Observing the Trends of the Lithium Battery Industry from the CIBF Shenzhen International Battery Exhibition

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I wonder if any of you have attended the CIBF Shenzhen International Battery Exhibition. I participated in all three days of the event, attended the forums, met and communicated with industry peers, and visited the exhibition booths. As a grand event in the battery industry, CIBF is an opportunity for industry peers to exchange ideas and gather every year. Here, I would like to share the industry trends that I observed at CIBF. 

1.Solid-state and fast charging are undoubtedly the two major hotspots in the industry this year. Battery manufacturers have been releasing and exhibiting new solid-state battery products, and almost every booth of each battery company features these two products. Solid-state batteries often have ultra-high nickel cathodes, with energy density reaching 300Wh/Kg, and some exhibits even reach 400Wh/Kg. The new fast-charging products are even more impressive, with 5C/6C being common, and 10C peak charging power is also quite common. The fast-charging performance of lithium iron phosphate is already not inferior to that of lithium cobalt oxide. The products are becoming increasingly similar, and the competition within the industry is evident in the technical aspect. However, the mass production of solid-state batteries should be viewed rationally. Fast charging needs to understand whether it refers to peak power, and ultra-high power fast charging is often just a game of words. Moreover, current charging stations are not yet compatible with ultra-high power fast charging. 

2. Application Segmentation. Products such as low-altitude economy batteries, robot batteries, and low-pressure start-stop batteries were also exhibited. Although the batteries used in these products are still the various batteries that have been mass-produced currently, there are also scenarios where solid-state and low-altitude economy technologies converge in the future. The application scenarios for different chemical types of batteries are gradually becoming more specialized. 

3. ESG and Battery Passport. The concepts of ESG and Battery Passport have frequently been the main topics of speeches at the relevant forums of CIBF. When entering overseas markets (especially the European market), it is necessary to ensure the traceability of the battery supply chain. Therefore, ESG and Battery Passport consulting has become one of the consulting tracks in the battery sector. 

4. Going Abroad. At the forum, the investment promotion departments from Finland, Switzerland, Hungary, Australia and other countries were all present. The overseas countries all hope to establish the battery industry chain. However, there are still many difficulties in exporting battery production capacity, such as technology export, labor costs, overseas supply chain logistics, environmental handling, trade unions, etc. 

5. In the field of energy storage, large battery cells and AC/DC integration are the trends. The energy storage market is growing rapidly, and energy storage enterprises have also joined the CIBF exhibition. The core trend of energy storage integration is AC/DC integration. Mainly in overseas markets, they often hope that suppliers can provide a complete package solution for both the DC and AC sides of energy storage. To reduce costs and increase the energy density of each cabinet, the square large battery cell products have become larger and larger, and the lamination process has gradually demonstrated its advantages.

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