With the increasingly clear requirements for "carbon neutrality" and "carbon peaking", energy replacement is imminent, driving the continuous growth of new energy vehicle production and sales . The high prosperity of the downstream industry has driven the demand for battery aluminum foil to continue to rise, but the overall barrier to battery aluminum foil is high , and the overall supply of the industry is tight. According to policy guidance, it is expected that the shipment of battery aluminum foil will continue to rise. At present, the global trend of new energy vehicles is still advancing. China's battery aluminum foil still has a broad market development space .

1. Battery aluminum foil: basic material for battery production　　

Aluminum foil is one of the products in the aluminum rolling processing industry, and the upstream is the electrolytic aluminum industry. Aluminum foil processing enterprises purchase aluminum ingots from electrolytic aluminum enterprises to process and produce aluminum sheets and strips. Aluminum foil generally refers to a rolled product with a thickness of less than 0.2mm and a rectangular cross-section, which has the advantages of light weight, good airtightness and wrapping. my country is currently the world's largest producer of electrolytic aluminum. The huge output of aluminum ingots and the potential release of production capacity provide sufficient raw material supply for the downstream aluminum processing industry.

2. Downstream demand exceeds expectations, and the total demand for battery foil in 2025 will reach 920,000 tons　

The main downstream fields of battery foil are power batteries, energy storage (mainly lithium iron phosphate batteries), sodium batteries, etc. It is estimated that the total demand in 2025 will reach 920,000 tons, with a CAGR of 48%. Battery foil is mainly used as a current collector in the positive and negative electrodes of lithium batteries and sodium batteries, and is one of the indispensable components in batteries.

2.1 The new energy vehicle will continue to boom, and the demand for aluminum foil for power batteries will reach 620,000 tons in 2025　

The development of power batteries is highly compatible with the development of the new energy vehicle industry. The "Carbon Peaking Action Plan before 2030" issued by the State Council proposes that by 2030, the proportion of vehicles powered by clean energy will reach 40%, which will bring huge growth space for the new energy vehicle market; overseas countries continue to save energy and reduce emissions Promoting, the explosive growth potential of the new energy vehicle market will continue to drive the growth of power battery demand. According to EVsales and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, based on the consumption of 450 tons/GWh of aluminum foil, the demand for battery foil in the power sector is expected to reach 620,000 tons in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 59%.

2.2 The electrochemical energy storage market is expected to exceed expectations, and the demand for energy storage battery foil in 2023 will reach 230,000 tons

New energy storage has become one of the key supports for carbon neutralization in the energy field. On July 23, 2021, the "Guiding Opinions of the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage" pointed out that by 2025, to realize the transformation of new energy storage from the initial stage of commercialization to large-scale development, the market environment And the business model is basically mature, with an installed capacity of more than 30GW. New energy storage plays a significant role in promoting the carbon neutralization process in the energy field. Electrochemical energy storage has a wide range of application scenarios in power systems, which can be divided into three scenarios: generation side, transmission and distribution side, and power consumption side. Because lithium iron phosphate batteries have the advantages of long life, fast charging, and high safety, my country's chemical energy storage is currently dominated by lithium iron phosphate batteries. Based on the calculation of the aluminum foil consumption of 550 tons/GWh, it is estimated that the annual demand for battery aluminum foil in the energy storage field will be 230,000 tons in 2025, with a CAGR of 42%.

2.3 The mass production of sodium batteries is gradually implemented, and the demand for battery foil for sodium batteries is expected to reach 66,000 tons in 2025

As a new battery technology route, sodium-ion battery is still in the early stage of the industry, and the mature application markets in the future are the electric two-wheeler market and the electrochemical energy storage market.

In the field of sodium batteries, the demand for battery foil in 2025 is 66,000 tons. As a new battery technology route for sodium ion battery, aluminum foil is used for both positive and negative current collectors of sodium battery. The amount of aluminum foil in sodium battery is more than twice that of lithium battery, and each Gwh sodium battery requires 900 tons of aluminum foil. Many lithium-ion battery companies have entered the market, and the sodium battery market is expected to usher in a period of rapid development. For aluminum foil manufacturers, they have made some preparations for capacity construction in recent years, and when sodium-ion batteries are widely commercialized, they will release production capacity and make profits.

In summary, the three major downstream markets drive the high growth of the aluminum processing industry. In 2025, the global demand for battery aluminum foil will be 920,000 tons, with a compound annual growth rate of 48%. Promote the rapid growth of aluminum processing and aluminum processing equipment production industry,　

Hengzhong works as the upstream of aluminum foil, providing customers with complete continuous cast rolling project (from smelting, to cast rolling, cold rolling, foil rolling,cut to length/slitting/packing, etc.) and equipment and put into production, bringing considerable economic benefits.

3. Future development space of battery aluminum foil at home and abroad

It is foreseeable that with the gradual release of new aluminum foil production capacity, the further growth of power battery shipments and the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries, the competition in the aluminum foil market will become more intense in the future.

As of 2020, there are about 45 enterprises (companies, factories) and projects in production and construction in my country that can produce battery aluminum foil and electronic aluminum foil. Before 2020, my country was a net importer of these two types of aluminum foil, mainly imported from Japan, accounting for more than 85%. With the continuous updating of aluminum processing equipment, the commissioning of new projects and the gradual completion of production, the import volume of my country's battery aluminum foil will drop significantly year by year, and it is expected to become a net exporter by 2023.

At the same time, the quality control requirements of battery aluminum foil are extremely high, such as small thickness deviation, no bumps, bright spots, etc. on the dark side, so new production lines often need a long period of debugging and running-in to achieve the ideal state, so as to realize Available in bulk. Considering that my country has a first-mover advantage in new energy vehicles, the battery foil market is still dominated by my country. Except for some high-end varieties, overseas companies are far behind Chinese companies in terms of raw materials and processing costs. We expect that the increase in overseas production capacity will be very limited in the future. . As a result, the supply of battery aluminum foil is in short supply. As a manufacturer of aluminum processing equipment, Hengzhong Heavy Industry will also face up to the difficulties. Facing the dual requirements of demand and quality, it will provide customers with high-quality, high-yield aluminum foil production equipment, including melting furnaces, degassing, aluminum casting rolling mills or hot rolling mills, cold rolling mills, foil rolling mills, tension leveling line, cut to length line/slitting line, etc.