Introduction
When designing the manufacturing process of the power battery system (Power Battery Pack Technology), not only the safety and performance requirements of Pack products must be met, but also the manufacturing requirements such as safety and cost in production must be met. In order to facilitate the control of the production process, general manufacturers divide the production of Pack into six parts: module assembly, wiring harness production, structural parts production, BMS production, high-voltage control box assembly, and battery box assembly. In the actual production process, Pack will conduct an EOL test before going offline or leaving the factory to ensure the safety and performance of the Pack on the client side.
Lithium Battery Industry
Lithium Battery Production Process
At 23:00 on March 22, 2022, Beijing time, the opening ceremony of Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory will be held. As Tesla’s first factory in Europe, the Berlin factory will not only speed up the pace of Tesla’s order delivery in Europe, but more importantly, the “first principles” pursuedby Musk will once again be practiced on the production side — before and after Integrated die-casting body technology, 4680 battery and CTCbattery body integration technology.
Among them, the CTC battery body integration technology, which is regarded by the outside world as another outlet for technological change, has also attracted wider attention in the gradual exposure of the Berlin-made Model Y, BYD Seal, and Leap motor C01.
Before understanding CTC technology, let’s first understand what CTPtechnology is and the connection between them.
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CTP Technology
The full name of CTP technology is Cell to Pack. By cancelling the module design, the battery cells are directly integrated into a battery pack, and the battery pack is integrated into the body floor as part of the vehicle structure.
This method reduces the side plates and end plates (module structural parts) of the module itself, as well as the beams and longitudinal beams (battery pack with supporting structure) that were originally used to separate the modules and help the modules connect. It is greatly simplified, the utilization space is released, the capacity of the battery pack of thesame size can be expanded, and the mass of the battery pack can be reduced, thereby improving the energy density of the battery and reducing the cost.
There are two different routes for CTP Technology.
- One is the plan to completely cancel the module, represented by BYD blade batteries;
- The other is the plan to integrate small modules into large modules, represented by the CTP technology of CATL.
In September 2019, the world’s first CTP battery pack of CATL rolled off the production line and was installed on the BAIC EU5 model. Compared with the traditional battery pack, the volume utilization rate of the CTP battery pack is increased by 15%-20%, the number of battery pack components is reduced by 40%, the production efficiency is increased by50%, and the energy density can reach more than 200Wh/kg.
BYD followed, releasing its innovative technology blade battery in March 2020. In simple terms, the width of the battery cell is infinitely elongated and the thickness is made thinner to achieve an ultra-long battery cell of 900mm or even 1m faster. Compared with the traditional square battery, it has a “flat” and “stripe” shape.
Under the vigorous promotion of the two major power batteries, CTP technology has undergone a small-scale test in 2020, and by 2021, it has been maturely applied in a number of popular new energy passenger vehicles, achieving large-scale production. In this context, in 2022, the first year of large-scale application of CTP batteries will be opened.
On the one hand, since 2021, CATL CTP battery packs have been introduced on a largescale in Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Xiaopeng P7, NIO ES6 and other cost-effective models. It was previously announced that the NIO ET7 equipped with CTP batteries will also be delivered at the end of this month.
On the other hand, BYD also clearly announced that all its models are equipped with blade batteries.
In 2021, BYD will sell nearly 600,000 passenger cars. In 2022, it plans to launch no less than 20 new models, including DMi versions of popular models such as Han DM-i,Qin Plus DM-i, and Song MAX DM-i.
At the same time, the short-knife battery launched by Honeycomb Energy will also be supported in the form of CTP, and it has been confirmed to be installed on the ORA model.
In addition to square CTP batteries, soft pack battery companies including Gateway Power Vision Power are also actively exploring CTP solutions. Among them, the building block battery technology launched by Gateway Power based on the concept of large soft-pack modules has matured, and samples are sent to international car companies, and domestic scale promotion is imminent; Envision Power’s soft-pack CTP The battery capacity in the same space will be doubled, and the battery life will be extended to 1000km, mass production is expected in 2024.
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CTC Technology
The full name of CTC technology is Cell to Chassis. Chairman of CATL, introduced it at the China Automotive Blue Book Forum before: “This technology integrates the battery cell with the chassis, and then integrates the motor, electronic control, and vehicle high voltage such as DC/ DC, OBC, etc. are integrated through innovative architecture, and the intelligent power domain controller optimizes power distribution and reduces energy consumption. CTC will enable new energy vehicles to directly compete with fuel vehicles in cost, with larger riding space and chassis pass ability. get better.”
In a sense, CTC can be understood as a further extension of CTP. Its core is to eliminate the module and packaging process, and integrate the battery directly into the chassis of the carto achieve a higher degree of integration.
However, CTC is not a simple extension of CTP. CTP does not break through PACK itself, battery companies/professional PACK companies can complete the development independently, and the technology does not extend to the downstream. The emergence of CTC will break through the limitations of PACK and directly involve the chassis of the vehicle, which is the most critical core component of the vehicle and the core advantage accumulated by vehicle manufacturers through long-term development developing.
Looking at all potential players at home and abroad, the one closest to mass production is still the “pioneer” Tesla.
Tesla demonstrated the 4680 Structural Battery (CTC) solution at the Giga Fest event held at its Berlin factory last year. The 4680-battery pack cancels the module design, and the cells are densely arranged in the vehicle chassis. The battery cover shoulders the sealed battery. In addition to the two functions of the body floor, the seat can be directly installed on the battery pack.
CATL is accelerating the research and development of CTC, and announced that it plans to launch its own CTC solution around 2025, and is expected to upgrade to the next-generation intelligent CTC in 2028.
BYD is only in the unofficial caliber, inadvertently revealed that the seal will be equipped with CTC technology. And the important moment when the e-platform 3.0 was released before, was just a brushstroke of “integration of battery and body”.
From the current point of view, Leap motor is expected to become the first domestic manufacturer to eat crabs. On February 25, 2022, Leap motor officially released a preview of a brand-new car, Leap motor C01. In terms of power system, Leap motor C01 will be the first mass-produced model equipped with CTC battery technology and will be officially released in the second quarter of 2022.
At present, the most important technical indicator of electric vehicles, which is also highly concerned by consumers, is the cruising range of the car, and the most direct impact on the cruising range is the battery power. Therefore, increasing the battery power has become the most effective solution to increase the cruising range of the car. In order to achieve higher power, the integration trend of batteries has developed from small modules to large modules, ultra-long modules, and even no-module solutions. This method has improved space utilization to a certain extent and increased power.
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However, in order to pursue more demanding requirements, the concept of structured battery is proposed, so that the battery itself becomes part of the body (similar to the idea of using the entire wing as a fuel tank in modern civil aircraft), that is, CTC, also known as battery body integration.
CTC technology is the current development trend of pure electric vehicle battery and vehicle integration, but it is not easy to promote CTC. The public demonstration of Tesla’s CTC technology has guided the development of CTC in the industry, which may force battery manufacturers to speed up the development and implementation of CTC. At present, CATL is vigorously recruiting talents related to automotive chassis technology, which may be related to its CTC layout; Guoxuan Hi-Tech has also discussed the CTC plan with car companies and believes that it is feasible in a limited range, but has not yet deployed; Honeycomb Energy He said that from a technical point of view, CTC is completely achievable, but the current focus is still on CTP. Battery companies lack the development experience and technical accumulation of vehicle chassis. Although they have ideas on CTC, it will take a long time to accumulate if they want to make breakthroughs in chassis technology.
Conclusion
The content of the Lithium Battery Industry Official Account includes lithium battery industry chain exchanges, information, and connections. The materials, auxiliary materials, additives, consumables, and related equipment involved in the production of positive and negative electrode materials, separators, electrolytes, packaging materials, and testing and assembly, as well as related equipment, are introduced. If you want to know more information about lithium batteries, you are welcome to pay attention to this public account, and you can get relevant information as soon as possible!
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