The Lithium-ion market will give a major boost to insulating materials

Lithium-ion battery is a sunrise industry with very high certainty of market growth. Its applications, ranging from new energy vehicles (NEV), 5G mobile phones, to backup power for telecommunications base stations, have definite and stable demand increases. As the mobile internet and internet of everything (IoE) develop, the Li-ion battery has become by far the best power supply solution. The strong demands for the above-mentioned applications in the future will spur the growth of insulating materials market.

Rectangular Li-ion battery

We need to first judge the downstream demands when discussing the development trend of insulating materials for Li-ion battery. The applications of Li-ion battery generally fall into two major categories: the power battery (i.e., electric transportation vehicles, including NEVs, light electric vehicles, electric tools, etc.) and the non-power battery. The latter can be further subdivided into batteries for 3C electronics, such as cell phones, laptops, and digital cameras, etc.) as well as energy storage batteries (used for power stations, and telecommunications base stations, etc.).

1. Power batteries: It is anticipated that by 2025, the domestic sales volume of NEVs will reach 7 million, overseas sales volume over 6 million. The market size of power batteries will continue to expand with the demand growth rate of 50%.

automotive Li-ion battery

2. Non power batteries: With the popularization of 5G mobile phones, the demand for Li-ion batteries will also increase stably. The energy storage market is in its nascent phase. The backup power supply for telecommunications base stations mainly includes the lead-acid battery and the Li-ion battery. The former is being replaced by the Li-ion battery due to many disadvantages such as big volume, heavy weight and high requirements of machine room space and load capacity. The Li-ion battery in replacement for lead-acid battery will be the biggest growth point.

Li-ion battery for energy storage in power stations

Let’s make a brief analysis of the Li-ion battery industry chain. The upstream of the chain covers raw materials such as petroleum coke, graphite, cobalt, and lithium etc. mainly including anode materials, cathode materials, electrolytes, battery separators and structural parts, etc. What’s related to insulating materials is the structural parts, which are used for battery packaging, i.e., battery cases. Insulating materials for Li-ion battery cases can not only help protect the battery from collision and extrusion, but also play an important role of insulation and sealing. According to different battery packaging technical specifications, there are mainly three shapes: rectangular, cylindrical, and soft pack. The rectangular battery has the largest market share in China, and its features are high reliability of packaging, simple structure, easy for increase of battery capacity, and high energy density. Epoxy fiberglass laminated sheets are the most used packaging materials for the Li-ion battery. They are characterized with great mechanical properties, lightweight, thermal resistance, flame retardancy, insulation and water resistance. Additionally, a variety of colors and different cutting sizes are available. All these advantages make them ideal for lithium battery insulation and packaging. Epoxy laminated sheets for Li-ion battery packaging will be a strong growth point for the insulating materials industry.