An industry environment favorable to polymer battery: Affected by low volume/high variety operation, traditional cell manufacturers can no longer maintain high market shares through capacity. In other words, only those with high flexibility can continue to grow in the polymer battery industry.
Aiming to the rapid growth in the Chinese market, many system manufacturers decided to work with more Chinese suppliers in exchange for the Chinese market access. Some of them even help train several tier-two suppliers and enhance their product quality.
The rise of smartphones in China, low volume/high variety manufacturing, and customized production.The threshold for a cellphone battery is a single-cell battery, hence it’s a relatively low threshold for cell and battery assembly, attracting new entrants easily.
After going through cooperation with tier-one laptop brand manufacturers, such as ATL and Lision, Chinese polymer battery makers have gained important production experiences. The related technology has also begun to flourish in China. Meanwhile, China nourished many small-scale polymer battery suppliers after undergoing the growth stage of the smartphone market from 2013 to 2014.
Supports from system manufacturers and cooperations with packers are both needed for more complete tier-two cell supply relationship. In the past three years, China has successfully trained some cell manufacturers and packers and led them into tier-one supply chain, including Coslight, Desay, and Sunwoda. Generally, cell has capacity restriction issues, therefore it needs more supply sources.
Consumer Applications
1. Changes in Cell Supply and Demand
Power Applications
2. Energy Storage Systems