As the world has been controlling carbon emissions in recent years, more and more people choose Electric cars. The rising sales of Electric cars by companies such as Tesla have driven the price of lithium batteries to rise. And battery aluminum foil is an indispensable part of lithium battery modules, and the demand for battery aluminum foil is also increasing year by year. Aluminum foil has excellent performance such as light weight, excellent corrosion resistance, good electrical conductivity, and easy processing.
So how will battery aluminum foil develop in the future? Through the research on the supply and demand data of battery aluminum foil in China, this article tells you that in the years after 2022, the demand for battery aluminum foil will continue to rise or gradually slow down.
Market status and forecast of battery aluminum foil
The aluminum foil for the current collector (battery aluminum foil) is mainly made of 1060 aluminum foil, 1070 aluminum foil, 1100 aluminum foil, 1235 aluminum foil, and 3003 aluminum. In the future, aluminum foil will become thinner and thinner, and even 0.006mm aluminum foil products can be manufactured.
Battery aluminum foil has high technical requirements. In China, most aluminum foil suppliers produce aluminum foil for relatively low-end lithium-ion batteries. Only a few aluminum foil suppliers can provide high-quality battery aluminum foil.
In 2018, China’s battery aluminum foil production was 50kt, and it reached 60kt in 2019, an increase of 20%. At that time, there were relatively few lithium battery aluminum foil manufacturers in China, mainly including Hangzhou Wuxing, North China Aluminum, Ruyuan Dongguang, Chinalco Aluminum Foil, Xiashun Aluminum Foil, Yunnan Aluminum, and other suppliers; foreign countries were mainly concentrated in Japan, Japanese Toyo Aluminium and Hitachi Metals, etc.
With the rapid development of the electronics industry and the electric vehicle industry, the demand for lithium batteries is increasing year by year. In 2019, only in China, the lithium battery market output reached 148.0GWh, with an average growth rate of 33.1% from 2015 to 2019, accounting for the global output. Up to 65.8%, has become the world’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer. Following this, the demand for matching battery aluminum foil is increasing. At present, the aluminum foil for a 1GWh lithium battery is 0.4kt ~ 0.8kt. In 2019, the aluminum foil used for lithium battery current collectors in China is more than 94.6kt.
Demand for aluminum foil for power lithium batteries
From the perspective of China’s lithium battery application market, thanks to the strong support of China’s policies for the new energy vehicle industry, China’s new energy vehicle production increased by an average of 38.2% annually from 2015 to 2019, reaching 1.242 million in 2019. 14.8 times in 2014. Driven by the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, power lithium batteries have developed rapidly. From 2015 to 2019, China’s power lithium battery market maintained rapid growth. During the period, China’s power battery market output increased by 31.7% annually, reaching 85.4GWh, becoming the proportion of The largest segment, the demand for aluminum foil is about 51.3kt.
Demand for Aluminum Foil for Consumer Lithium Batteries
Consumer electronics battery application scenarios mainly include mobile phones, notebooks, tablet computers, mobile power supplies, etc. In 2019, China’s computer, communications, and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry revenue exceeded 11 trillion yuan, driving overall growth The consumer lithium battery market was stable, and the output increased year on year. With an increase of 2.9% to 56.2GWh (Figure 3), the demand for aluminum foil is about 39.4kt.
2020 is the first year of 5G, and the advancement of 5G technology will promote the development of the mobile phone, tablet, and wearable market and boost the development of consumer lithium battery sales. By 2025, high-end digital soft pack batteries, flexible batteries, high-rate batteries, etc. will be driven by high-end smartphones, wearable devices, drones, and other fields, and become the main growth point of the digital battery market. It is conservatively estimated that by 2025, the demand for lithium batteries in China’s consumer sector will be about 60.0GWh, and the demand for aluminum foil will be about 42.0kt.
Demand for aluminum foil for energy storage lithium batteries
Among the various energy storage technologies at present, lithium battery energy storage is the most feasible technical route in the development of energy storage products. Compared with lead-acid batteries, lithium batteries have 15 to 30 times the cycle life, 2 to 3 times the energy density, 30% to 50% higher energy conversion efficiency, and a greater operating temperature range than lead-acid batteries. In 2019, China’s energy storage battery output reached 6.4GWh, a year-on-year increase of 39.1%, and the demand for aluminum foil was about 3.9kt.
Market Status and Forecast of Aluminum Foil for Aluminum Plastic Film
The aluminum foil for flexible packaging battery aluminum-plastic film is mainly made of 8021 alloys, and the thickness specification is 0.035mm to 0.045mm. The future direction of this aluminum foil in the market is to improve mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and surface quality.
With the popularity of smartphones, new energy vehicles, and tablet computers, soft pack batteries have developed rapidly. Because of their good ductility and high energy density, they are gradually applied to new energy vehicles, energy storage, and other fields. In 2019, the scale of China’s soft pack battery market reached 47.4GWh, of which the utilization rate of soft packs in the digital field is over 65%, and the utilization rate in the power and energy storage fields is about 12%. Therefore, the demand for aluminum foil is about 23.8kt.
Soft pack batteries constitute the main source of downstream demand for aluminum-plastic films. Generally speaking, the smaller the battery volume, the greater the amount of aluminum-plastic film per battery capacity. The digital aluminum foil of the 1GWh soft-pack lithium battery aluminum-plastic film is 0.5kt to 0.7kt, and the power type is 0.1kt to 0.2kt.
At present, the demand for 3C consumer batteries has slowed down, but the demand for aluminum-plastic film inventory is still huge. With the increase in the proportion of pure electric vehicles and consumers’ increasing requirements for battery life, it is expected that the number of bicycle batteries will increase year by year. Superimposed on the rapid growth of new energy vehicles, the demand for power batteries will increase rapidly, forming a strong demand for aluminum-plastic films. support.
By 2025, the “specific energy” of my country’s new energy vehicle power battery system will reach 350Wh/kg. Based on this, many lithium battery companies have begun to develop soft pack batteries. It is estimated that by 2025, the market size of soft pack batteries will reach 158.3GWh, and the demand for aluminum foil will reach 45.0kt.
Will the demand for battery aluminum foil continue to expand in China?
To sum up, thanks to the drive of emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, consumer electronics, and energy storage, China has become the largest producer and consumer of the battery industry. It is estimated that by 2025, China’s domestic demand for lithium batteries will reach 525.0GWh, the amount of aluminum foil for the current collector battery will reach 321.0kt; the soft pack lithium battery will reach 115.0GWh, and the aluminum foil used for the aluminum-plastic film will reach 45.0kt.
China positions new energy vehicles as one of the seven emerging industries, and China has the advantage of a completely new energy vehicle industry chain and pays special attention to the development of new energy, which will open up a new field for the application of aluminum. Not only in China, but now the global consumption potential of lithium battery aluminum foil is very huge, not only the amount is considerable, but also the added value is high. In the next few years, the demand for battery aluminum foil will continue to expand.
CHALL is an aluminum foil, battery aluminum foil supplier in China. CHAL’s aluminum foil can provide matching battery aluminum foil for different batteries and different needs. If you happen to want to buy high-quality aluminum foil, please contact us, we will only provide you with the most suitable solution for you.
