Photo taken on Dec. 4, 2020 shows new energy vehicles (NEVs) during a promotional activity for NEVs in rural areas held in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)
BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The power battery production in China is booming and many industry firms are expanding production capacities, reported Securities Daily Wednesday.
Data released Tuesday by the China automotive power battery industry innovation alliance showed that in January this year, China's power battery output surged by 317.2 percent year on year to 12.0 GWh.
During the month, the output of lithium iron phosphate batteries registered 5.2 GWh, up 493.6 percent year on year, and that of ternary batteries 6.8 GWh, up 241.6 percent year on year.
Data also showed that the lithium iron phosphate batteries and the ternary batteries installed in automobiles respectively recorded 3.3 GWh and 5.4 GWh in the same period, a rise of 349.8 percent and 241.9 percent year on year.
According to the catalog of recommended models for the promotion and application of new energy vehicles (NEVs) issued recently by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), among the 37 recommended passenger car models, 19 are installed with ternary batteries and 18 with lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Besides, among the total 115 recommended models, the first batch in 2021, 85 are equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries, accounting for 73.9 percent of the total.
Many producers are expanding the production capacity of power batteries.
China's leading lithium battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL, 300750.SZ) announced on February 2 that it planned to invest 29 billion yuan in the construction of three production bases located respectively in Zhaoqing of south China's Guangdong Province, Yibin of southwest China's Sichuan Province and Ningde of southeast China's Fujian Province, and 79-GWh production capacity is expected to be added.
EVE Energy Co., Ltd. (300014.SZ), a high-tech company focusing on innovative development of lithium batteries, announced on February 19 that it agreed EVE Power Battery Co., Ltd. to use self-owned and self-raised funds to invest in the construction of the passenger car lithium-ion power battery project (phase I) and the xHEV battery system project (phase I), with investment no more than 1 billion yuan and 2.6 billion yuan, respectively.
EVE Power Battery Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EVE Power Hong Kong Co., Ltd. which is a wholly-owned sub-subsidiary of EVE Energy Co., Ltd.
The speedy production expansion of power battery makers is related to the big increase in the consumption of NEVs.
In January this year, the domestic sales of NEVs notched 179,200 units, a year-on-year increase of 286.38 percent, with 150,600 pure electric vehicles included, up 350.2 percent year on year.
The stay-put policy has further promoted the sales of NEVs. Data from JD.COM showed that during the Spring Festival holiday, orders for NEVs and some other products in first-tier cities increased 10 to 20 times year on year.
Based on the continuous development of the NEV market which has led to explosive demand growth of power batteries, the production expansion of power battery companies may last for three to five years, said Zhao Chao, an analyst with oilchem.net, a provider of energy and chemical information and market price index.
Zhao expected that China's NEV sales in 2021 might reach 1.85 million, increasing by 42 percent year on year.
(Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)
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