Is the "hit" of aluminum batteries to subvert the industry pattern? Proof is coming
"It will revolutionize electric vehicles and energy storage." This is the slogan on the homepage of the Delaware-based company's website.
No precious metals such as cobalt and nickel are used, there is no dendrite trouble, no thermal runaway, the battery life is 1200 kilometers, and the service life for automobiles is as high as 15 years. This is the enhanced aluminum-ion battery (EnhancedAlteredAluminumIon, hereinafter referred to as "EaI") recently announced by Saturnose, a "new cutting edge in the battery industry" that far exceeds lithium-ion batteries on paper.
With the power of new energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries will be in the limelight in 2021. At the end of the year, aluminum-ion batteries were suddenly born. The indicators on paper were excellent, and they "killed" lithium-ion batteries in terms of battery life, safety, and cycle times. Not only that, but aluminum-ion batteries are reportedly even planned to be commercialized in 2022, slowly replacing less cost-effective lithium-ion batteries.
Are lithium-ion batteries about to fall from the "throne"? Are aluminum-ion batteries "on paper" or revolutionary technology? "Daily Economic News" reporters launched an investigation.
How sacred is the Saturnose that popped up out of nowhere
For a long time, Tesla, CATL, BYD and other industry leaders have been leading the progress of the battery industry, such as CATL's CTP technology and sodium-ion battery, BYD blade battery and Tesla's recently launched 4680 battery.
The EaI paper data presented by Saturnose this time is perfect. But most people in the battery industry may not know about Saturnose. Saturnose's website shows it is based in Delaware, and Forbes' report describes it as an Asian company, a group of Indian researchers backed by Saudi Arabian capital.
According to reports, Saturnose’s EaI battery was initially funded by two rounds of seed funding from Saudi Arabia’s DanaVentureFund and has been in “stealth development” for the past five years. Commercialization of the technology is also supported by the Indian government, with plans to build a technology center at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and plans to collaborate with THMFraunhofer in Germany.
In addition, other channels rarely have Saturnose related reports. The "Daily Economic News" reporter learned through the wisdom bud global patent library that Saturnose does not have a patent related to aluminum ion batteries. By searching for the keyword "aluminum-ion battery", it was found that the company that applied for more patents for aluminum-ion batteries in the United States was a company named Everon24, Inc., with a total of 16 patent applications.
Interestingly, the reporter further inquired about Everon24 related information, but has not been able to find the company's official website. In the end, I found information about Everon24 on the official website of the SEC (US Securities Regulatory Commission). Everon24 was established in Massachusetts in 2015, has a branch in Delaware, and the company type is a foreign company (ie, non-US capital).
The reporter also learned from the Pitchbook website that the patents held by Everon24 are mainly related to aluminum-ion batteries, including the "rechargeable aluminum-ion battery" first applied for on October 11, 2016, and a number of water-based aluminum batteries applied for in March 2019. Ion battery patent.
Recently, the "rechargeable aluminum-ion battery" held by Everon24 has been authorized in my country again. According to the Patent Star website, the patent application date is October 11, 2016, and the grant notification date is November 2, 2021. In addition to my country and the United States, the patent has also been registered in Europe and South Korea. It can be said that the patent is almost protected in important battery production areas in the world. It can be seen that the "rechargeable aluminum-ion battery" is the earliest patent application and its core patent.
One of the inventors of the "rechargeable aluminum-ion battery" is Rahul Mukherjee (Rahul Mukherjee). According to the Pitchbook website, one of the co-founders of Everon24 is RahulMukherjeePh.D (Dr. Rahul Mukherjee) . The reporter checked on LinkedIn and found that Rahul Mukherjee is basically Indian and Indian.
Comparing Saturnose's official website, it has several similarities with Everon24. The branch of Everon24 is in Delaware, and Saturnose is also in Delaware; the core patent of Everon24 is "rechargeable aluminum-ion battery", and the aluminum-ion battery disclosed by Saturnose is also rechargeable; the core technicians of Everon24 may be Indians, Of Indian origin, Saturnose also has a deep Indian background.
Perfect Aluminum-Ion Battery Data
It can be seen that both Saturnose and Everon24 are little-known small companies in the battery industry. The reason why they have a huge impact on the industry is that the data published on Saturnose's official website is too attractive, and it perfectly fills the existence of lithium-ion batteries. Many flaws.
Lithium-ion batteries are the most criticized for their battery life, although a large number of new energy vehicles can last up to 500 kilometers and 600 kilometers. However, when winter comes, the cruising range is greatly reduced. In particular, the lithium iron phosphate battery, which has become popular this year, is particularly attenuated in winter.
But according to the data released by Saturnose, the problem of battery life is not worth mentioning at all. At present, the lithium-ion battery with the highest energy density is the high-nickel ternary lithium-ion battery. Recently, Guoxuan Hi-Tech disclosed that its high-nickel ternary lithium-ion battery has a single energy density of 302Wh/kg, and has achieved mass production. Regarding the further improvement of battery energy density after high-nickel ternary, the industry is generally optimistic about solid-state batteries. In January 2021, NIO announced a solid-state battery with an energy density of up to 360Wh/kg. However, Weilai has not disclosed its solid-state battery supplier, and it is still controversial whether its solid-state battery can be mass-produced as scheduled.
The energy density of the aluminum-ion battery disclosed by Saturnose not only far exceeds the current relatively mature high-nickel ternary, but also greatly exceeds the immature lithium-ion solid-state battery. The current energy density of EaI batteries is 550-750wh/kg, and the future roadmap is 1800wh/kg.
According to the lower limit of energy density, the EaI battery is 1.53 times that of the NIO solid-state battery, and 1.82 times that of the Guoxuan Hi-Tech high-nickel ternary. According to the upper limit of energy density, it is 2.08 times and 2.48 times that of NIO solid-state battery and Guoxuan High-tech high-nickel ternary.
Source: Saturnose
Another major drawback of lithium-ion batteries is safety. The thermal instability of lithium-ion batteries is an important cause of fire and combustion.
Saturnose pointed out the disadvantages of lithium-ion batteries on the official website, saying: "Safety is the biggest problem in all lithium-ion batteries. Most fires and explosions of lithium-ion batteries are caused by short circuits. When the separator fails and causes the positive and negative electrodes On contact, the battery starts to overshoot and ignites with chemicals in the electrolyte."
Saturnose believes that the traditional 18650 lithium-ion battery uses a flammable electrolyte, while the EaI battery uses an all-solid electrolyte. Accordingly, Saturnose said: "Compared to all lithium-ion batteries in the world today, our all-solid-state aluminum battery is: the safest, lighter and more heat-resistant."
In addition, Saturnose also mentioned that lithium-ion batteries have limitations in the choice of anode materials, cycle times, and dependence on expensive metals. For example, ternary lithium-ion batteries use cobalt and nickel. The EaI battery has 30,000 cycles and claims to be cheaper. "(Aluminum-ion) batteries cost 50 percent less per kilowatt than lithium-ion batteries currently cost," Saturnose said.
What do you think of lithium-ion battery faucets?
Lower cost, stronger battery life, safer, longer life, is there really such a perfect battery? Can the data given by Saturnose on its official website really be realized? Do the industry leaders have technical reserves?
On December 8, reporters from "Daily Economic News" contacted industry leaders such as Tesla, CATL, and BYD. Tesla did not comment on whether it has accumulated technology related to aluminum-ion batteries. The staff of CATL said: "We have a layout of valuable technologies." The staff of BYD's board secretary office said that they did not pay attention to technical issues. , should call Investor Relations. The reporter immediately called the investor relations phone, but it has not been connected.
For domestic battery leaders, are aluminum-ion batteries really valuable? Search the keyword "aluminum ion battery" through the global patent database of Smart Buds, and the top patent applications are Everon24, Beijing University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou Gaoene Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Beijing Jinlu Energy Technology Co., Ltd. , Shenzhen Bo Leida New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., etc., the number of patent applications is 16, 14, 12, 10, 6, 6 and 5 respectively.
The reporter noticed that the company with a large number of domestic patent applications is Gaoene Technology. On December 8, "Daily Economic News" called Gaoene Technology, and its staff said: "We have some technology accumulation now, but it has not been industrialized. If you want to know more, you can contact colleagues in research and development. "
Subsequently, the above-mentioned staff sent a public account article "Professor Gao Chao's team of Zhejiang University: Low-cost expanded graphite cathode to improve the rate performance of aluminum-ion batteries" to reporters through the social APP. This article was published in September 2021. The article said, "Aluminum-ion batteries have the advantages of high negative electrode capacity, good safety, and abundant resources, and have very good application prospects in the fields of large-scale energy storage and high-power energy supply in the future. Carbon materials (graphene, graphite) with a similar structure are used as anodes for aluminum ion batteries, which have high output voltage, excellent fast charge and cycle stability. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the capacity of graphene-based cathodes for aluminum ion batteries. Further in-depth discussion of the energy storage mechanism of carbon material cathodes is beneficial to the rational design of aluminum-ion battery cathodes."
Qixinbao information shows that Gaoene Technology is wholly-owned by Changxing Deene Technology Co., Ltd., and the major shareholder of Deene Technology is Gaochao, with a shareholding ratio of 52.69%.
Through the patent star search, it was found that Gaoene Technology holds as many as 124 patents, of which only 1 is related to aluminum-ion batteries. In fact, Gaoene Technology has applied for 8 patents related to aluminum ions, but 7 projects were in a state of failure before.
It is worth mentioning that Gaoene Technology not only applies for patents related to aluminum ion batteries, but also holds patents including "a solid electrolyte for zinc ion batteries", "a graphene-iron oxide film for lithium ion batteries and its preparation method". and applications". It can be seen that Gaoene Technology is not specialized in aluminum-ion batteries.
Since then, the reporter has called Shenzhen Bo Leida New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and many other companies with aluminum-ion battery patents, but these companies either failed to connect or refused to be interviewed. In addition to the company, reporters have also successively called relevant research institutions and scholars involved in this field, such as the Aluminum-ion Battery R&D Center of the Pearl River Delta Research Institute of Tsinghua University, etc., but they have not received a reply.
Dawn reappears or another hype?
In fact, as early as April 2017, a research group led by Professor Dai Hongjie from Stanford University in the United States published a paper on aluminum batteries. It is reported that this aluminum battery has the advantages of high efficiency and durability, low flammability, low cost, and fast charging, and can become a safe alternative to conventional batteries.
In May 2021, the University of Queensland in Australia developed a new graphene-aluminum battery that can be charged faster and more sustainably than conventional lithium-ion batteries, and has a longer lifespan than current lithium-ion batteries. 3 times longer life. Benefiting from higher energy density, it charges 70 times faster.
However, the performance claims of previous aluminum-ion batteries are not as exaggerated as this time. On December 7, the news spread in the domestic capital market, and some investors even asked the listed company related questions. For example, *ST Hemei, an investor asked on December 7: "The company signed an aluminum-ion battery cooperation agreement with Stanford University in 2015. I wonder if there are follow-up progress and research and development results?"
From December 7th to December 8th, many listed companies such as Zhenyu Technology, DFD, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Jiangte Electric, my country Baoan, Ningde Times, Nebula, Yunlu, and GEM have invested in The audience asked questions, trying to understand the situation related to aluminum-ion batteries, which shows how hot the market is.
In terms of the capital market, the stock price of my country's aluminum industry has bottomed out recently, rising by 10.02%, 6.07%, and 2.54% on December 6, December 7, and December 8, respectively. As of December 8, the market value has closed. Over one hundred billion.
In contrast, the Ningde era fell by 4.33% and 4.30% on December 6 and December 7, respectively, and rebounded on December 8, with an increase of 1.59%; Guoxuan Hi-Tech fell on December 6 and December 10. They fell by 4.81% and 4.95% respectively on February 7, and rebounded slightly on December 8, with an increase of 1.88%.
Regarding the future of lithium-ion batteries, Wang Guanlin, Marketing Director of True Lithium Research, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter: "From the layout of the industry chain, (lithium-ion batteries) have been very perfect, and the high, middle and low end of each link are fully satisfied. From a technical point of view, it is also constantly creating the ultimate performance of each material, and derives products that are more in line with the needs. From the perspective of capital investment, they also like this mature product very much. As long as the market demand continues to explode, capital will continue to pour in. , to help the development of the industry. Currently, it is only necessary to upgrade all manufacturing and production links to achieve carbon emissions in each link. Therefore, it is still relatively difficult to replace lithium batteries.”
