Chinese Industry & IT Min Revises Li-ion Battery Standards

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has notified revised lithium-ion battery standards, claiming to promote technological progress. The ministry has also revoked the “Lithium-ion Battery Industry Specification Conditions (2018 Edition)” and the “Interim Measures for the Administration of Lithium-ion Battery Industry Specification Announcements (2018 Edition)”.

Under the revised rules, lithium-ion battery companies in China should meet the following standards:

1. Their R&D expenditures must not be less than 3% of the company’s main business income for the year.
2. They have to obtain provincial level, R&D institutions, technology centres, or high-tech enterprise qualifications. Their main products must have technical invention patents.
3. They should adopt advanced technology and energy saving, environmental protection, safe and stable practices. Specifically, these brands must have the following:
   • The ability to monitor the uniformity of electrodes after coating. The thickness and length of the electrode coating should be controlled at a precision of not less than 2μm and 1mm respectively. They should have electrode drying technology, and the water content control precision should not be less than 10ppm.
   • The ability to control temperature, humidity, and cleanliness during the injection process. They should have the ability to detect internal short-circuit high voltage (HI-POT) online detection after battery assembly.
   • The ability to control the open-circuit voltage and internal resistance of single cells. The accuracy should not be less than 1mV and 1mΩ respectively.
   • The ability to check the battery protection board function online.
4. Battery performance:
   • Consumer battery energy density is ≥230 Wh/kg
   • Battery pack energy density is ≥180 Wh/kg
   • Polymer single battery volume energy density is ≥500 Wh/L
   • Cycle Life ≥500 times a
   • The capacity retention rate is ≥80%.
   • The energy density of the energy-type single cell using ternary materials is ≥210 Wh/kg
   • Energy density of the battery pack is ≥150 Wh/kg
   • Energy density of other energy-type single cells is ≥160 Wh/kg
   • The energy density of the battery pack is ≥115 Wh / kg
   • Power density of the power single battery is ≥500 W/kg
   • Power density of the battery pack is ≥350 W/kg
   • Cycle life ≥1000 times and capacity retention rate ≥80%
   • Energy density of the energy storage type single battery is ≥145Wh/kg
   • Energy density of the battery pack is ≥100Wh/kg
   • Cycle life is ≥5000 times and the capacity retention rate is ≥80%.
5. Cathode material: The specific capacity of lithium iron phosphate is ≥145Ah/kg while the specific capacity of ternary material is ≥165Ah/kg. In addition, the specific capacity of lithium cobaltate is ≥160Ah/kg, and the specific capacity of lithium manganate is ≥115Ah/kg. Other cathode material performance indicators can refer to the above requirements.
6. Anode material: The specific capacity of carbon (graphite) is ≥335Ah/kg while the specific capacity of amorphous carbon is ≥250Ah/kg. Furthermore, the specific capacity of silicon-carbon is ≥420Ah/kg.