LFP battery overseas market penetration accelerates

In the past week, lithium battery giants have made frequent updates in overseas markets. They have successively announced official orders, mass production, and factory construction. This undoubtedly does not reveal that Chinese lithium battery companies have "made another success" in overseas market layout.

On September 5, at the IAA Munich Motor Show, CATL battery announced that the company will produce "Shenxing Supercharged Batteries" outside of China at factories in Germany and Hungary.

According to CATL’s previous introduction, Shenxing supercharged battery is the world’s first 4C supercharged battery that uses lithium iron phosphate material and can be mass-produced. It can achieve ultra-fast charging speeds of “charging in 10 minutes and lasting 400 kilometers.” And it has a cruising range of more than 700 kilometers, which greatly alleviates users’ energy replenishment anxiety.

The production of "Shenxing Battery" in the European factory will bring first-class vehicle power battery products to European car company customers, strengthening the competitiveness of lifepo4 battery in overseas markets.

The international market has always been dominated by NMC Battery. However, in the context of the high cost of NMC Battery and the lack of mass production of 46 series large cylinders,lifepo4 battery is gradually gaining momentum in overseas markets. Global car manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Tesla have successively announced purchases from Chinese battery manufacturers. lithium iron phosphate battery.

In May, Gotion announced that it had recently received a procurement letter from Volkswagen and that the company would become Volkswagen's designated supplier in overseas markets and supply Volkswagen's lithium iron phosphate "Unified Cell (standard cell)" power lithium battery products.

In June, German media Teslamag reported that Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, had begun production of the rear-wheel drive basic version of the Model Y equipped with BYD batteries. Tesla CEO Musk also claimed that two-thirds of Tesla vehicles will uselifepo4 battery in the future, and one-third may use nickel batteries.

At the recent IAA Munich Auto Show, the CLA concept car displayed for the first time by Mercedes-Benz is expected to be equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) blade batteries from BYD, and the MMA platform will support 800-volt ultra-fast charging.

Against the backdrop oflifepo4 battery’s purchase and installation in overseas markets and its penetration rate gradually increasing, international battery manufacturers have also begun to lay out the technical route for lithium iron phosphate.

As the first Korean company to lay out the lithium iron phosphate technology route, SK On said it plans to produce a new lithium iron phosphate battery for electric vehicles by 2025, and demonstrated its LFP battery pilot product in March this year.

LG New Energy is developing lifepo4 pouch battery pack, and the company may supply these batteries to Tesla. In May, LG New Energy officials said they would producelifepo4 battery in Michigan, USA.

Samsung SDI has joined the Korean government-led project to producelifepo4 battery in 2026. On August 17, foreign media reported that Samsung SDI, a battery manufacturer under the Samsung Group, will build South Korea’s firstlifepo4 battery production line at its Ulsan factory.

The latest news from the American battery company ONE shows that it has developedlifepo4 battery with a weight and energy density close to that of ternary lithium batteries, and is expected to be put into production by the end of 2024.

In addition, overseas car companies are not willing to lag behind. They have cooperated with Chinese battery manufacturers to build factories to promote electrification transformation while improving integrated layout and seizing competitive advantages.

At the beginning of this year, Ford Motor and CATL jointly announced that they would build a newlifepo4 battery factory in Marshall, Michigan. The cooperation method is that CATL provides preparation and operation services for the factory and licenses the battery patent technology. This is the first time that an overseas car company has announced the construction of a lithium iron phosphate battery factory.

On September 6, EVE announced that it would establish a U.S. joint venture with Daimler Trucks, Paccar and Cummins to invest in battery production capacity. Daimler Trucks and Paccar are among the world's four largest truck manufacturers, while Cummins is a well-known American power equipment manufacturer.

According to disclosures, the joint venture factory will produce lifepo4 battery, with an investment of US$2 billion to US$3 billion (approximately RMB 14.6 billion to RMB 22 billion) and an annual production capacity of 21 GWh.

At present, LFP Battery is gradually moving overseas and its market share is gradually expanding. With its performance advantages brought by low overall cost and material innovation, lithium iron phosphate battery will further change the overseas power battery market structure in the future, which will also bring opportunities to Chinese battery companies that are at the forefront of lithium iron phosphate technology.