Expansion of Soft Pack Battery

The shape of the soft pack power battery is different from that of a square hard shell or a cylindrical battery. The internal structure of the soft pack is to stack positive sheets, separators, and negative sheets in sequence, and wrap the outside with aluminum plastic film, weld the terminals of the positive and negative electrodes, inject the electrolyte, and finally seal them to convert into a formal commercial soft-package battery.

Advantages of Soft Pack Power Battery

The energy density advantage of the soft pack battery is obvious. Currently, the battery unit with the highest energy density is the soft pack power battery. The average technical level of the soft pack power battery industry is 260Wh/Kg, while the average level of cylindrical and square hard-shell batteries is 210Wh/Kg and 190Wh/Kg, which is far behind the soft pack battery. For batteries of the same capacity, the total mass of the soft case is 20% lighter than the cylinder and more than 30% lighter than the square hard case. Therefore, the soft pack power battery has an absolute advantage in energy density. In 2019, some companies have developed 300Wh/Kg flexible packaging batteries. Domestic and foreign soft pack enterprises are deploying high-energy density to meet the needs of the future new energy vehicle market.

The Number of Models Supporting Soft Pack Power Batteries Is Increasing

According to statistics, from 2016 to 2019, the number of new models supporting soft pack power batteries in my country is 67, 72, 95, and 103, and the number of new models supporting soft pack batteries is increasing year by year.

The Global New Energy Vehicle Market Is Developing Rapidly, And Domestic Sales Are Rising

Global new energy vehicles are developing rapidly, and sales have increased by nearly 11 times in six years. The global sales of new energy vehicles increased from 202,000 in 2013 to 2.21 million in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 150%.

From a national perspective, during this period, China has been vigorously developing new energy vehicles, with sales increasing from 17,000 in 2013 to 1.206 million in 2019. Among them, sales in 2019 accounted for 54.6% of the global total, which has become the world's largest new energy vehicle market.

EU Carbon Emissions Accelerate the Electrification of Car Companies

To achieve the carbon emission reduction target, the European Union has issued the latest regulations on vehicle emissions. By 2021, automakers must reduce the average carbon emissions per vehicle per kilometer from 118.5 grams to 95 grams. Those who do not meet the standards will face 95 grams per vehicle per gram. Euro fines will further tighten the standard to 75 grams of carbon emissions per kilometer by 2030. Carbon emissions have put tremendous operating pressure on the automotive industry in various EU countries, so car companies have to promote technological changes to meet government requirements, and the wave of electrification is about to take place. From a global perspective, not only European car companies, but global mainstream car companies have successively formulated electrification plans. 2020-2022 will usher in the first wave of model launch cycles.

The Growth of Power Battery Installed Capacity Is Stable, And Industry Demand Has Exploded

Benefiting from the rapid growth of the global new energy vehicle market, global power battery shipments have increased nearly 9 times in 5 years. With the rapid development of the downstream new energy vehicle market, power batteries have also entered an explosive period. Global power battery shipments have increased from 13.8GWh in 2013 to 116.6GWh in 2019. The domestic market has also ushered in a major explosion, with installed capacity reaching 62.38GWh in 2019.

The Cost of Soft Pack Batteries Is Expected to Improve and Competitiveness Will Increase

Reducing the cost of soft packaging will help increase market share. Battery costs account for more than 40% of all new energy vehicle costs, and battery costs directly affect vehicle costs. Among these three types of batteries, cost factors are also an important factor affecting the market share of various power batteries. At present, the soft pack power battery is in the early stage of the market, the overall shipment volume is very large, the production capacity released by the manufacturer is small, there is no scale effect, and the production cost is high. The cost in the last two years is slightly higher than that of a square hard case. With the increase in shipments, the scale effect will effectively reduce costs and further narrow the price gap with the square hard shell. By 2021, the cost gap between the two will be further narrowed.

The Rapid Progress of Soft Pack Power Battery Has A Broad Marketspace

Soft pack power batteries have many advantages and have a broad market space. The high energy density and high safety of soft pack power batteries make them one of the mainstream choices of power batteries for new energy vehicles in the world. In 2018, global soft-pack power battery shipments were 23.1GWh, an increase of 73.7% over 2017, which exceeded the growth rate of global power battery shipments. It is estimated that by 2025, the global shipments of flexible packaging power batteries are estimated to reach 222.4GWh compared with the 2018 average annual compound growth rate of 38%.

LG Chem is a leader in the global soft-pack battery industry and is expected to lead the development of the soft-pack market in the future. Foreign-funded battery companies have already entered the global mainstream automobile companies to provide support. After passing the necessary technology, quality verification, and long-term on-site verification, they have the conditions to be matched with mid-to-high-end models. Foreign-funded soft package companies have their technology, and after years of accumulated battery development experience, they already have a large amount of relevant overall supporting systems and data. LG is a leader in electrode materials and battery manufacturing processes. LG Chem’s power battery shipments reached 12.3GWh in 2019, an increase of 66% over the previous year, making it one of the world’s three largest shipments. LG Chem is a global leader in flexible packaging power batteries, and its shipments have soared in recent years, basically covering high-end car companies around the world, with rapid expansion.

Domestic soft package shipments have a certain scale. In the past three years, the overall domestic flexible packaging market has shown an upward trend. In 2018, the shipment of flexible packaging power batteries was 7.6GWh, a year-on-year increase of 59.6%. The installed capacity of flexible packaging batteries in 2019 was approximately 5.49GWh, a decrease of 28.1% from the previous year. This is closely related to the decrease in market subsidies in 2019. Domestic soft package enterprises have relatively low-end supporting models and are actively planning for production capacity. In general, domestic supporting enterprises are concentrated in domestic low-end car companies, and the market size is small. There is still a certain gap with foreign countries in terms of influence, quality and brand awareness.