1. The global development pattern of traditional lead-acid batteries
After more than 150 years of development history, traditional lead-acid batteries have created many large-scale international battery companies and multinational groups. Many battery companies have also experienced many restructuring and mergers and acquisitions, forming a complex relationship situation. In terms of production enterprises and production volume, lead-acid battery production is mainly distributed in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, India, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, North Korea and other countries and regions, among which China is the world’s largest battery production volume. And the country with the largest export volume, followed by the United States, Japan and so on. In 2011, there were more than 2,000 large and small battery companies (the state plans to rectify and upgrade the industrial structure, and finally focus on more than 300) before China’s environmental protection rectification, with an annual sales volume of more than 100 billion yuan (RMB) and an annual export volume of about 1.8 billion US dollars.
Traditional lead-acid batteries are widely used, with many models and different designs and performance characteristics. Generally, large companies can basically produce various types of batteries, but each has its own strengths, so some representative technical routes and companies have been formed. The traditional car starter battery technology is earlier, and there are many manufacturers engaged in, such as Johnson Controls (JOHNSONCONTROLS), OPTIMA (OPTIMA), Japan Yuasa (GSYUASA) as typical representatives, China has large-scale enterprises such as Camel, Fengfan, and Wanli. Among them, the winding batteries are represented by OPTIMA, EXIDE, and Jiangsu Shuangdeng (China). Enterprises of sealed valve-regulated batteries for communication and energy storage, such as Exide (EXIDE), ENERSYS (ENERSYS) and other large international enterprise groups in the United States. There are two main technical routes for sealed valve-regulated batteries, tall and thin type and short and fat type; the chunky type is represented by Yuasa in Japan, and in China, there are Wuhan Yintai, China Potevio, Shandong Shengyang and other enterprises. The two types of batteries have their own strengths in performance characteristics. Gel batteries are dominated by German Sunshine, while in China there are companies such as Harbin Coslight and Jiangsu Shuangdeng. And small and medium-sized sealed valve-regulated batteries have formed another huge market in China – electric bicycle batteries, with Zhejiang Tianneng, Chaowei and other enterprises as typical representatives.
2. The global development pattern of super batteries
The super battery technology was jointly invented by Australia’s CSIR0 National Laboratory and Japan’s Furukawa Battery Company, and then licensed to EastPerm in the United States. In addition to these companies, Axion in the United States is also developing products with similar technologies, which have now entered the stage of commercialization verification. In addition to these companies, there are currently no public reports of successful development by other companies around the world.
(1) Based on its traditional advantages in lead-acid battery research and development and manufacturing technology, Japan is a global leader in super battery technology. In addition to Japan’s Furukawa Battery Company, Hitachi’s New Kobe Electric Company has also continuously submitted patent applications for super batteries since 2008.
(2) The United States has invested a lot in the research and development of super batteries in recent years. In addition to the core technology obtained by EastPenn through cooperation with Furukawa, the super battery developed by Axion, a local company in the United States, , and has also been jointly tested and verified with Exide.
(3) China is the largest lead-acid battery manufacturing base in the world. It has great advantages in low-cost manufacturing, but is relatively insufficient in R&D and manufacturing of high-end products. With the successful application of super battery technology in the United States and other places, many domestic manufacturers have also begun to intervene. At present, including Zhejiang Tianneng, Zhejiang Chaowei, Zhejiang Nandu, Wuhan Yintai, Zhejiang Huitong, Jilin Huineng, etc., have already begun to invest in research and development. Among them, Jilin Huineng Company has developed a super battery experimental prototype in 2010, and is currently developing different series of product prototypes.
3. Global development pattern of bipolar lead-acid batteries
Bipolar lead-acid batteries are currently in the stage of technology research and development and trial promotion. Many manufacturers are engaged in their research and development work. At present, only a few manufacturers can produce samples, but they have not been able to produce and promote them on a large scale.
Internationally, companies such as Atraverda, Effpower and AIC master the core technology.
Several major lead-acid battery manufacturers in China, such as Nandu, Fengfan, Shuangdeng, etc., are all carrying out the research and development of bipolar lead-acid batteries, but they have not made breakthroughs yet. Hunan Huiyou New Materials Co., Ltd. is conducting basic research and has developed a 12V/10Ah prototype.
