Battery grade lithium carbonate price repeatedly hit a new high GAC, NIO and other new energy vehicl

Since October, battery grade lithium carbonate prices have been rising. On November 1, the spot price of battery grade lithium carbonate in Wuxi electronic disk has reached 603,000 yuan/ton, a new high.

As the price of battery grade lithium carbonate continues to rise, the price of power batteries also continues to rise. In order to cope with the high cost pressure, recently, GAC, NiO and other car companies have announced battery investment plans to reduce their dependence on battery companies.

Recently, NiO Battery Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd. was established, legal representative for Zeng Shuxiang, Li Bin as the chairman. Media reports said that Li Bin made the battery "insider" frequently encountered overlord terms.

Industry insiders believe that behind the contradictions, reflect the continued rise of lithium price intensifies the lithium industry chain game. Under the background of continuous high economic development of the new energy automobile industry, how to deal with the high cost pressure is very key.

State, the car, a researcher at Wang Xianbin told reporters that the battery products in the cost of new energy automobile products ranging from 30% to 40%, the mainstream car companies in order to grasp the industry's bargaining power, through the "joint venture holding + homemade battery + outsourcing" power battery supply various forms to realize the core parts, homemade battery can keep control of product technology and product innovation, It can also control the bargaining power to some extent, so homemade battery is more important for the head car enterprises with scale advantage.

Battery grade lithium carbonate exceeded 600,000 yuan/ton

Industry insiders introduced to reporters, this month battery grade lithium carbonate price quickly rose to a new high, according to CBC metal net data, on November 1, Wuxi electronic disk battery grade lithium carbonate spot price has reached 603,000 yuan/ton, compared to the previous day up 115 yuan/ton.

In addition, according to the data of Oriental wealth Choice, since the beginning of this year, the price of battery grade lithium carbonate continues to fluctuate, from the beginning of 300,000 yuan/ton rapidly rose to 510,000 yuan/ton high, then in the end of April to the middle of August, slightly down to maintain at 480,000 yuan/ton; From late August, the price started to rise again. In October, the price accelerated from 525,000 yuan/ton on October 8 to 560,000 yuan/ton on October 26, with a price increase of 35,000 yuan per ton in only half a month.

For battery grade lithium carbonate price rise, new energy vehicle industry chain upstream and downstream enterprises have different degrees of feeling.

Hua 'an metal new materials chief analyst Xu Yong Qi told reporters that lithium prices continue to be high or positive upstream resource companies in the fourth quarter performance, but will have a certain impact on downstream enterprises. At present, the short-term price increase of battery grade lithium carbonate is partly influenced by the declining efficiency of lithium salt supply in Qinghai, Xizang and other places in winter, as well as the advance stocking of production demand in winter and other factors. Overall, lithium prices continue to rise mainly due to supply constraints.

At the same time, cathode material manufacturers told reporters that lithium prices continue to rise, to a certain extent to curb demand, now the company is accelerating the development of sodium battery materials.

At the same time, the current lithium battery factory and metal price linkage countermeasures, Ningde times said that the company and most of the power battery customers negotiate to determine the price linkage mechanism, but the gross profit margin is also affected by raw material prices, capacity utilization and other factors.

"With the improvement of supply, the price of basic lithium salt products in the future is expected to run at a high level, or have a small drop space." Zhuo Chuang information analyst Han Minhua told reporters, but the middle and downstream products will continue to be under pressure from the high cost of raw materials, which forms a greater difficulty for the enterprise operation, the middle and downstream link enterprises upward layout of raw materials is an important measure to control costs and stabilize production.

Car manufacturers to find the battery break

As the last link of the new energy vehicle industry chain, the price of battery grade lithium carbonate continues to hit a new high, so that the cost pressure of new energy vehicle enterprises is increasing.

Duan Zhiqiang, founding partner of Wan Venture Capital, also said in an interview that the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate rises by 10,000 yuan per ton, and the price of power batteries will increase by at least 7%.

"Upstream raw material prices rise, power battery enterprises implement raw material price linkage mechanism, increase battery prices, transfer cost pressure to downstream Oems." Shanghai Steel Union new energy Division power battery analyst Wang Xuelei told reporters.

Today, the price of lithium has exceeded 600,000 yuan/ton. Power battery enterprises can raise the price to shift the cost to the downstream. How should new energy vehicle enterprises cope with the rising cost?

Recently, GAC Aean New Energy Vehicle Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "GAC Aean"), which is controlled by GAC Group, announced the formal establishment of Yinpai Battery Technology Co., LTD., with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan. The company is controlled by GAC Aean with a total investment of 10.9 billion yuan. The company will carry out the industrialization construction of self-research and self-production of batteries, as well as the production, manufacturing and sales of independent batteries.

Feng Xingya, chairman of GAC Aeon, has said it will reduce its dependence on battery suppliers by producing its own batteries.

In fact, the "contradiction" between new energy vehicle enterprises and battery factories has a long history. As the cost of upstream raw materials continues to rise, more and more new energy vehicle companies begin to make their own batteries.

Volkswagen has invested about 1.1 billion euros to acquire part of the shares of Guoxen GAocco. Volvo and Northvolt have built a joint venture battery factory. Honeycomb Energy, a subsidiary of Great Wall Motor, has deployed power batteries with multiple chemical systems, including lithium iron phosphate, cobalt-free, ternary and solid state.

"Carmakers need strong capital support and the ability to develop technologies, upgrade processes and iterate products. They need to be prepared for the long term, not just for cost reduction." Beijing Sunshine New Energy president Qi Haishen told reporters, for the strength of the car companies, manufacturing batteries is likely to become a trend. Because batteries are equivalent to the engines of gas-powered cars, carmakers can build them to consolidate their capabilities and escape resource constraints.

Wang Xuelei also believes that the upstream layout of battery manufacturing will also help improve the safety and stability of the supply chain of vehicle enterprises. However, power battery manufacturing is a capital-intensive industry that requires a lot of capital expenditure and is a big test for automakers that have yet to turn a profit.

Source: Securities Daily