Lithium battery light vehicles are divided by type, mainly including electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, mopeds, and E-bike. Except for the South Asian and Chinese markets, electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, and mopeds are the main types. The European market, North America The market and Japan and South Korea markets are mainly based on E-bike mopeds.
In addition, lithium electric scooters have become popular in the European market.
Types of light vehicles and main markets
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Data source: Gaogong Industry Research Lithium Battery Research Institute (GGII), June 2019
According to data from the GGII lithium battery research institute (GGII), China's shipment of lithium batteries for the light vehicle sector reached 2835MWh in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 57.4%.
Lithium battery shipments are expected to reach 4515MWh by 2019, 2.5 times that of 2017. The increase in growth in 2018 ~ 2019 is partly due to the increase in the demand for lithium batteries brought by policies and shared bicycles for electric bicycles in the field of light vehicles, and partly due to the severe situation of electric vehicle power batteries in 2018. Power battery companies use part of their production capacity for the production of lithium batteries for bicycles, such as Xingheng, Tianneng, Zhuoneng, and Yiwei Lithium.
Shipment and forecast of lithium batteries for bicycles in China from 2015 to 2022 (MWh,%)
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Data source: Gaogong Industry Research Lithium Battery Research Institute (GGII), June 2019
China's light vehicle lithium battery companies have undergone significant changes. The concentration of the top two markets in 2018 has increased significantly, and the total sales volume of the top two accounts for 52.1% of the market.
The traditional lead-acid electric light vehicle battery giant Tianneng relies on innate advantages such as customer channels and after-sales service networks to actively seize market share and achieve good results. Its share has increased significantly. It is the fastest-growing company in electric bicycle lithium batteries in the past two years. Relying on the two-way development of domestic sales and exports, Suzhou Xingheng's sales increased significantly in 2018, with a year-on-year growth of more than 100%. Under the premise of favorable domestic market in 2019, it will transform from the previous main export market to export and domestic sales. While Tianneng mainly focuses on the domestic market and basically does not export.
China's light vehicle lithium battery shipments ranked in the top five in 2018
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Data source: Lithium Battery Research Institute (GGII)
From the perspective of the industry development cycle, in the current electric light vehicle market, the peak era of lead-acid battery light vehicles has passed. The market has entered a recession period, and sales have begun to gradually decline, while lithium battery light vehicles are now in a period of rapid growth The demand is increasing year by year.
From the perspective of the demand for lithium batteries, with the continuous improvement of lithium battery technology, the cost has decreased year by year. At present, the demand for lithium battery modules used in electric light vehicles is gradually increasing. Starting in 2019, China's light vehicle lithium batteries will continue to grow rapidly. The main growth drivers are:
1) With the establishment and implementation of the new national standard in the field of electric light vehicles, overall high-speed growth will most likely be realized in the short term. Overall, energy saving and environmental protection are also the development direction of electric light vehicles. It is the general trend for lithium battery electric light vehicles to replace the current lead-acid battery electric light vehicles. The future exploitation of lithium battery market opportunities for light vehicles depends on the development speed of electric light vehicles and the release of market capacity.
2) Compared with traditional lead-acid batteries, lithium batteries have three major advantages: one is lightweight; the other is environmental protection. In contrast, the production process of lithium batteries is more environmentally friendly and energy-saving than lead-acid batteries. The third is the overall performance of lithium batteries, such as cruising range and service life are much higher than lead-acid batteries. At present, the main factor restricting the development of lithium batteries in the field of electric light vehicles is still the price. The price of lithium batteries is about more than double that of lead-acid batteries. In the future, as the price of lithium batteries continues to decline, it will gradually approach lead-acid batteries. Lead acid will accelerate.
3) The increasing demand in overseas markets, the overall economic strength of Southeast Asian countries is weak, and the per capita consumption ability is poor, which cannot be widely popularized in automobiles. Electric motorcycles are its main mode of travel. In 2018, the Indian market sold about 24 million two-wheelers The penetration rate of lithium battery light vehicles is less than 1%, and the development potential of lithium battery light vehicles is huge.
