In the context of the high market price of lithium carbonate, many listed companies are eyeing sodium ion batteries. Compared with lithium ion batteries, sodium ion batteries have greater resource advantages and lower sodium price. In addition, the positive and negative current collectors of sodium ion batteries are aluminum foil. In general, the cost of raw materials required by sodium ion batteries (non battery comprehensive cost) is about 30% to 40% lower than that of lithium ion batteries. From the perspective of application scenarios, sodium ion batteries are expected to continue to penetrate into large-scale energy storage and low-speed vehicles and other application fields by virtue of cost advantages.
According to the data of Baichuan Yingfu, on November 29, the mainstream quotation range of domestic battery grade lithium carbonate (99.5%) market was 587000 yuan/ton to 597000 yuan/ton, with an average price of 592000 yuan/ton, up 109.65% from the beginning of the year. Industry insiders believe that the price of battery grade lithium carbonate will continue to rise.
Huddle layout
In recent years, listed companies have deployed the sodium ion battery industry.
Huayang Shares announced on September 30 that the installation and commissioning of sodium ion cell production line equipment invested and constructed by Shanxi Huana Core Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary, had been completed. On the same day, the company signed a framework agreement on cooperation of positive and negative electrode materials for 10000 ton sodium ion batteries with Zhongke Haina.
Huayang Shares disclosed on November 18 that the company's sodium ion cell production line has been put into production and is being adjusted and optimized. After packing, it can be used in low-speed electric vehicles and energy storage related fields.
"The sodium ion battery industry is the key direction of the company's future development, and the sodium ion cell project has also been identified as a provincial key project. At present, the company is stepping up the development of the sodium ion battery industry related planning, and improving the relevant details." Huayang said on the interactive platform.
Weike Technology plans to change its fund-raising project to set foot in the sodium ion battery industry. On the evening of October 27, the company issued an announcement to terminate the follow-up construction of the "60 million polymer lithium battery intelligent chemical plant expansion project", and proposed to change the purpose of the raised funds, of which 200 million yuan will be used for the "2GWh sodium ion battery project", which will be implemented by the wholly-owned subsidiary Nanchang Battery, with a total investment of nearly 700 million yuan.
On October 27, Chuanyi Sodium Power, a subsidiary of Chuanyi Technology, held a ceremony for the commissioning of the pilot line, the unveiling of the research institute and the commencement of the new material project. Chuanyi Technology disclosed that the pilot line of the sodium ion battery project has been put into production, with a capacity of 200MWh/year.
Chuanyi Technology said that it has been concerned about the feasibility of sodium ion battery technology and industrialization since 2018. In July this year, the company decided to invest 5 billion yuan to build a full process intelligent production line for sodium ion batteries with an annual output of 150000 tons of electrolyte, 30000 tons of positive materials, 40000 tons of negative materials and 10GWh battery cells. At present, the first generation of sodium ion battery independently developed by Chuanyi Technology has officially appeared.
Wide space
In recent years, sodium ion batteries have continuously made technological breakthroughs in energy density, creating a huge market space for the development of sodium ion batteries. According to EVTank's prediction, the market space of sodium ion batteries will reach 369.5GWh in 2026.
Policies have accelerated the industrialization of sodium ion batteries. In June this year, the Fourteenth Five Year Renewable Energy Development Plan jointly issued by nine departments including the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration proposed to strengthen the research and development of cutting-edge renewable energy technologies and core technology and equipment, and research and development of high energy density energy storage technologies such as sodium ion batteries.
Benefiting from the policy promotion and the accelerated layout of listed companies related to the industrial chain, the industrialization of sodium ion battery is expected to develop. Kaiyuan Securities believes that sodium ion battery has ushered in new opportunities for industrialization.
From the perspective of specific industrial chain links, Kaiyuan Securities believes that among the four common negative electrode materials for sodium ion batteries, such as metal compounds, carbon based materials (graphite/hard carbon/soft carbon), alloy materials, and non-metallic simple substances, hard carbon materials show stronger sodium storage capacity and lower working potential, and are more suitable for use as negative electrode materials for sodium ion batteries. According to the estimation of Kaiyuan Securities, the global demand for negative electrode materials for sodium ion batteries will be 4300 tons, 31000 tons and 92400 tons respectively from 2023 to 2025.
Guotai Jun'an believes that the sodium ion battery is expected to initially form an industrial chain by the end of 2022. In 2023, the sodium ion battery will start large-scale application. In 2025, the domestic demand for sodium ion batteries will reach 58GWh, corresponding to the demand for positive materials of sodium ion batteries of 174000 tons.