In recent years, under the promotion of preferential policies, the national lithium ion battery and related upstream and downstream industries have ushered in an investment boom. As an important part of lithium-ion batteries, the cathode material industry of power lithium-ion batteries in China has developed rapidly. On May 8, LG Chemical Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Industry Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement with Wuxi High tech Zone, and the project of cathode materials for automotive power lithium batteries was officially settled. The project is jointly constructed by LG Chemical and Huayou Cobalt, with a total investment of US $1 billion and a planned output of 100000 tons. It is planned to start construction in September, be completed and put into production in September 2019, and be formally mass produced in May 2020. High cost ratio determines the performance of the whole vehicle. As a key component of electric vehicle, power lithium-ion battery is one of the key components that affect vehicle performance, cost and user experience. It is also the component with the largest proportion in the vehicle cost, and its cost accounts for half of the vehicle cost. From the perspective of subdivision, the cost of the four key materials, positive material, negative material, diaphragm and electrolyte, accounts for more than 80% of the battery cost. The cost of cathode materials also accounts for about 40% of the total cost of lithium ion batteries. Cathode material is the key factor to determine the performance of electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles need batteries with high specific energy, high specific power, less self discharge, low price, long service life and good safety. Corresponding cathode materials shall also meet the same requirements. The cathode material is the source of lithium ion in the battery. Its performance is directly related to the performance of the battery. It is the basis of lithium battery energy density and the most critical functional material in lithium ion batteries. The subsidy output of the beneficiary policy is rising. Before 2014, the focus of lithium ion battery development in China was mainly consumer lithium ion battery products. Therefore, with the explosive rise of the new energy automobile industry in 2014, the focus of lithium ion battery development has shifted from 3C to lithium battery for automobile power. Therefore, the development of cathode material industry is also more inclined to lithium iron phosphate and ternary materials, and the output of these two materials is increasing. Due to the adjustment of the subsidy policy, under the guidance of the national industrial policy and the dual stimulus of market demand, the output of ternary materials continued to rise, from 6300 tons in 2011 to 126000 tons in 2017. Lithium iron phosphate battery has the advantages of safety, low cost and long service life. It is widely used in the field of power vehicles and energy storage. In 2017, the domestic production of lithium iron phosphate materials continued to rise to 101000 tons.

Lithium manganate battery has power performance, discharge rate performance, good low temperature performance and high voltage frequency characteristics. In the recommended catalogue of the first batch of new energy buses in 2017, 38 models were equipped with lithium manganate batteries. Lithium manganate battery has the highest proportion among the recommended new energy buses. In particular, the application of lithium manganate battery in logistics vehicles has promoted the production of lithium manganate in China. The properties focus on the best comprehensive properties of different ternary materials. Different cathode materials have different properties, and the corresponding properties are also different. Therefore, the current lithium ion batteries have obvious deficiencies in some aspects. Due to its high energy density and small battery size, lithium cobalt oxide has a high share in the field of commercial power lithium batteries. However, its high price and high temperature safety have been criticized. Although the cycle times of lithium iron phosphate are high, the price is relatively low, and the specific energy is close to the level of lithium cobalt oxide, due to its low tap density, large battery volume, poor low temperature resistance and poor battery consistency, it has not been well applied to small passenger cars (low production automation, which will actually affect the specific energy capacity and cycle life). For small passenger vehicles sensitive to size and weight, lithium cobalate and lithium ternary are still preferred.