aluminium show | With 1 million tonnes of demand, the overall development of aluminium foil for batteries is booming

The basic components of new energy batteries include positive electrode, negative electrode, electrolyte and diaphragm. Among them, the positive electrode is the component that stores charge in the battery. Since aluminium foil has good conductivity, it is usually coated with ternary materials, lithium iron phosphate materials, etc. as the positive electrode collector of lithium batteries. Aluminium foil is one of the indispensable components in batteries.

Usually, the cost share of aluminium foil in lithium-ion batteries is about 1.5%-2.0%. However, in the sodium ion battery, which is mainly oriented to energy storage, since sodium does not react with aluminium, both positive and negative collectors can use aluminium foil, thus increasing the amount of aluminium foil in sodium batteries. Its cost share can basically reach about 5.0%.

It is reported that only the negative electrode collector in lithium batteries uses aluminium foil, while both positive and negative electrodes in sodium batteries use aluminium foil. At present, the energy density of sodium batteries is lower than that of lithium batteries, and the amount of aluminium foil used in a single GWh is about two times that of lithium batteries. According to the data from aluminium show, the amount of aluminium foil used for a single GWh lithium iron battery is about 450 tonnes, while the amount used for a single GWh of sodium battery is 700-1000 tonnes. Therefore, according to the 1GWh lithium battery corresponding to the demand for aluminium foil is estimated to be about 350-500 tons. It is expected that in 2025, the global demand for aluminium foil for batteries corresponding to 2000GWh lithium batteries will be about 700,000-1,000,000 tons. The market space reaches tens of billions of yuan.

From the point of view of market demand, in order to improve the energy density of the battery under the same volume, the demand for aluminium foil thinning is more urgent. The current aluminium foil thickness of power battery is mostly 20μm, 15μm, 13μm, 12μm, and the development trend is 10μm and below. On the supply side, limited by the material and production process, currently only finished single sheet rolling. The mechanical properties and pinhole and other characteristics of aluminium foil can only meet the needs of the current battery production process. In terms of production capacity, the global demand for aluminium foil for batteries in 2023 will be about 488,000 tonnes. And the supply is only about 483,000 tonnes.

At present, battery aluminium foil accounts for a relatively small proportion of the overall aluminium foil production, only about 5%. But the growth rate is faster. It is the fastest-growing variety of aluminium foil products.In 2020, the domestic production of battery aluminium foil is about 70,000 tonnes.The production in 2021 will be 140,000 tonnes.The production in 2022 will be 280,000 tonnes.The total production of battery aluminium foil in the first half of 2023 is 122,700 tonnes, with a year-on-year growth of 25.4%. Year-on-year growth of up to 100% per year. In the new energy automobile industry high boom, as well as high growth in the field of energy storage, the global aluminium foil market for batteries will continue the high growth trend.