Li Shengmao, an analyst of China Investment Advisor Automotive Industry Group, pointed out that the process of production and extensive application of any major technology will surely be accompanied by a large number of patent families. With the growing importance of new energy vehicles, major companies are tit for tapping in the field of intellectual property rights in the field of new energy vehicles, in order to grasp the opportunities in the fierce business competition, and power lithium battery technology is the core of new energy vehicles. section.
At present, major auto companies in the world have launched a fierce competition in the field of new energy technologies. In this competition, the patent battle for lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries has reached a level of white fever. After searching in the patent database granted by the State Intellectual Property Office for SSIPEX, the current number of patent applications for lithium iron phosphate batteries totaled 203. At present, BYD Co., Ltd. is the first of 22 patent applications for lithium iron phosphate battery technology.
Among them, from the trend analysis of patent applications, it can be seen that China began to have a patent application for lithium iron phosphate batteries since 2003, and the world’s first patent application for lithium iron phosphate batteries began in 1997. It can be seen that China is involved in phosphoric acid. Iron-lithium battery technology started relatively late. However, the patent application is in a situation of rapid increase, the speed of patent applications has been accelerated, and the number of patents has not been large in total. This is the basic feature of the current layout of lithium iron phosphate batteries in China.
However, the current industrialization of new energy vehicles still faces a major technical bottleneck. In the small-scale pilot operation of new energy vehicles, some problems in battery technology have been exposed. For large-scale commercialization, battery technology still needs to be further matured. China's new energy vehicle technology currently has gaps with foreign countries in terms of battery power drive system efficiency, battery system integration technology, rapid charging materials, large-scale production process design, battery life, and quality control of production processes. Some key component technologies are not A breakthrough has been made, and it still relies on imports, and cost control needs to be strengthened.
While analyzing the technical composition of the current Chinese lithium iron phosphate battery patents, it was found that the top three were phosphorous compounds, battery electrodes and secondary batteries and their manufacture, 90% of lithium iron phosphate battery patent applications belong to this 3 categories. Therefore, the patent applied by domestic battery manufacturers or research institutes focuses on lithium iron phosphate materials and preparation methods of lithium iron phosphate batteries, and is somewhat insufficient in terms of battery structure design and battery combination control.
In this regard, Li Shengmao said that in the field of power lithium iron phosphate batteries, China started late and did not master its basic core patents. At present, many core equipment and technologies are imported from foreign countries, especially in the power battery electronic control technology. In the future, electric vehicles should form an industry alliance to jointly carry out the research and industrialization of powertrains and key components.
According to the "China New Energy Vehicle Industry Analysis and Investment Advisory Report 2008-2010" issued by the China Investment Advisor, the power lithium battery contains very large business opportunities. It is estimated that by 2012, the annual output of new energy vehicles in China will reach 1 million. Vehicles, according to the cost of each new energy car battery 70,000 yuan, for domestic battery manufacturers, this will be a big cake with a total output value of 70 billion yuan. And if calculated by bus, this value will also increase by 3 times - the battery demand for each hybrid bus is 4 times that of the car.