Korean battery faces the rise of domestic battery

Samsung SDI Xi'an plant idle production, LG Chemical transferred to Nanjing plant, SKI factory in China to stop production, the Korean battery that once ransacked in the Chinese market, will it withdraw from the Chinese stage in this way?

From the original swarming to the current gradual decline, the glory of Korean battery in China is about to become history. Since the company catalogue of "Automobile Power Battery Industry Standard Conditions" was released on November 11, 2015, five batches have been released, and a total of 57 battery companies have been selected. Until now, no Korean battery company has entered the list. This means that domestic new energy vehicle brand models cannot be equipped with Korean batteries. Affected by this factor, the Jianghuai iEV6S and Beiqi EV200 models that used to carry Samsung SDI batteries had to face the embarrassing situation of replacing batteries. Even in order to adapt to the Chinese market, Hyundai’s domestically produced model, the Sonata 9 plug-in hybrid version, will also Adopt domestic power battery. This market situation has led to the collapse of the operating conditions of Korean battery companies, and even the situation of "not getting enough."

Korean battery escapes from China

It is reported that Samsung SDI's production line in Xi'an has been idle for several months. According to the plan, Samsung SDI Enterprise has planned to spend 600 million US dollars by 2020 to expand the production line of Xi'an Battery Factory. At this time, the company is deciding to reconsider the expansion plan of China's Xi'an battery factory. Coincidentally, according to media reports, LG Chem's joint venture battery company established in Nanjing is basically idle, and LG Chem is negotiating to sell the project to SAIC. In addition, the new energy vehicle battery factory jointly established by SKI and Chinese companies has stopped production on the grounds that the battery order is reduced. In the past, there were also Korean battery companies that accelerated the establishment of factories in China in order to meet the "standard conditions for automotive power battery industry". However, with the release of the "Guidelines for the Standardization of Automotive Power Battery Industry (2017)", its requirements became It is even more demanding, and it has also hit Korean battery companies.

In order to make up for the losses of Korean companies in China as soon as possible, Samsung and LG will now transfer the battlefield to other markets in Europe and North America. Samsung SDI recently decided to build a new electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary, which is expected to start production in 2018.

The rapid rise of domestic batteries

Without the strong competitor of the Korean battery, domestic battery companies quickly seized the domestic power battery market with lightning speed. According to the statistics of the 2016 China Lithium Power Battery Research Report, the total shipments of domestic lithium-power battery companies in China reached 30.5 Gwh in 2016, an increase of 79.4% from 17.0 Gwh in 2015. Moreover, nearly 80% of power battery companies have achieved substantial profit growth. Among them, there were more than 35 companies with a forecast increase in net profit** of more than 100% year-on-year, and more than 50 companies with a net profit of over 100 million.

Korean battery faces the rise of domestic battery

Wang Zidong, director of the Power Battery Laboratory of the North China Vehicle Research Institute and director of the National 863 Electric Vehicle Major Special Power Battery Test Center, said that the current capacity of the power battery company is over 170 Gwh/year, and the production capacity is already More than 7 times the demand. Not only that, many domestic power battery manufacturers, such as BYD (002594, shares), Tianjin Lishen, Ningde Times New Energy and many other companies have planned to expand new product lines. According to the data, BYD plans to have a capacity of 20 GWh in 2017. The Ningde era plans to increase the production of lithium batteries to 50 GWh by 2020. Guoxuan Hi-Tech plans to reach 6 billion AH in 2020...

Be wary of the problem of "overcapacity"

However, this figure has caused a high degree of vigilance within the industry. Previously, Tsinghua University professor Ouyang Minggao pointed out that if the market sales ratio of electric buses and electric passenger cars is 1:10, 170 Gwh can meet the annual output of 500,000 electric buses and 5 million electric cars. The total demand for passenger cars. Its production capacity is equivalent to meeting China's production target in 2025. Therefore, regarding the overcapacity of power batteries, urgent solutions are needed.

Once the power battery market has a serious overcapacity phenomenon, the industry may face differentiation. Faced with this situation, the Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Miao Wei, said at the Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum: "The power battery market will usher in integration, and enterprises must upgrade the core technology of power batteries." At present, the new energy vehicle market is on the rise. The subsidy policy also imposes more stringent requirements on the power battery market. To meet market demand, companies must make adjustments to this. At the same time, market integration is also imperative, and unskilled, smaller battery manufacturers are bound to be eliminated. At that time, the domestic power market will be able to usher in the "spring." At present, there are more than 150 power battery manufacturers, and this number is still growing. However, even if the number of enterprises continues to expand and capacity planning exceeds market demand, it is undeniable that the current development of the power battery industry is still in an unstable state. According to the reporter of "New Energy Auto News", the high-end production capacity is insufficient and the low-end production capacity is excessive. The current "small and scattered" state of the power battery market has not improved. Yang Qi, Marketing Director of Ningde Times, told the reporter of New Energy Auto News that from a technical point of view, the products launched by China's larger battery companies are comparable to Korean batteries, but there are still some small companies in terms of technology and product quality. There is a serious failure.