Author: Kenvin
Introduction: At the “GAC Tech Day” in 2021, GAC Aion announced the sponge silicon negative electrode battery safety technology, ultra-rapid charging battery technology, and A480 supercharging pile, which use the sponge silicon negative electrode battery technology. These previously mocked technological goals in the industry have now become reality.
According to the No. 31 Announcement of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on November 5th, the NEDC range of GAC Aion LX has reached 1008km, which is the first pure electric vehicle model with a range of four digits in the recommended energy-saving vehicle model catalogue (10th batch in 2021) and even in the history of information disclosure by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which can be regarded as a small milestone.
The catalogue information shows that the permanent magnet synchronous motor power of GAC Aion LX is 180kW, and it is equipped with a 144.4kWh battery pack. The energy density of the battery system is 205Wh/kg, and the power consumption per 100km is 15.8kwh, and the NEDC range is 1008km. The new car will be released and listed in the Guangzhou Auto Show in late November.
Another vehicle with a range over 1000 kilometers is NIO’s first pure electric sedan, the ET7. After equipped with a semi-solid-state 150kWh battery, this model has a NEDC range of over 1000km. It is expected to begin the first batch delivery in the first quarter of 2022.
As the flagship model of the AION family, the GAC Aion LX adopted the sponge silicon negative electrode battery technology announced by GAC Aion at the beginning of this year to improve the range. It is not surprising that the black technology applied to Aion LX for the first time. The announcement by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology marks the official landing of this technology.
At the “GAC Tech Day” in 2021, GAC Aion announced the sponge silicon negative electrode battery safety technology, ultra-rapid charging battery technology, and A480 supercharging pile, which use the sponge silicon negative electrode battery technology. These previously mocked technological goals in the industry have now become reality.The magazine battery safety technology and the ultra-fast charging battery technology have been applied in the new models of AION S PLUS, AION Y, and AION V PLUS families. The A480 supercharging pile solves the charging rate problem and has been verified by the media. It will be used as Guangqi AEA’s own supercharging pile service for car owners. The new AION LX, which adopts sponge silicon negative pole sheet battery technology, has a range of over a thousand kilometers, solving consumers’ range anxiety concerns. Guangqi AEA has taken one step at a time and given a loud slap in the face to those who mocked it.
The Bitter Experience of Spontaneous Combustion, Guangqi AEA Knows Best
Why did Guangqi AEA choose to independently develop battery safety, high-density, and fast charging technologies? According to the battery supplier of the AION V model under Guangqi AEA, there are four companies, namely Ningde Times, CALB, Funeng Technology, and Jiangsu Times, while all the motors are from Japanese Denso.
In 2020, there were many spontaneous combustion incidents of Guangqi AEA’s AION S in various parts of the country. Guangqi AEA was once deeply trapped in the quagmire of spontaneous combustion. Various spontaneous combustion videos were also circulated and reposted on the Internet. However, Guangqi did not disclose the follow-up investigation and processing results of the spontaneous combustion incident, and deliberately kept a low profile to quell the storm of spontaneous combustion.
It is reported that most of the spontaneous combustion incidents occurred in online car-hailing and taxis. After the incident, the relevant person in charge of Guangqi AEA stated that the Aion S used by Guangzhou taxis is a “fancy” version of the car. There are five versions of the Aion S fancy version sold in the market. Among them, the 2019 Aion S fancy 530 uses the NCM523 battery cells provided by CALB, and the 2019 Aion S fancy 630 uses the NCM811 battery cells provided by Ningde Times. A driver of the Ruqi platform on the online car-hailing platform in the Guangzhou region once revealed that the Aion S under the platform is the 410km version of the endurance model, which means it uses the NCM523 battery cells. In addition, the person in charge of Ningde Times also stated that Ningde Times has not provided support to Guangzhou taxis, and the batteries used by this taxi model are not from Ningde Times. This seems to indicate that the frequent spontaneous combustion incidents may have nothing to do with Ningde Times’ NCM 811 ternary lithium battery.
At the same time, we found that the NCM811 battery cells of Ningde Times started mass production in April 2019. The earliest customers besides Guangqi’s Aion S were BMW PHEV; in the third quarter of 2019, the customer base expanded to WM Motor, Dongfeng, NIO, Mercedes-Benz, Geely, and XPeng; by 2020, Volkswagen, Aiways, Nether, and Zero-run have also become its customers. However, none of them have experienced frequent spontaneous combustion incidents like the Aion S model.The safety and range imbalance of CATL’s 811 battery have always been a hot topic in the industry. With a significantly increased nickel content, CATL’s 811 battery can greatly improve the energy density of the battery and bring longer driving range for electric vehicles. However, as research has shown, with the enrichment of nickel elements in the positive electrode material of NCM ternary lithium batteries, the capacity retention and thermal stability of the battery decrease. When the nickel content in the NCM positive electrode of ternary lithium battery exceeds 60%, after a certain number of cycles, micro-cracks in the positive electrode material of the battery significantly increase, and a large amount of oxygen begins to precipitate into the cell, resulting in potential thermal runaway and explosion that may lead to fire.
The frequent self-ignition incidents of GAC AION S have not been positively responded to by GAC Aion and its battery suppliers, and no recall announcements like General Motors have been issued to replace the problem battery vehicles. The cause and investigation results of the self-ignition incidents of AION S still remain unknown. Whether GAC Aion excessively used the long-range NCM811 battery or its own battery management system, BMS, had problems, or the long-term use of fast charging stations by taxi and ride-hailing car owners, could all be potential causes for electric vehicle self-ignition, and there is no official result so far.
After the self-ignition incidents, it was circulated online that GAC New Energy dealers secretly notified vehicle owners to replace the problem battery pack at 4S stores. Another complaint came from the owners of the shell-fitting model of AION S, GAC Toyota iA5, claiming that GAC Toyota has locked the batteries of the vehicle through OTA means to reduce the risk of self-ignition, which affects the driving range of the vehicle, and the owners have filed complaints with the quality supervision department.
It is understood that after the self-ignition incidents, the AION V released by GAC Aion mainly use ternary lithium batteries provided by CATL. As of May this year, CATL’s penetration rate in GAC Aion has reached over 90%. It is unknown if the self-ignition incident of the 811 battery has strained the relationship between GAC and CATL.In December 2018, CATL announced that it planned to invest RMB 4.226 billion in building a power battery project through its controlled subsidiary, GAC A-Power Battery Co., Ltd, in Guangzhou. However, the project, which was supposed to start production in 2020, has yet to come to fruition. An employee bluntly stated, “It’s impossible to start production by the end of the year.” GAC Group responded by saying, “Due to adjustments made to the project construction plan based on market demand and the impact of the epidemic on construction progress, the first phase of the CATL GAC power battery project has been postponed to October 2021.” However, it is now November 2021, and there is still no news of a joint venture factory in operation. It is very likely that there will be no follow-up this year.
Severe pain prompts deep contemplation, self-development and in-house production
While CATL is expanding to establish multiple battery bases across the country, GAC Aion is also making progress. On June 29, 2021, HuBay Tech Innovation Development Co., Ltd., a hybrid SOE incubated by the GAC Group, announced the establishment of an energy storage device and system industrial base called Jumiwan. This base will be responsible for the R&D and production of super-fast charging cores, next-generation new energy storage devices, and PACK integration systems. It is reported that GAC has started research and application of electric and intelligent network technology as early as 2011 and accumulated a large amount of technological achievements and talent reserves. Focused on power battery technology, GAC has a research and development team of over 600 people, an industry-leading battery test laboratory, professional testing fields, and battery pack production workshops, possessing independent design and production capability of battery packs.
According to reports, the project invests an estimated RMB 3 billion and is expected to have a production capacity of 8 GWh, an annual output value of RMB 7.2 billion, and a tax revenue of RMB 400 million when fully built and put into production in 2023. In addition, Jumiwan’s super-fast charging cores and PACK products have been put into production in September 2021 and have been loaded onto GAC’s electric vehicle model, the AION V PLUS. The fast-charging core can realize an 80% charge in 5 to 8 minutes. Furthermore, both the upgraded version of AION S, AION S PLUS, and AION V PLUS are equipped with GAC’s self-developed ternary lithium magazine battery pack, and no incidents of self-ignition have been reported online, which has dispelled people’s impression that AION S is a “mobile bomb.” AION S, a household car loved by taxi drivers, has entered the top ten global best-selling electric vehicle models for the first three quarters of 2021, with a total of 48,875 vehicles sold, which is a remarkable achievement.# Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) Achieves Milestone with AION LX’s Mileage Exceeding 1,000KM
GAC announced the “Neutron Star Strategy” at the “GAC Technology Day” in April 2021, which included three major battery technologies: super safety, super fast charging, and super long battery life. The AION LX’s successful achievement of a mileage exceeding 1,000KM marks the successful implementation of this strategy, eliminating concerns about safety and battery life and overcoming obstacles that had previously hindered the new energy vehicle industry.
On October 29, the GAC Board of Directors approved the proposal for the construction of a self-developed battery production line, with a total investment of 336 million yuan. The purpose is to speed up the industrialization of self-developed battery technology, verify battery process maturity, product consistency, and product costs, reserve mass-production technology, and ultimately eliminate reliance on other battery manufacturers, which is more conducive to controlling vehicle manufacturing costs.
Currently, GAC’s AION S, which has entered the online car-hailing and taxi markets in large numbers, and the recently popular AION Y are still the main selling models, while the AION V and AION LX have not been well received by the market. The reasons behind this are twofold: the vehicle design is too conservative and the cost-performance ratio is not high, and its advanced driving assistance technology lags behind new players in the industry. Although GAC has established Énfini as its independent new energy vehicle brand, it has yet to develop a truly popular and competitive product. Therefore, it is hoped that GAC Énfini can improve its intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving assistance capabilities while strengthening its self-developed battery technology.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.