When it comes to the core competitiveness of Yinlong New Energy, lithium titanate battery is definitely the core of the core. In fact, the negative electrode material of this power battery has never been widely known by the outside world, and it has only taken one year to be named "Yinlong Titanium". Dong Mingzhu spoke highly of the development prospects of the company and its technology: "Lithium titanate batteries and Yinlong are gold buried in the sand.
Compared with graphite, alloy and silicon carbon composite materials, lithium titanate has many advantages:
First, lithium titanate batteries have a longer service life. In the process of charging and discharging, lithium ions have little effect on the mechanism of lithium titanate materials during the process of intercalation and deintercalation, which is called "zero-strain material". This feature greatly improves the electrode performance and reduces the significant degradation of the battery's specific capacity, thereby extending the battery life. Research data shows that after the lithium titanate battery is charged and discharged for 25,000 cycles, the remaining battery capacity is still more than 80%, which is much higher than the current ternary battery and lithium iron phosphate battery.Also read:oem lifepo4 10kwh manufacturer
Secondly, lithium titanate batteries are safer and more stable in low temperature environments. Due to the chemical properties of its material, it is difficult to form lithium crystals on the surface of lithium titanate within the normal voltage range, which avoids the possibility of short circuits caused by lithium crystals inside the battery. This reduces the risk of thermal runaway of the battery, so that the lithium titanate battery has better high temperature resistance properties and will not explode easily. At the same time, this type of battery also has better performance in low temperature environment. Even in an environment of minus 40 degrees Celsius, lithium titanate batteries can release more than 60% of their capacity.
Finally, lithium titanate batteries charge and discharge faster. The material's chemical diffusion coefficient is an order of magnitude higher than that of carbon anodes, resulting in faster and more cyclic charge-discharge capabilities. Today's Yinlong new energy buses can be filled with more than 90% of their capacity within 5 minutes after being connected to high-current fast-charging charging piles.
Energy density and operating costs become the biggest shortcoming
Although lithium titanate has obvious advantages over other anode materials, its shortcomings are also very prominent. Chen Qingquan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and academician of the Royal Academy of Engineering, once pointed out that the low energy density and high cost of lithium titanate are its most fatal shortcomings.
From the perspective of material structure, the specific capacity of lithium titanate is only 170mAh/g, which is much lower than the 300mAh/g of graphite anode. Therefore, the driving range of a new energy vehicle equipped with a power battery of the same quality using lithium titanate as the negative electrode is only about half of that of another vehicle.
The price factor has also become a stumbling block to block the large-scale application of lithium titanate batteries. Compared with the price of 20,000-60,000 yuan per ton of graphite materials, the price of lithium titanate is as high as 130,000-150,000 yuan per ton.Also read：oem 48v lifepo supplier
Therefore, the current lithium titanate battery can only be used in high-priced buses. In fact, the current main models of Yinlong New Energy are all commercial buses with a height of more than 6 meters.
However, from the point of view of commercial operation, compared with new energy buses equipped with ternary batteries or lithium iron phosphate batteries, the operating costs of Yinlong New Energy's products are much higher. Zhang Ming (pseudonym), an expert who once engaged in energy research in the State Grid, told Yiou Automobile that the main profit point of the current new energy bus is to use the peak-to-valley electricity price difference to charge the vehicle, which uses lithium titanate batteries as energy sources. The new energy bus can not be achieved.
"The average mileage of ordinary electric buses in first- and second-tier cities is about 200 kilometers per day, and most of the new energy buses can meet it." Zhang Ming said, "However, in order to reduce the ex-factory price as much as possible, Yinlong New Energy In his opinion, although Yinlong New Energy’s buses can be charged quickly during the driver’s rest time, it also prevents the fleet from enjoying the advantages of peak and valley electricity prices. "The electricity price difference between daytime and nighttime is basically about 5 cents, which is a lot of cost for a bus company with economies of scale."
25,000 cycle life: Dragon slaying skills?
In many publicity activities in the past, the battery cycle life of lithium titanate battery up to 25,000 times is considered to be Yinlong's most deadly killer. Dong Mingzhu has boasted more than once that the ultra-high cycle times can allow car owners to use Yinlong's cars for scrapping with peace of mind.
However, this kind of performance is suspected to be an over-design in the use scenario of new energy buses. Assuming that Yinlong New Energy's buses are charged and discharged up to 4 times a day, the number of battery cycles in a year has just reached 1,300, and the cycle life of 25,000 times is enough for 20 years. At present, the replacement cycle of buses is about 6-8 years. The lithium titanate battery of a Yinlong new energy bus cannot be used up at all in its entire vehicle life cycle, and can only be disposed of after the vehicle is scrapped.
Do car owners really need such a high cycle life?
Even in the field of energy storage, the market prospect of lithium titanate batteries is not optimistic. Zhang Ming told Yiou Automobile that the peak-to-valley regulation and storage of the power grid does not require high fast charging and fast discharging of batteries. Conventional lithium batteries can meet them, and lithium titanate batteries are more to meet the emergency regulation and storage needs of the grid. "The market share of this part of the demand will not exceed 5%, and the total amount is very low."
In addition, the number of replay cycles per unit time of the energy storage battery is lower, and the cycle life of 25,000 times is enough for the battery to be used for decades. However, Zhang Ming said that the life of accessories such as connectors between energy storage units is not so long, and needs to be replaced during the entire life cycle of the energy storage units. The process is complex and the cost is not low.
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