Five years ago, when the domestic new energy vehicle market was in full swing, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology formulated the "Specifications and Conditions for Automotive Power Battery Industry", and the "white list" of power batteries was born, which provided growth space for local enterprises and made Japanese and Korean battery giants such as LG Chemical "cool for a while". However, don't underestimate the strength of your competitors at any time, especially LG Chem.
In the eyes of many post-80s generation, Japan's Panasonic battery is a symbol of "luxury package". The generation with the most exposure to electric toys will naturally be fascinated by Panasonic. Nowadays, when this generation chooses electric cars, they can't help asking, "Is the battery still the best in Panasonic?"
Looking at the installed capacity of batteries in July alone, Panasonic ranked third in market share 13%, followed by Samsung SDI(7.3%), BYD (5.6%) and SK Innovation (4.5%). The top two are LG Chem (26.8%) and Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. (25.4%). Previously, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. made great strides in the new energy vehicle market in China, and occupied the monthly championship for a long time.
It is worth noting that from June 5438 to July this year, the total shipments of power batteries of three Korean companies (LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation) accounted for 35.6% of the global market, more than doubling year-on-year. LG Chem1-July cumulative installed capacity 13.4GWh, up 97.4% year-on-year. This is the current pattern, breaking the cognition of many people!
■? It belongs to the special label of LG Chemical.
It may be a bit narrow to judge the strength of a power battery enterprise only from market share. LG Chem's global counterattack in 2020 stems from its special label.
In fact, batteries are just one of the four major businesses of LG Chem. There are also departments of petrochemical engineering, cutting-edge materials related to IT and automobiles, and life sciences related to medical aesthetics and medical reagents.
Insert a beautiful chestnut. YVOIRE Ewoir hyaluronic acid developed by LG Chemical Life Sciences Department is not exclusive to Koreans. This product has been sold in more than 30 countries around the world, and its annual sales in China have already exceeded 50 billion won (about 290 million RMB), and the spokesperson of this product is Korean actor Han Caiying. Other businesses of LG Chem also have a broad market in the world.
"Four business areas of LG Chem"
Regarding the layout of battery business, LG Chemical is quite rich, including battery basic materials, mobile batteries, power batteries and energy storage batteries. However, the history of battery development of LG Chem, like many local parts companies in China, has also experienced the stage of being despised. During the period of 1996, LG Chem only had corrosion professionals and experienced personnel of Ni-MH batteries. At that time, I tried to cooperate with Japanese companies in technology, but I was rejected. Without equipment and material reserves, we can only acquire relevant equipment knowledge indirectly. 1997, LG Chem successfully trial-produced a small battery for mobile computers. 1999, South Korea's first lithium-ion battery was successfully mass-produced in LG Chem.
At that time, faced with global electronics companies such as Sony and Sanyo, it was difficult for LG Chem's battery business to reach the expected profit level. As a result, the battery business is in crisis. When the business structure adjustment was hesitant, LG Chem chose to open a firm road of 10 battery investment. After 2000, LG Chem officially entered the field of electric vehicles, and the first stop was American GM.
In 2006, LG Chem participated in the general electric vehicle project, but the sample submitted was unsuccessful. In 2007, General Motors officially launched the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle project. This time, LG Chem came to a dead end. After a year of joint development, the final battery scheme was established. In 20 10, LG Chem became the only supplier of mass-produced volt batteries for electric vehicles.
As a result, LG Chem's automotive power battery business officially started.
In 20 19, LG Chem's sales reached US$ 24.5 billion (about RMB167.2 billion), including US$ 7.2 billion (about RMB 49 billion) in the battery department. In the first half of 2020, even under the influence of the epidemic, the battery business of LG Chem still exceeded RMB 654.38+66 billion, among which the automobile battery business reached a record high.
In fact, the global layout of LG Chem is still radical, with seven production bases in China, South Korea, the United States and Europe.
In Nanjing, China, LG Chem built its first power battery factory (Xinjiang Development Zone) on 20 15; In 2065438+2008, we invested 2 billion US dollars (about 137 billion RMB) to rebuild the factory (Binjiang Development Zone), and planned to build 23 electrode and battery production lines; In 20 19, it invested10.2 trillion won (about 7.3 billion yuan) to expand the factory in Xinjiang Development Zone.
In Poland, LG Chem built a battery factory in 20 15, and invested another 500 million euros (about 3.9 billion RMB) in 20 18 to increase the production capacity to 70GWh, which can meet the battery demand of 300,000 electric vehicles in the future. In the United States, LG Chem 20 10 invested in the first factory; In 20 19, a new factory was jointly built with GM to ensure the production capacity of 30Gwh. In Indonesia, LG Chem is also conducting preliminary research, and plans to invest 2.3 billion US dollars (about 654.38+62 million yuan) to build a comprehensive battery factory.
By the beginning of this year, there were 2.7 million electric vehicles loaded with LG chemical batteries. The global automobile battery production capacity of LG Chem has reached 70GWh, and it can reach 100GWh by the end of this year.
■? Four Keys to Counter the Global Battery Market
The "ambition" of LG Chem should not be underestimated.
2065438+June 5, 2009, 165438+2009, Xin Xuezhe, CEO of LG Chem, emphasized a sentence when he visited the battery business partners, "The battery market is dominated by' materials, equipment and design'." The obscure meaning is that if you want to dominate the world battery market, you must take the lead in an all-round way and cooperate with each other in raw materials, battery spare parts and production facilities that determine performance.
Driven by "ambition", the first key for LG Chem to attack the global market is cutting-edge materials and technology.
At present, LG Chem, the market-leading battery technology, has almost tested the water, and it is carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that really pay for it. LG Chem has been involved in the research of this technology since 20 1 1 and regarded it as the most ideal material for batteries. As a cathode conductive material, carbon nanotubes have a higher conductivity than conventional carbon black 10%. In the future, the market demand will increase at an annual rate of 34%. LG Chem plans to increase the total production capacity of this material to 65,438+0,700 tons. In terms of cathode materials, LG Chem will increase its independent production capacity to 35% in the future, compared with only 20% at present.
At the same time, LG Chem is not engaged in research and development, and cooperation with start-ups is one of the main ideas of "technology expansion". ? April 20 19, by LG chemical (The? Batteries? Challenge) ushered in the "pitch? Day "(refers to the startup companies releasing representative technologies and business strategies and attracting investment), 65,438+029 startup companies from 27 countries participated in the competition, and finally five startup companies with commercialization potential of innovative technologies were selected as award-winning teams. A new generation of lithium metal batteries and battery control systems, and even the idea of combining big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning into battery research and development, have emerged in this challenge.
"LG Chem's Battery Challenge"
The second key is ecological mutual assistance. LG Chem provides the battery pack case manufacturers and battery production equipment suppliers with the investment expenses needed for developing new products and industrialization, and also provides the initial resettlement funds and information support needed for these enterprises to go out of Korea. From 2065438 to April 2009, LG Chem established an "Innovation Growth Fund" with a scale of about 43.2 billion won (about 250 million yuan). In other words, companies that have passed LG Chemical's audit and been selected can get a lot of financial support without paying interest. It is reported that Dongxin, the protective shell enterprise at the top of the battery pack? Motech followed LG Chem into China and Europe.
Xin Xuezhe, CEO of LG Chem, inspected the battery pack shell manufacturer.
The third key is to stabilize the supply position with "joint venture". At present, LG Chem provides batteries for 65,438+03 brands among the top 20 automakers in the world, including Volkswagen, Renault, Volvo, GM and Hyundai, as well as the US "Lucid? Start-up auto companies like auto companies will have orders of 150 trillion won (about 870 billion yuan) in the next five years.
"awake? Motor]
In LG Chem's view, joint venture with vehicle companies is the best way to stably supply high-quality batteries and reduce the risk of large-scale investment in the battery field. 2065438+June 2009, LG Chem and Shanghai Huapu Guorun, a subsidiary of Geely Automobile, established a joint venture company, mainly engaged in the production and sales of electric vehicle batteries to ensure a large and stable supply; 20 19, 12, LG Chem and General Motors set up a new battery joint venture company for electric vehicles in the United States. The products will be applied to the future electric vehicle products launched by GM, including the pure electric truck planned to be released in the autumn of 20021.
"GM CEO mary barra and LG Chem CEO Xin Xuezhe attended the joint venture ceremony."
The fourth key is not to be stingy with any financing opportunities. From the outside world, LG Chem seems to be heavily in debt, and most of the financing is in battery projects. 20 19 July, LG Chem released a new five-year plan, which raised the sales forecast in 2024 from 28.2 trillion won (about 162 billion RMB) to 59.5 trillion won (about 343 billion RMB), of which the power battery reached 316 trillion won (about/kloc) Such high expectations must be supported by greater production capacity.
From 2065438 to March 2009, LG Chem issued one trillion won (about 5.8 billion RMB) of corporate bonds for the company's infrastructure construction such as expanding production capacity and meeting the demand for battery orders. In April, LG Chem issued a global green bond of USD 6543.8+RMB 56 million (about RMB 6543.8+RMB 50 million) to meet the demand of electric vehicle batteries. The introduction of these funds will promote the structural upgrading of LG chemical industry.
In 2020, LG Chem released a brand-new vision-"connecting science and life to create a better future". Compared with the previous vision of "a global leading enterprise growing together with customers with innovative materials and solutions" (put forward in 2006), it is more in line with the characteristics of the new era. Xin Xuezhe believes that "LG Chem needs to integrate digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, innovate business models, integrate with completely different fields, and create value that exceeds customers' expectations."
This is LG Chem, which has completed the "encirclement" of the global market while we are still celebrating the successful breakthrough and sea layout of domestic battery enterprises. In June last year, the cancellation of the "white list" of domestic batteries meant that foreign battery companies including LG Chem would return to the domestic market. Are we ready when full market competition really comes? (Text/car home? Liu Honglong)