Supply crisis of battery materials for electric vehicles -Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment
In fact, the use of cobalt has never stopped since ancient times. The ancient Greeks and Romans used it to make colored glass. The blue color on the famous tri colored porcelain of the Tang Dynasty in China is also a masterpiece of cobalt.
In modern times, cobalt and its alloy products have been widely used in many industrial fields, such as machinery, chemical industry, and even special aerospace. It can be said precisely that today's cobalt has become a very important strategic metal.
Cobalt is particularly important for the new energy vehicle field which is vigorously promoted and rapidly developed all over the world.
As we all know, the field of new energy vehicles has successfully passed its initial stage of development. Although the technology is not mature yet, in the process of survival of the fittest, there is also a clear development direction.
For example, the lithium iron phosphate battery with large size, small energy density and weak low-temperature resistance has been eliminated by the industry. In order to further improve the endurance of electric vehicles, BYD abandoned the lithium iron phosphate battery and replaced it with ternary lithium battery, which is a good example.
The ternary lithium battery, which is famous for its advantages such as high energy density, high efficiency, high safety and large unit electric energy, is favored and widely used in the field of electric vehicles today.
Although there are two types of ternary lithium batteries, one is the nickel cobalt lithium battery used by Tesla, the benchmark of the global pure electric vehicle market, and the other is the nickel cobalt manganese battery used by Nissan, BMW and other vehicle enterprises.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
However, no matter which one, cobalt is an indispensable material, which is irreplaceable up to now. Cobalt plays an important role in improving the battery energy density, which is closely related to the endurance of electric vehicles.
Therefore, cobalt is favored at the moment when electric vehicles are vigorously promoted all over the world.
Generally speaking, the battery of a smart phone contains 6g of cobalt, the battery of a laptop contains 33g of cobalt, and the power battery of an electric vehicle needs to contain as much as 15kg of cobalt.
With the increasing demand for cobalt, the steady supply of 100000 tons of annual output seems to have been unable to match the demand. In recent years, the supply gap of cobalt ore is increasing, and the price of cobalt is also rising.
The arrival of the era of electric vehicles has launched an unprecedented growth period for cobalt.
Once upon a time, the price of cobalt per kilogram did not exceed $30. However, since the fourth quarter of last year, the price of cobalt per kilogram has risen to about $60. At the beginning of this year, the international transaction price of cobalt even rose to $94 per kilogram, the highest in history.
The reason is that, like lithium, due to the huge demand for power batteries in the entire automotive industry, cobalt has become the latest manufacturing material benefiting from lithium batteries in electric vehicles.
With the rapid development of the field of new energy vehicles, more and more vehicle enterprises have entered this field. Many old car giants have also started to invest in electric vehicles. The entire electric vehicle market will continue to expand, and the demand for batteries will further expand. In this case, the price of cobalt will continue to soar in the next few years.
It is obvious that the global automotive industry has entered the competition of battery raw material supply chain. This year, BMW took the lead in signing a 10-year contract for the supply of lithium and cobalt raw materials for the batteries of electric vehicles. At the same time, Volkswagen Group is also expanding the layout of the battery supply chain to avoid the shortage of raw materials.
However, the development of things is far from simple. For the world, the total reserves of cobalt resources are mainly concentrated in Congo, Australia, Cuba and other countries, about 7 million tons, which are widely distributed, and the content is not high compared with many other metals.
In addition to the problem of resources, the current situation also makes cobalt ore more precious. Because the political situation of Congo has been in an unstable state for a long time, its mineral export policy has a lot of unstable factors. In 2007, Congo introduced a policy to restrict cobalt ores and primary products.
In addition, the current market demand for electric vehicles is also much higher than production. According to the data on cobalt raw materials traded last year, slightly more than half of cobalt has flowed into the rechargeable battery industry, while in the earlier years, the proportion was only 20%.
In modern times, cobalt and its alloy products have been widely used in many industrial fields, such as machinery, chemical industry, and even special aerospace. It can be said precisely that today's cobalt has become a very important strategic metal.
Cobalt is particularly important for the new energy vehicle field which is vigorously promoted and rapidly developed all over the world.
As we all know, the field of new energy vehicles has successfully passed its initial stage of development. Although the technology is not mature yet, in the process of survival of the fittest, there is also a clear development direction.
For example, the lithium iron phosphate battery with large size, small energy density and weak low-temperature resistance has been eliminated by the industry. In order to further improve the endurance of electric vehicles, BYD abandoned the lithium iron phosphate battery and replaced it with ternary lithium battery, which is a good example.
The ternary lithium battery, which is famous for its advantages such as high energy density, high efficiency, high safety and large unit electric energy, is favored and widely used in the field of electric vehicles today.
Although there are two types of ternary lithium batteries, one is the nickel cobalt lithium battery used by Tesla, the benchmark of the global pure electric vehicle market, and the other is the nickel cobalt manganese battery used by Nissan, BMW and other vehicle enterprises.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
However, no matter which one, cobalt is an indispensable material, which is irreplaceable up to now. Cobalt plays an important role in improving the battery energy density, which is closely related to the endurance of electric vehicles.
Therefore, cobalt is favored at the moment when electric vehicles are vigorously promoted all over the world.
Generally speaking, the battery of a smart phone contains 6g of cobalt, the battery of a laptop contains 33g of cobalt, and the power battery of an electric vehicle needs to contain as much as 15kg of cobalt.
With the increasing demand for cobalt, the steady supply of 100000 tons of annual output seems to have been unable to match the demand. In recent years, the supply gap of cobalt ore is increasing, and the price of cobalt is also rising.
The arrival of the era of electric vehicles has launched an unprecedented growth period for cobalt.
Once upon a time, the price of cobalt per kilogram did not exceed $30. However, since the fourth quarter of last year, the price of cobalt per kilogram has risen to about $60. At the beginning of this year, the international transaction price of cobalt even rose to $94 per kilogram, the highest in history.
The reason is that, like lithium, due to the huge demand for power batteries in the entire automotive industry, cobalt has become the latest manufacturing material benefiting from lithium batteries in electric vehicles.
With the rapid development of the field of new energy vehicles, more and more vehicle enterprises have entered this field. Many old car giants have also started to invest in electric vehicles. The entire electric vehicle market will continue to expand, and the demand for batteries will further expand. In this case, the price of cobalt will continue to soar in the next few years.
It is obvious that the global automotive industry has entered the competition of battery raw material supply chain. This year, BMW took the lead in signing a 10-year contract for the supply of lithium and cobalt raw materials for the batteries of electric vehicles. At the same time, Volkswagen Group is also expanding the layout of the battery supply chain to avoid the shortage of raw materials.
However, the development of things is far from simple. For the world, the total reserves of cobalt resources are mainly concentrated in Congo, Australia, Cuba and other countries, about 7 million tons, which are widely distributed, and the content is not high compared with many other metals.
In addition to the problem of resources, the current situation also makes cobalt ore more precious. Because the political situation of Congo has been in an unstable state for a long time, its mineral export policy has a lot of unstable factors. In 2007, Congo introduced a policy to restrict cobalt ores and primary products.
In addition, the current market demand for electric vehicles is also much higher than production. According to the data on cobalt raw materials traded last year, slightly more than half of cobalt has flowed into the rechargeable battery industry, while in the earlier years, the proportion was only 20%.
