With the advancement of technology, the current anode materials for lithium-ion batteries have evolved from a single graphite to natural graphite, mesophase carbon microspheres, artificial graphite, soft carbon, hard carbon, lithium titanate, silicon carbon alloy and other negative electrodes The coexistence of materials.
From the perspective of domestic market application, artificial graphite is mainly used, followed by natural graphite, lithium titanate, silicon carbon, etc. Soft and hard carbon are still in the stage of testing and sample delivery in China. According to SPIR statistics, in 2018, the artificial graphite market accounted for 72%, natural graphite was 22%, and other comprehensive proportions were 6%. By 2019, as the energy density of power batteries increases and artificial graphite deep processing technology matures, power The amount of artificial graphite used in batteries will be increasing, and the market share of artificial graphite is expected to reach 78%, up 6 percentage points year-on-year.
In terms of market size, the total output of negative electrode materials in China was 180,000 tons in 2018, an increase of 24% year-on-year, and the total domestic output from January to September 2019 reached 190,000 tons. It is expected that the annual output will reach 240,000 tons, an increase of 33% year-on-year . The growth was mainly driven by the continued growth of power batteries and the rapid growth of small power, energy storage, wearables, electronic cigarettes, ETC and other fields.
From the perspective of various subdivided products, driven by the market and policies, the artificial graphite market has become a major growth point: the future high energy density will become a trend, the application of ternary power battery systems will increase, and domestic power battery companies have basically increased ternary Power battery layout, and artificial graphite has good compatibility with ternary materials, so power batteries and high-end digital batteries will directly drive the rapid growth of the artificial graphite market. It is expected that the CAGR will reach more than 20% in the next 5 years;
Under the trend of high-capacity products, the growth of silicon-based negative electrodes in the emerging material field is huge: it is expected that the CAGR will exceed 40% in the next 5 years: To achieve the target of 260Wh / Kg system specific energy density in 2020, silicon-based negative electrodes are paired with high-nickel ternary Of battery system applications will gradually increase;
The growth rate of other subdivided products is limited, and the application space is limited: the growth of anode materials such as special high-rate products MCMB, soft carbon, lithium titanate, and natural graphite is relatively stable, and the market space is limited. The main reasons are:
1) Artificial graphite gradually replaces natural graphite: Major domestic power battery manufacturers all use artificial graphite as their negative electrode material. BYD, which previously mainly used natural graphite, has begun to switch to artificial in 17 years;
2) With the improvement of technology, the performance of artificial graphite cycle and rate have been significantly improved, and the price advantage is obvious. Therefore, in the field of high-end digital batteries and high-power battery products, it will gradually replace natural graphite, MCMB, soft Carbon and other products.