Large-scale fixed increase plans are frequent, and the expansion of lithium battery industry is "winding"
Enjie recently announced a 12.8 billion yuan fixed increase plan, which once again aroused the market's attention to the expansion of the lithium battery industry. According to the incomplete statistics of reporters from my country Securities Journal, since 2021, the total amount of funds raised by the listed lithium battery companies in the fixed increase plan plans to raise nearly 136 billion yuan. As the production and sales of new energy vehicles continue to increase rapidly and the penetration rate continues to increase, companies in the industry chain have accelerated the pace of production expansion.
More than 30 companies plan to raise capital to expand production
Recently, there have been frequent cases of large-scale fundraising in the lithium battery industry chain, including 45 billion yuan from CATL, 12.8 billion yuan from Enjie, 4.9 billion yuan from Jiayuan Technology, and 6 billion yuan from Xingyuan Materials. A reporter from my country Securities Journal found that since 2021, 31 listed companies in the lithium battery industry have announced fixed increase plans. Fundraising is mainly used to expand production, new technology research and development, etc., involving lithium battery cathodes, anodes, electrolytes and other links.
According to the announcement, Ningde Times plans to raise 45 billion yuan for the Fuding Times lithium-ion battery production base project, the first phase of the Guangdong Ruiqing Times lithium-ion battery production project, and the Jiangsu Times Power and energy storage lithium-ion battery R&D and production projects ( Phase IV), Ningde Jiaocheng Times Lithium-ion Power Lithium-ion Battery Production Base Project, part of the funds are used for the research and development of advanced technologies such as sodium-ion batteries.
Enjie plans to raise funds for Chongqing Enjie high-performance lithium-ion battery microporous diaphragm project, Jiangsu Enjie power vehicle lithium-ion battery diaphragm industrialization project, Jiangsu Ruijie power vehicle lithium-ion battery aluminum-plastic film industrialization project, Suzhou Jieli has an annual production capacity of 200 million square meters of lithium-ion battery coated separators and supplements working capital.
In addition, German Nano plans to raise no more than 3.2 billion yuan to build a new phosphate-based cathode material production base project with an annual output of 110,000 tons, and to supplement working capital. Zhongke Electric plans to raise no more than 2.206 billion yuan for the production base project of Hunan Zhongke Xingcheng Graphite Co., Ltd. with an annual output of 50,000 tons of lithium-ion battery anode materials, an annual output of 30,000 tons of lithium-ion battery anode materials and 45,000 tons of graphite Chemical processing construction projects.
As an important raw material for the production of power lithium-ion batteries, the price of lithium resources has been rising recently. According to data from Asian Metal, as of October 2021, the mid-point CIF price of 6% lithium concentrate was US$1,241/ton, up 197% from US$418/ton in January.
In order to strengthen the control of lithium resources, Tibet Everest plans to raise 8 billion yuan for the construction project of Lithium Potassium Argentina Co., Ltd. with an annual output of 50,000 tons of lithium carbonate salt lake, and the 6 million-ton mine of Tazhong Mining Co., Ltd. Mining and selection/year reconstruction and expansion project, Lithium Salt Lake resource exploration project of Argentina Tossa Co., Ltd.
Soochow Securities said that the acceleration of production expansion in the CATL era will lead the new cycle of industry expansion. Power lithium-ion batteries and leaders in the electric vehicle industry are locking up upstream and downstream resources in different ways. Among them, there are relatively few competitors in the equipment field, with a scarcity valuation premium.
The penetration rate of new energy vehicles has increased
The my country Association of Automobile Manufacturers recently pointed out that, driven by a series of policies to promote consumption, superimposed the cost performance of new energy vehicles and the further improvement of market awareness, my country's new energy vehicle industry has shown explosive growth since 2021, with sales from January to October year-on-year. It increased by 182.13% to 2.542 million vehicles, and the penetration rate increased significantly by 7.55 percentage points year-on-year to 12.12%.
Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Group, said recently that the sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland is expected to exceed 3.3 million in 2021, and the penetration rate will exceed 35% by the end of next year.
The rapid increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has greatly increased the demand for installed capacity of power lithium-ion batteries. According to the statistics of GGII, in the first three quarters of 2021, the installed capacity of power lithium-ion batteries in my country increased by 152% year-on-year to 82.42GWh.
At the same time, overseas markets accelerated the pace of promotion of new energy vehicles. According to media reports, in the next decade, the UK will significantly expand the electric vehicle charging network, aiming to achieve the goal of banning the sale of new fuel vehicles by 2030. From 2022, the UK government will require charging points to be installed when renovating homes or building new buildings. The United States will invest $39 billion to improve and update its public transportation infrastructure, including the introduction of zero-emission buses, and $7.5 billion to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
CDB Securities said that the increase in the global penetration rate of new energy vehicles is the general trend, and power lithium-ion battery companies have a strong willingness to expand production, which will continue to benefit the lithium battery equipment industry.
Strengthening Technological Innovation and Improving Product Quality
The intensive and large-scale increase of companies in the lithium battery industry has aroused the attention of relevant departments.
CATL completed a fixed increase of 19.7 billion yuan in 2020, and plans to raise 58.2 billion yuan by fixed increase in 2021. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange sent an inquiry letter to it on September 30.
On October 18, CATL replied that the company did not have excessive financing. Since 2020, the company plans to invest about 110 billion yuan in construction capital for the battery production base project. Funds raised in the previous round have been basically used up, and the unused portion is relatively low. However, Ningde Times adjusted the fixed increase plan, and lowered the total amount of funds to be raised from no more than 58.2 billion yuan to no more than 45 billion yuan.
In addition, in order to further strengthen the management of the lithium-ion battery industry, promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry and technological progress, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on the website "Lithium-ion Battery Industry Standard Conditions (2021 Edition)" (draft for comments) on November 18 to guide the company Reduce manufacturing projects that simply expand output, strengthen technological innovation, improve product quality, and reduce production costs. In terms of product performance, according to the above-mentioned draft, power batteries are divided into energy type and power type. The energy density of energy type batteries is not less than 180Wh/kg, and the energy density of battery packs is not less than 120Wh/kg.
According to the analysis of Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network, ternary material batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries occupy the mainstream of the power lithium-ion battery market. Among them, the single energy density of ternary batteries is generally 180Wh-220Wh/kg, and the cycle life is 1500-2000 times. The mainstream manufacturers in the industry can achieve the above goals. However, the general single energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries is only 160Wh-180Wh/kg. Some manufacturers optimize the structure of the battery pack to greatly improve the volume utilization rate of the battery pack, which can make the battery pack reach 140Wh-160Wh/kg. .
Everbright Securities said that the industrial threshold for lithium iron phosphate batteries has been significantly increased, and the expansion of low-end production will be inhibited. The high-tech standard lithium iron phosphate battery products launched by leading battery manufacturers are easier to promote to the market, meet the needs of more application scenarios, and further increase market share and profitability.
