GAC Aion is controlled by GAC Aion, with a total investment of 21The 600 million yuan Ruipai electric drive plant is also about to be completed, and Quark electric drive will also be self-produced in the near future. At this point, GAC Aion will realize the full-stack self-development and self-production layout of the three electric vehicles that are no longer separated.
As of November this year, GAC Aion's total production and sales have exceeded 950,000 units since it was put into production, which is only one step away from reaching one million production and sales for the first time. With the help of a complete energy ecological industry chain, everyone is interested in: in the face of the next million goals, will Aion's achievement time continue to be shortened?(Photo by Li Zhe, Pacific Motor).