Market Trend of 12V Lithium-ion Car Battery

The 12V car battery mainly carries the low-voltage auxiliary function in electric vehicles, and undertakes the power supply requirements of some low-power equipment in the car, such as windows, lighting, lights, instruments, central control locks, etc.; while traditional fuel vehicles and HEV models have additional It is responsible for starting and stopping the battery.

On the technical route, lead-acid batteries have always been the market's first choice due to their high technological maturity, high safety and low cost.

Various signs indicate that the 12V car battery market, which has long been dominated by lead-acid batteries, is slowly starting to change to 12V lithium-ion car batteries.

However, due to many factors such as cost, technology and market environment, it is very difficult to replace 12V car batteries from lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion batteries in the short term, and the overall process will be quite slow. Only those mid-to-high-end car models that are price-insensitive and highly intelligent will try first.

However, in the long run, with the in-depth popularization of intelligent networking and the deepening of autonomous driving technology, the disadvantages of lead-acid batteries have become more prominent. The trend of 12V car batteries changing from lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion batteries is determined, which will surely open up new lithium battery increments space.

So, what are the driving factors for the replacement of 12V car batteries from lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion batteries?

1)Global carbon emissions continue to increase, and environmental protection pressure is imminent.

2)The in-depth development of automobile electrification and intelligence, the addition of a wide range of sensors and chips, the original electrical architecture is increasingly weak, and the depth of discharge of 12V on-board batteries has increased, further shortening the service life of lead-acid batteries, and there is a general rate performance and energy Pain points such as low density (heavy weight) provide opportunities for lithium battery replacement.

3)With the large-scale application of lithium batteries in the field of power batteries, lithium battery technology is accelerating iterations, and production costs continue to drop. Lithium batteries have reached the critical point of 12V battery lead-acid battery replacement.

Relevant data predicts that global sales of new energy vehicles are expected to reach 15 million units in 2025, corresponding to an annual compound growth rate of 38%, and a penetration rate of nearly 15%; global electric vehicle sales will reach 23 million in 2030, and market capacity growth is expected to exceed ten times.

In addition, the global start-stop battery market is expected to grow by USD 7.85 billion during 2020-2024, and the growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a compound annual growth rate of over 22.12%.

If 12V car batteries replace lead-acid batteries with LFP, the battery capacity will be 100-500wh. According to the calculation of the battery capacity of 300wh, the global sales of 23 million electric vehicles in 2030 will be replaced with lithium batteries, corresponding to 12V system lithium batteries. The demand is about 6.9GWh, and this is only the incremental space for new energy vehicles each year.

However, although the market space is large, there are still many problems facing the conversion of 12V car batteries from large-scale lead-acid batteries to lithium-ion batteries.

1)The technical threshold is high.

The 12V car battery is a low-voltage and high-rate battery that requires -30°C to work normally, and meets the high current and high cycle durability required for ICE startup. The technical barrier is very high. This is also the technical barrier that lithium battery has not been able to start on a large scale for a long time.

2)Cost barriers.

At present, the price of 12V lithium-ion car batteries is about 1.5-3 times the price of corresponding lead-acid batteries. Therefore, lead-acid batteries have an absolute market share in 12V automotive batteries by virtue of their safety and low cost advantages.

3)There are very few lithium-ion battery cell manufacturers involved in this area, and even fewer battery products that meet the requirements.

Only CATL, A123 Systems, LG New Energy, Camel Group, EVE Energy and other lithium battery manufacturers have stepped in to prepare in advance for the replacement of lead-acid batteries with 12V lithium batteries, and some corporate products have not finally landed.

On the whole, the market for lithium batteries to replace lead-acid batteries is still in the early stages of industrialization, whether it is 12V car batteries for electric vehicles or traditional car start-stop batteries, constrained by many factors such as technology and cost.

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