Fog days accelerate the new energy vehicles

Frequent haze weather has made environmental protection the focus of attention, and new energy vehicles are expected to accelerate. As an important part of the industrial chain, the development of the power battery while improving performance, the exploration of the recovery and reuse mode can not be ignored.

Zhongtong Bus announced the other day that the company's plug-in hybrid and pure electric commercial vehicle technology development projects received a total of 80 million yuan in award funds, of which the first one was 32 million yuan. The industry expects that other related listed companies will also receive subsidies in succession. With the gradual subsidy funds in place, new energy vehicle technology research and development and industrialization are expected to accelerate.

In fact, the scale application of electric vehicles has begun to show signs. Take the Roewe E50 pure electric vehicle as an example. According to the relevant regulations, a pure electric passenger vehicle can receive a maximum of 60,000 yuan per central allowance; on the basis of state subsidies, Shanghai also plans to provide 2,000 yuan for new energy vehicles that meet the conditions. / Kilowatt-hour subsidy, the maximum subsidy of pure electric vehicles can reach 40,000 yuan / vehicle. At present, the guide price of the Roewe E50 market is 234,900 yuan. After enjoying the two-tier subsidies from the State and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the terminal price is only 128,000 yuan, which is very close to the price of traditional automobiles at the same level. Considering that new energy vehicles can also obtain a free license for Shanghai's exclusive private car, this has already made many car buyers excited. In January of this year, Shanghai's private car license plate auction price has reached 75,000 yuan, and used car license plates have exceeded the 80,000 yuan mark.

According to the "Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan", by 2015, the cumulative production and sales volume of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will strive to reach 500,000; by 2020, the production of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles With a capacity of 2 million vehicles and a cumulative production and sales of over 5 million vehicles. In view of the recent serious air pollution, the country may further increase policy support for new energy vehicles. Once the EV market starts, it will bring explosive growth to the power battery market.

At present, research on power battery is mainly focused on improving performance, and the recycling link is seriously out of touch. Although lithium-ion batteries do not contain heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, and lead, their positive and negative materials, electrolyte solutions, and other substances have a great influence on the environment. Early research on power battery recycling can also avoid falling into the trap of "Lithium Metal Peak". Some research institutions predict that with the increase in demand for electric vehicles, demand will rise in full and lithium will supply in short supply in 2017.

Establishing a power battery cascade utilization and recovery management system may be a viable option. It is understood that power lithium battery life of about 20 years, but for automotive power is only 3-5 years. As the capacity fades below 80% of the initial capacity, the cruising range will be significantly reduced. However, for the energy storage system, these batteries still have great use value.

Battery capacity less than 80% can continue to be used for energy storage in the grid, or as a power source for low speed vehicles such as electric field vehicles. There may be three or four other uses of batteries that have been phased out from energy storage devices or low-speed electric vehicles. The use of ladders allows the value of the power battery to be fully utilized, thereby reducing the cost of the battery in the automobile use phase and promoting the advancement of the electric vehicle in advance. High battery prices are one of the important factors that limit the promotion of electric vehicles.

However, the battery will eventually be recycled. The technical route for recycling batteries is relatively complex. First, the lithium batteries need to be pretreated, including discharge, dismantling, smashing, and sorting; the disassembled plastic and iron shells should be recycled; the leached and leached materials after sorting should be carried out. , extraction after impurity removal. Although the economics of power battery recycling are not high at present, with the expansion of the application scale, the resources are gradually depleted, and recycling will show great value. Perhaps the main place for promoting industry competition in the future is no longer the exploitation of lithium resources, but recycling.

The recovery and utilization of power batteries involves a wide range. Due to its peculiarity and complexity, in the early stages of the development of new energy vehicles, it is necessary to consider the establishment of a recycling system from the top level, and the integration of manufacturing systems and commercial operation and maintenance needs to be promoted as a whole.

At present, relevant manufacturers in Europe and the United States are vigorously promoting research on the recovery and utilization of power batteries and making technical reserves for large-scale commercial recycling. For example, Belgian Umicore develops ultra-high temperature technology to dispose of used lithium batteries. Toyota Motor Corp. and Umicore are planning to recycle the lithium-ion batteries of two Toyota vehicles. The Toxco Corporation in the United States in the liquid nitrogen environment of low-temperature frozen cells to make the material chemical properties become inactive, and then disassemble the battery to separate the material. Even Germany, which does not have a power battery manufacturer, is also working on a recycling network system.

The "Energy-saving and New-energy Automobile Industry Development Plan" clearly stated that it is necessary to formulate a management method for the recovery and utilization of power batteries and to set the access conditions for power battery recycling and recycling enterprises. However, at present, the recycling of power batteries does not match the development of new energy vehicles, and the recycling market has not yet formed. During the 2008 Olympic Games, the 50 pure electric buses used in Beijing were near the end of the scrapping period. How to deal with the replaced batteries was already in front of them. Power battery recycling should be gradually put on the agenda.