The world's first cobalt-free battery has formally realized mass production

2021-07-16

On July 16, SVOLT held a mass production ceremony for the first cobalt-free battery in Jiangsu Province. This means that the world's first cobalt-free battery has come out of the laboratory and formally realized mass production, making SVOLT the first battery company in the world to break through the technical difficulties of cobalt-free battery and successfully achieve mass production.

It is understood that the cobalt-free battery in mass production is a product with energy density of 240wh/kg and capacity of 115Ah-MEB. The company's technical personnel told reporters that this battery has the core advantages of high safety, high energy density, high cycle life and low cost. Compared with other high nickel NCM batteries in the same class, the cycle life of this cobalt-free battery can reach more than 3,000 times, and it can easily pass the hot box test of 150℃ and the overcharge test of 140% SOC, and has many standard certifications such as GB/IEC62660/UL2580/UN38.3.

It is reported that in the latest model announcement by the State Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, SVOLT’s cobalt-free battery has appeared in the information of a pure electric model called Cherry Cat of Great Wall ORA.

Pragmatic Research and Development to break the monopoly of basic material innovation

As we all know, the key to improving battery performance lies in material system innovation. However, for a long time, the basic innovation and core patents of battery materials are held in the hands of Europe, America and Japan and South Korea, although China's lithium industry leads the world in terms of scale and volume, but the basic materials innovation has long been in a backward state.

In this regard, Yang Hongxin, Chairman & CEO of SVOLT, said that China urgently needs some original innovation, because the market competition is now about patents. If we focus on the traditional polycrystalline cobalt-free patent, the patent is also in the United States. But the cobalt-free product we developed by ourselves is called single-crystal laminate structure cobalt-free, which breaks through the patent of the United States.

It is understood that SVOLT started to invest in the research and development of cobalt-free battery as early as 2018. In September 2020, SVOLT announced two major product platforms of cobalt-free battery at the Beijing Auto Show. On the Battery Day last December, SVOLT announced that cobalt-free battery was officially started to accept for global reservation. On April 8 this year, the mass production of cobalt-free cathode materials in SVOLT's Changzhou factory was launched today, the first product of cobalt-free battery was officially launched in mass production. From the research and development to the implementation of cobalt-free battery, SVOLT kept both feet on the ground and has brought the dream into reality.

According to industry analysis, SVOLT's cobalt-free battery has broken the technology monopoly of Europe, America, Japan and Korea with its basic original innovation. In the next few years, relying on the innovation of the head enterprises, China will have the strength to fight head-on with international rivals in the battery bottom patent.

Achieve mass production to solve the industry's dependence on cobalt resources

The "de-cobaltization" of battery has become a global industry consensus. Industry research institutions point out that the current found global cobalt resource reserves are only 7.1 million tons. Under the rapid development of global electrification, the scarcity of cobalt resources will seriously threaten the supply chain security of electric vehicles. Cobalt-free technology allows the industry to get rid of the risks of high price, scarce resources and constraints of cobalt, and helps the global battery industry to get rid of its long-term dependence on cobalt resources, and also helps to significantly reduce the cost of battery.

It is understood that in the market application, the cobalt-free battery, which has been mass produced, has already appeared in the announcement of a vehicle model called Cherry Cat of Great Wall ORA, and has already obtained two purchase orders from external market customers. An international tier 1 customer is also in close contact with SVOLT.

In terms of production capacity, SVOLT is actively promoting the expansion of cobalt-free battery production. According to the plan, the cobalt-free battery will be rolled out in large quantities at its Ma’anshan manufacturing base before the end of the year.