China's lithium battery industry chain lays out the European market

The layout of China's lithium battery industry chain in the European market has become an inevitable trend. At present, a group of internationally competitive batteries, materials, equipment and other Chinese lithium battery companies have established factories in Europe to provide nearby supporting facilities for their international customers.

The demand for equipment procurement released by the European power battery expansion competition provides a good development opportunity for Chinese lithium battery equipment companies.

Foreign media reported that German equipment manufacturer Manz AG has once again won an order from TE Connectivity, an international auto parts company, to provide it with a power battery PACK assembly line.

Prior to this, Manz also received power battery equipment orders from German battery system manufacturer Akasol, French battery manufacturer Saft, Slovak start-up battery company InoBat Auto, and many European OEMs.

Behind Manz’s successive orders for equipment from European battery companies and OEMs is the acceleration of European electrification. The European Union is accelerating the construction of local power battery supply chains, getting rid of its dependence on Asian batteries, and achieving self-sufficiency and even export of power batteries.

In recent years, the European Union has invested heavily in supporting the local power battery industry. In Europe, many local power battery companies such as Sweden's Northvolt, France's Verkor, Norway's Freyr, Norway's Morrow, Italy's Italvolt, and Slovakia's InoBat Auto have been born to build battery production capacity on a large scale.

As an important part of the local supply chain, local European equipment companies represented by Manz have gained market opportunities in this wave of European battery infrastructure and provide smart manufacturing solutions for local battery projects.

At present, battery companies in China, Japan and South Korea, including Samsung SDI, LG Chem, SKI, CATL, Honeycomb Energy, and Panasonic, as well as European start-up battery companies and OEMs, are all accelerating the production capacity of European battery factories, thereby releasing huge power batteries Production equipment procurement requirements.

Under this circumstance, a group of Chinese lithium battery equipment companies with core competitiveness have also gone out of the country to provide nearby supporting services for their major customers’ European factories, and are expected to take this opportunity to enter the supply chain system of Japanese, Korean and European battery companies in Europe .

Wu Juan, general manager of Haoneng Technology, told Gaogong Lithium that Haoneng is accelerating the landing of its German subsidiary and is currently negotiating with a number of European customers on technical solutions to provide European customers with nearby supporting services and enhance Haoneng’s international competition. force.

In March 2020, Keheng Co., Ltd. (300340) issued an announcement stating that Haoneng Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, has recently received an equipment purchase order from Ningde Times (300750). The latter will purchase a total of 20 Haoneng Technology’s "Slitting machine" is used in its German production base.

At present, the lithium battery equipment produced by Haoneng Technology for the German factory of CATL has been shipped successively, which laid the foundation for the supply of other European battery customers in the later period.

It is reported that the mid- and late-stage power battery production line equipment of CATL's German base has completed bidding and entered the site for installation, and it is expected to be put into production within the year.

Under this circumstance, the manufacturing core station segments include Hymson, Han's Laser, Haoneng Technology, Pioneer Intelligence, Xinjiatuo, Yinghe Technology, Leiyu Technology, Times Hi-Tech, Liyuanheng, Zhuhai Titan, Hangke A large number of domestic lithium battery equipment companies such as Technology and Yuchen Automation are also expected to benefit.

The above-mentioned Chinese equipment companies may use the supporting experience of the German base of CATL to enter the supply chain of the European battery industry in the later stage.

Industry insiders pointed out that with the rapid rise of domestic lithium battery equipment and the demand for international market competition, Chinese lithium battery equipment companies are expected to seize this wave of European power battery investment and construction opportunities to achieve a leap-forward transformation from import substitution to export.

On the one hand, after years of development, the performance of domestic lithium battery equipment is not inferior to those imported from Japan and South Korea, and it is even in a leading position in some areas. At present, it has realized a large-scale substitution of imports in domestic power battery manufacturing and began to export, laying the foundation for domestic equipment to enter the supply chain of European and American battery companies and OEMs.

On the other hand, the new European power battery infrastructure will put forward high-efficiency and stable production and delivery requirements for the field of lithium battery equipment. Compared with Japanese and South Korean companies, China's leading lithium battery equipment companies currently have faster and more stable delivery capabilities, and will become an important choice for European battery companies to speed up the release of production capacity.

Generally speaking, the layout of China's lithium battery industry chain in the European market has become an inevitable trend. At present, a group of internationally competitive batteries, materials, equipment and other Chinese lithium battery companies have established factories in Europe to provide nearby supporting facilities for their international customers.

It is expected that there will be more Chinese lithium battery companies going overseas to compete with Japanese and Korean companies.

It is worth noting that domestic lithium battery equipment companies are also facing multiple pressures and challenges when entering the European market.

"European battery factories have particularly high requirements for the automation and intelligence of production line equipment, and they need to pass CE certification and must meet European standards." A senior Chinese lithium battery equipment company told Gaogong Li Battery that European battery customers have some production lines. The design concept of the process is different from that in China, and there will be some difficulties, so the domestic production line cannot be copied completely.

In addition to different production line design requirements and the need to meet European standards, European customers may implement more stringent equipment performance verification or parameter requirements.

This requires Chinese lithium battery equipment companies to fully guarantee product performance and avoid the cost of long-term after-sales maintenance due to equipment failure in the later period.

At the same time, if Chinese lithium battery equipment companies want to compete in the European market, they must also attach great importance to the construction of product patents, intellectual property rights, laws and regulations, personnel training, supply chain management, etc., and have core competitiveness and large-scale delivery capabilities.