Square, soft pack and cylindrical three mainstream lithium battery who is more popular in the market?

As we all know, with the opening of the new energy market demand, power battery market demand is increasing, the relevant power battery companies also continue to accelerate the "grab" lithium battery market. In the fierce market competition, the market has gradually formed a square, flexible package, cylindrical "three-legged" situation.

Cylindrical, square, soft package three kinds of power lithium battery internal composition is not much different, are lithium batteries, the core difference is that the cylindrical and square battery mainly uses metal materials as a shell, while soft package lithium battery using aluminum plastic film as a package shell.

Square

Square batteries are available in two different processes: coiled and laminated. The advantage of the square shape is that its structure is very simple, unlike cylindrical batteries which use stronger stainless steel as the shell and have accessories such as explosion-proof safety valves, so the overall weight of the accessories is lighter and the energy density is higher.

In addition, the square battery has the advantages of small internal resistance, long cycle life, high reliability of the package and good resistance, occupying a certain share in the domestic market.

At present, the enterprises doing square batteries in the market include Ningde Time, BYD, Guoxuan Power, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Lixin, AVIC Lithium, Meike New Energy, Zhongtian Technology, Lixin Energy, Nandu Power, Harbin Guangyu, Camel Battery, etc.

Pouch cell

Unlike square and cylindrical batteries, which mainly use stainless steel or aluminium casings, soft pack batteries pursue a slimmer size and are the lightest in weight for the same capacity density because of the laminated manufacturing method.

In addition, the soft pack has the advantages of flexible size variation, high specific energy, light weight, low internal resistance, high cycle times, and less susceptibility to explosion. It is worth mentioning that the advantages of the soft pack are even more pronounced at higher energy densities. And this is also one of the "tools" to win the market.

But on the road to soft pack battery technology, there are still many real problems. The first is the high cost of aluminum film technology, domestic technology level is limited, especially in the lamination technology process control, the requirements are higher than the winding requirements, quality control issues will directly affect the battery life and safety issues.

At present, Chinese enterprises producing soft pack batteries include Duofuoduo, AVIC Lithium, Wanxiang, CITIC Guoan, and Micro Power.

It is worth mentioning that SAIC-GM-Wuling, Geely, Great Wall, Zotye, Zhidou, Jiangling, Chang'an, Changhe, Shaanxiqi Tongjia and other passenger car enterprises, as well as Yutong, Foton, Zhongtong, Nanjing Golden Dragon, Dongfeng, Hubei New Chufeng, Hunan Chugai Times, Chery Commercial Vehicle, Ankai, Xiamen Golden Dragon, Shen Long, Jiangling Holdings, Qingdao FAW and other commercial vehicle enterprises, have begun to use soft pack power batteries.

Cylindrical

Cylindrical batteries have many advantages, such as superior cycle performance, fast charging and discharging, high output power, mature production process and high product yield. These are also the "magic weapons" that distinguish them from square and soft pack batteries. But at the same time, the disadvantages are also very obvious, including the low utilization of space due to the cylindrical shape, the temperature distribution problems caused by poor radial thermal conductivity, etc.

At present, the enterprises that do cylindrical in the market include Suzhou Anan, BAK, Lixin, Guoxuan, Zhuhai Yinlong, Far East Foster, Zhihang New Energy, Shanghai Delang Energy, Dongguan Zhenhua, Yiwei Li-energy and Tianpeng Power etc.

Brief summary:

Cylindrical batteries, which have been in the limelight because of their mature process and the fact that they are favoured by Tesla;

Square-shaped batteries, because of their good safety, are also one of the mainstream technical routes;

The development of soft pack batteries, thanks to the trend of consumer electronics towards small size and thinness.

According to relevant data, the total installed capacity of domestic power batteries in the first quarter of 2019 was 12.32GWh, of which 10.11GWh was installed in square batteries, up 205% year-on-year, 1.2GWh in soft pack batteries, up 200% year-on-year, and 1.01GWh in cylindrical batteries, up 44% year-on-year.

From a comprehensive point of view, square, soft pack and cylindrical batteries have their own advantages and the market demand is increasing, and will remain a "three-legged" situation for a period of time.

Although the mainstream of the market is still dominated by square cells, the analysis of the above data shows that the market for soft packs is increasing significantly. From the perspective of the global market and technology characteristics, square, soft pack and cylindrical batteries will co-exist in the electric vehicle market until the next generation of power batteries is commercialised.

After the maturity of all-solid-state battery technology, the advantages of soft pack batteries will further appear soft pack battery in the new energy vehicle market penetration rate will continue to rise, the future of soft pack lithium batteries will be in all types of batteries is expected to exceed 50%, however, this will be a long process.