Forklift lithium battery is becoming a new blue ocean in the field of new energy, and Qian Jing is too tempting. The battery giants are all in the layout, Ningde era, BYD, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Weihong Power... and the European forklift boss KION Group also has to build a battery factory to grab this "big fat."

According to foreign media reports, the German forklift manufacturer KION Group plans to establish a joint venture with the battery manufacturer BMZ Group to establish its own lithium-ion battery production plant , which will produce lithium-ion batteries for industrial forklifts in the EMEA region. It is understood that KION and BMZ Group will each hold a 50% stake in the joint venture battery company. From the second quarter of 2020, the first batch of batteries will be produced from the production line of the BMZ plant in the Karlstein plan.

The KION Group is Europe's largest manufacturer of industrial forklifts, the world's second largest forklift manufacturer and a leading supplier of automation technology. Among them, Linde and STILL brand serve the advanced industrial forklift market, and Poly focuses on industrial forklifts in the economic field. Over the past 10 years, the KION Group has sold more than 1 million electric forklifts.Among them, electric forklifts accounted for about 80% of their total sales in 2018., And the market share continues to grow.

Demand for lithium battery for forklifts soared

In the context of the booming new energy industry, the sales of electric forklifts in China are also climbing. Relevant data show that in 2018, China's electric forklifts sold a total of 281,000 units, an increase of 38.03% compared with 203,600 units in 2017. Experts predict that by 2020, domestic electric forklifts will account for 40% . Chen Shisheng, deputy director of the Energy Vehicle Research Institute of R&D Department of Anhui Heli Co., Ltd., said that with the improvement of social awareness of environmental protection, the proportion of domestic electric forklifts will be higher and higher.

It is understood that lead-acid batteries have been the main source of power for industrial vehicles, especially electric forklifts , before power lithium batteries have not been widely used . The price of lithium batteries used in forklift trucks is much higher than that of lead-acid batteries. As the production scale of lithium batteries continues to expand, the price of power lithium batteries has gradually declined. The drastic reduction in the price of power lithium batteries makes it possible to use them on electric forklifts.

In addition to price reasons, lithium-ion batteries have special advantages in electric vehicles. Compared with traditional lead-acid batteries, there is no need to replace batteries, because lithium-ion battery technology supports fast charging and opportunity charging. The technical development of lithium-ion batteries has also made great progress. Lithium batteries have become an attractive and cost-effective option in all areas of industrial forklifts, especially in facility-intensive shifts.

The data shows that in 2018, the sales volume of lithium battery forklifts in China exceeded 20,000, which more than doubled in 2017. It is estimated that by 2020, the penetration rate of lithium battery forklifts in electric forklifts will exceed 50%, and the demand for lithium batteries will increase to 5.4GWh , with a compound annual growth rate of over 50%.

BYD / Ningde / Guoxuan / micro-macro layout

It is understood that BYD established the electric forklift project as early as 2009, and launched the first lithium battery forklift in 2012. It has obtained customers such as Jingdong, Shunfeng, Yunda, BMW and Dongfeng. BYD is also the first domestic electric forklift company to enter the overseas market. At present, its customers have covered many countries and regions such as Europe and Asia. According to the person in charge of BYD, it is estimated that the sales of electric forklifts will reach 40,000 units and sales of more than 3 billion yuan in 2019. By 2020, the sales of electric forklifts will reach 5 billion yuan.

Bi Guozhong, general manager of BYD forklift, said that “(Forklift) as a part of BYD Group, the project without goal of 10 billion is not on the table, and the last five years is the golden period of rapid development of the forklift industry. If you miss it, there is no chance. The BYD forklift has a full layout in terms of product structure, sales model, service system and global strategy."

The forklifts in the Ningde era were much later than BYD. In November 2018, Hangcha Group released the latest "XC series new energy forklift" and "Hangcha-C series lithium battery" forklift, which was supplied by Ningde era and was jointly established by Ningde Times and Hangcha Group. Pengcheng New Energy Company assembled battery packs. Hu Jianguo, technical director of Ningde Times, said: "The rapid development of warehousing, logistics and other industries has provided opportunities for the marketing of pure electric forklifts. In the next few years, sales of electric forklifts will maintain a certain growth trend."

As the domestic power battery "three brothers", Guoxuan Hi-Tech specializes in the development of lithium iron phosphate batteries for forklifts , in terms of life, versatility, safety, cost and other aspects have very obvious competitive strength. It is understood that Guoxuan Gaoke Lithium has made sufficient safety measures in the areas of batteries, materials, PACK technology and BMS. In addition, Guoxuan Hi-Tech's forklift power battery pack has passed a series of safety critical verification, including vibration test, mechanical shock, low temperature heating, high temperature heat dissipation performance, etc., to ensure the safety of the product in practical applications.

In addition to the "Power Battery Big Three", as a pioneer in the introduction of fast charging technology into the forklift field, Weihong Power signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Linde (China) Forklift Co., Ltd. in 2017, and the two sides reached a deep cooperation intention in the field of new energy forklifts. It is reported that micro-macro power fast charge products "fast charging, long life, high safety," and other characteristics, to solve the traditional lead-acid electric forklift long charging time of application, short battery life, high requirement for power problem properties , micro-macro power The forklift fast-charged power battery system has been operating so far, achieving zero-fault full-time operation.

Up to now, the state has issued a number of policies and plans related to the electric forklift industry, such as "Middle- and long-term planning for logistics industry development (2014-2020)", "Made in China 2025", "13th Five-Year Plan for Trade and Logistics Development" Etc. The release of these policies provides a broad market prospect for the development of the electric forklift industry.

Hou Fei, vice president of Guoxuan High-Tech, said that the application of new energy will become an inevitable trend. With the promotion of the national new energy policy, the demand for environmental protection and market value is the biggest manifestation of lithium battery application on forklifts.According to the battery China network, the battery companies in the field of lithium battery forklifts and Anhui Yijiatong and other manufacturers. On the application side, Heli, Nuoli and many other mainstream forklift OEMs are also actively introducing lithium battery applications.