[car home? Industry]? Controlling tyrants is not something that can be said casually. In the Japanese anime "Slam Dunk Master", Xiangbei wants to dominate the whole country. In reality, LG Chem from South Korea wants to "dominate the battery market". South Korea energy market analysis company SNE? According to the data released by Research on September 1st, LG Chem ranked first in the world with a market share of 25.1% in the installed capacity of power batteries from January to July this year, continuing to be ahead of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, China, and widening the gap with Panasonic. Five years ago, when the domestic new energy vehicle market was in full swing, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology formulated the "Specifications and Conditions for Automotive Power Battery Industry", and the "white list" of power batteries was born, which provided space for the growth of local enterprises and also allowed Japanese and Korean battery giants such as LG Chemical to "get cold for a while". However, at any time, we should not underestimate the strength of our opponents, especially LG Chemical. In the eyes of many post-8s generation, Japan's Panasonic battery is a symbol of "luxury package". The generation that has the most contact with electric toys will naturally be fascinated by Panasonic. Nowadays, when this generation chooses electric cars, they can't help asking, "Is the battery still the best in Panasonic?" Looking at the installed capacity of batteries in July alone, the Panasonic market accounted for 13%, ranking third, followed by Samsung SDI(7.3%), BYD (5.6%) and SK Innovation (4.5%). The top two are LG Chem (26.8%) and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (25.4%). Previously, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited dominated the new energy vehicle market in China by leaps and bounds, occupying the monthly champion throne for a long time. It is worth noting that from January to July this year, the total shipments of power batteries from three Korean companies (LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation) accounted for 35.6% of the global market, more than doubling year-on-year. The cumulative installed capacity of LG Chem from January to July was 13.4GWh, a year-on-year increase of 97.4%. This is the current pattern, breaking the cognition of many people!

■? If the special label belonging to LG Chemical only judges the strength of a power battery enterprise from the market share, it may be a bit narrow. LG Chemical's global counterattack in 22 stems from its special label. In fact, the battery is only one of the four major businesses of LG Chemistry. Others include petrochemical department, cutting-edge materials department related to IT and automobiles, and life science department related to medical beauty and medical reagents. A beautiful "chestnut" is inserted. YVOIRE Ewoir hyaluronic acid developed by LG Chemical Life Sciences Department is not exclusive to Koreans. This product has been sold in more than 3 countries around the world, and the annual sales in China has already exceeded 5 billion won (about 29 million RMB), and the spokesperson of this product is Korean actor Han Caiying. Other businesses of LG Chemical also have a wide market in the world.

"Four Business Fields of LG Chem" Regarding the layout of battery business, LG Chem is quite rich, including battery basic materials, mobile batteries, power batteries and energy storage batteries. However, the battery development history of LG Chem, like many local parts enterprises in China, has also experienced a stage of being "despised". In 1996, LG Chem only had corrosion professionals and Ni-MH battery experienced personnel. At that time, it tried to cooperate with Japanese companies in technology, but it was rejected. There was no equipment and no material reserve, so it could only indirectly acquire relevant equipment knowledge. In 1997, LG Chem successfully trial-produced small batteries for mobile computers, and in 1999, South Korea's first lithium-ion battery was successfully mass-produced in LG Chem. At that time, faced with global electronics companies such as Sony and Sanyo, it was difficult for LG Chem's battery business to reach the expected profit level. As a result, the battery business was in crisis. When the business structure adjustment was hesitant, LG Chem chose to open a firm 1-year battery investment road. After 2, LG Chem officially entered the field of electric vehicles, and the first station chose American GM. In 26, LG Chem participated in the general electric vehicle project, but the sample submitted was unsuccessful. In 27, GM officially started the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle project. This time, LG Chem came to a dead end. After a year of joint development, the final battery scheme was established. In 21, LG Chem became the sole supplier of mass-produced Volt batteries for electric vehicles. As a result, LG Chem's automotive power battery business officially started. In 219, LG Chem's sales reached 24.5 billion US dollars (about 167.2 billion RMB), including 7.2 billion US dollars (about 49 billion RMB) from the battery division. In the first half of 22, even under the influence of the epidemic, the battery business of LG Chem still exceeded 16.6 billion yuan, among which the automobile battery business reached a record high. In fact, the global layout of LG Chem is relatively radical, with seven production bases in China, South Korea, the United States and Europe. In Nanjing, China, LG Chem built its first power battery factory (Xinjiang Development Zone) in 215; In 218, we will invest 2 billion US dollars (about 13.7 billion yuan) to build another factory (Binjiang Development Zone), and plan to build 23 electrode and battery production lines; In 219, another 1.2 trillion won (about 7.3 billion yuan) was invested to expand the factory in Xinjiang Development Zone. In Poland, LG Chem built a battery factory in 215, and invested another 5 million euros (about 3.9 billion RMB) in 218 to increase the production capacity to 7GWh, which can meet the battery demand of 3, electric vehicles in the future. In the United States, LG Chem invested in its first factory in 21; In 219, a new factory was established in a joint venture with GM to ensure the production capacity of 3Gwh. In Indonesia, LG Chem is also conducting preliminary research, and plans to invest 2.3 billion US dollars (about 16.2 billion yuan) to build a comprehensive battery factory. As of the beginning of this year, the number of electric vehicles loaded with LG chemical batteries has reached 2.7 million. LG Chem's global automobile battery production capacity has reached 7GWh, and it can reach 1GWh by the end of this year.

■? The "ambition" of LG Chem, the four key players in the global battery market, should not be underestimated. On November 15, 219, Xin Xuezhe, CEO of LG Chem, emphasized a sentence when visiting a battery business partner, "Dominating the battery market depends on' materials, equipment and design'." The implication of concealment is that if you want to dominate the world battery market, you must be fully ahead and cooperate with each other in raw materials, battery spare parts and production facilities that determine performance. Driven by "ambition", the first key for LG Chem to counterattack the global market is cutting-edge materials and technology. At present, LG Chem, the leading battery technology in the market, has almost tested the water, and it is carbon nanotubes (CNT) that really makes it pay for it. LG Chem has been involved in the research of this technology since 211 and regards it as the most ideal material for batteries. As a cathode conductive material, carbon nanotubes have a higher conductivity than conventional carbon black by more than 1%. In the future, the market demand will increase at an annual rate of 34%. LG Chem plans to increase the total production capacity of this material to 1,7 tons. In terms of cathode materials, LG Chem will increase its independent production capacity to 35% in the future, compared with only 2% at present. At the same time, LG Chem is not engaged in research and development, and cooperation with start-ups is one of the main ideas of "technology expansion". ? In April 219, The battery challenge led by LG Chem (The? Battery? Challenge) ushered in "Pitch? Day "(refers to the fact that startups publish representative technology and business strategies and attract investment), 129 startups from 27 countries participated in the competition, and finally five startups with innovative technology commercialization potential were selected as the winning team. A new generation of lithium metal batteries and battery control systems, and even the idea of combining big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning into battery research and development, have appeared in this challenge.

The second key of "LG Chem's Battery Challenge" is ecological mutual assistance. LG Chem provides battery pack shell manufacturers and battery production equipment suppliers with the investment expenses needed for developing new products and industrialization, and also provides the initial resettlement funds and information support needed for these enterprises to go out of Korea. In April 219, LG Chem established an "Innovation Growth Fund" with a scale of about 43.2 billion won (about 25 million yuan). In other words, companies that have passed LG Chemical's audit and been selected can get a large amount of financial support without paying interest. It is reported that Dongshin, a protective shell enterprise at the upper end of the battery pack? Motech followed LG Chem into China and European markets.

The third key of "Xin Xuezhe, CEO of LG Chem, inspects the battery pack shell manufacturer" is to stabilize the supply position through "joint venture". At present, LG Chem provides batteries for 13 brands among the top 2 automakers in the world, including Volkswagen, Renault, Volvo, GM and Hyundai, as well as the US "Lucid? A start-up auto company like Motors has established an order of 15 trillion won (about 87 billion yuan) in the next five years.

『Lucid? In LG Chem's view, a joint venture with a vehicle manufacturer is the best way to stably supply high-quality batteries and reduce the risk of large-scale investment in the battery field. In June 219, LG Chem and Shanghai Huapu Guorun, a subsidiary of Geely Automobile, established a joint venture company, mainly engaged in the production and sales of electric vehicle batteries to ensure a large and stable supply; In December 219, LG Chem joined hands with GM, and the two parties jointly established a new battery joint venture for electric vehicles in the United States. The products will be applied to electric vehicles launched by GM in the future, including pure electric trucks scheduled to be released in the fall of 221.

The fourth key of "GM CEO mary barra and LG Chemical CEO Xin Xuezhe attended the joint venture ceremony" is not to be stingy with any financing opportunities. From the outside world, LG Chem seems to be heavily in debt, and most of its financing is on battery projects. In July 219, LG Chem released a new five-year plan, which raised the sales forecast in 224 from 28.2 trillion won (about 162 billion RMB) to 59.5 trillion won (about 343 billion RMB), of which the power battery reached 31.6 trillion won (about 182 billion RMB). Such high expectations must be supported by greater production capacity. In March 219, LG Chem issued 1 trillion won (about 5.8 billion RMB) of corporate bonds for the company's infrastructure construction, such as expanding production capacity and meeting the demand for battery orders; In April, LG Chem issued another $1.56 billion (about RMB 1.5 billion) global green bond to meet the demand for electric vehicle batteries. The introduction of these funds will promote the structural upgrading of LG's chemical industry. In 22, LG Chem released a brand-new vision-"connecting science with life and creating a better future". Compared with the previous vision of "a global leading enterprise growing together with customers with innovative materials and solutions" (put forward in 26), it is more in line with the characteristics of the new era. Xin Xuezhe believes that "LG Chemical needs to integrate digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, innovate business models, and integrate with completely different fields to create value that exceeds customer expectations." This is LG Chem, which has completed the "encirclement" of the global market when we are still celebrating the successful breakthrough and sea layout of domestic battery enterprises. In June last year, the cancellation of the "white list" of domestic batteries meant that foreign battery companies, including LG Chem, would return to the domestic market. Are we ready when full competition in the market really comes? (Text/car home? Liu Honglong)