At the Battery Japan 2017, there were several material and equipment makers from Japan, Korea, and Europe which also participated in the exhibition in the past. Yet, an increasing number of Chinese exhibitors could be found at the exhibition this year. China recently became stricter in investigating the illegal sources of mining, leading to higher prices for battery material including cobalt. Large cost burden of material forced Chinese lithium battery makers to expand to the overseas market. That’s why battery cell makers were so aggressively seeking opportunities from international markets at the exhibition.
Zhuhai Gushine exhibited prismatic and cylindrical batteries. The scope of application covered radio/walkie-talkie and scanner/data collection as well as other niche markets. Although the market scale is relatively small compare to that of the cellphone and laptop markets, the stable supply/demand relationship allows Zhuhai Gushine to maintain good profits. The source of battery cells mainly come from Panasonic, Sanyo, and Maxell, showing the high-quality of battery pack. The parallel connection of internal cells can be designed for the same model but different request of durability. So far, the walkie-talkie market represents 60%, targeting on Japan, North America, and so on. Meanwhile, the batteries have to be able to work under large temperature fluctuation in suburban area and meet the IP67 and IP68 water proof rating. This is the successful example of China-made batteries exporting to the overseas market.
Zhuhai Gushine
Hopepower is one of the polymer battery makers in China. In order to clear out the increasing capacity year after year, the company has slowly shifted its focus from the Chinese cellphone market with intense price competition to the power bank market in Europe and the US. Apart from developing the integrated design of connectors/chargers/battery cells, Hopepower also showed disposable power bank to diversify lithium battery application.
Hopepower
Dynavolt has 14 business units. Battery&Energy Technology/Dynavolt that belong to battery business unit showed relevant cylindrical and polymer battery cells at the exhibition. Lightweight polymer battery cell is currently used for drones. The company also designed battery cells that can provide 20C discharge of high output current. We can see that Dynavolt’s determination in the battery industry from its annual battery cell capacity of 1.5GW.
Dynavolt
Highpower also participated in the exhibition, revealing small and large-type polymer battery cells with diversified product spec. Its production base is in Huizhou and the production lines can be switched between semi-automatic and fully-automatic mode. The company specifically conducts production quality control, becoming one of the battery cell suppliers for HP. Highpower may play an important role in the IT multi-string industry in the future.
Highpower
Insulating film is also a focus of the exhibition, including Hunan Chinaly’s wet-process diaphragm. Following the increasing number of new energy vehicle applications, we can see from the exhibition that the proportion of wet-process diaphragm will gradually increase. Ceramic coating will slowly become the mainstream in the market as well. China witnesses rapidly growth in diaphragm development. Aside from supplying the domestic market, some top-tier Japanese and Korean battery makers also showed strong interests in China-made diaphragm at the exhibition, hoping to lower material cost.
(Observed and analyzed by Duff Lu, Research Manager of EnergyTrend.)