2020 China International Lead-Acid Battery Summit Held in Nanjing

A summit focused on innovation, not decline

On 12 November 2020 the China International Lead-Acid Battery Summit opened in Nanjing. It was hosted by the China Industrial Association of Power Sources (CIAPS), with its Acid Battery Branch and Fengfan Co., Ltd. as co-organisers. Delegates from manufacturers, research institutes and industry bodies discussed scientific innovation, resource recycling, smart manufacturing and market competition over two days and more than twenty presentations.

Lead-acid is still the largest battery family worldwide

Liu Yanlong, secretary-general of CIAPS, chaired the opening session. He noted that although lead-acid faces competition from newer chemistries, it remains a very important part of the battery industry and is still the largest battery product family globally, with wide application in automotive starting, energy storage, standby power and light electric vehicles.

He also warned that lithium-ion has grown faster and larger on the back of the new-energy vehicle boom. As lithium costs fall, it now competes directly with lead-acid in e-bikes, shared e-bikes, low-speed vehicles and stationary storage.

Lead-acid still has broad prospects and market space, but it must prepare for fierce competition with lithium, increase technical innovation and find new application scenarios.

Three questions the industry has to answer

1. Technology competition — lithium is entering traditional lead-acid applications.
2. Policy pressure — development is shifting towards ecological and environment-friendly models, and environmental requirements on lead-acid makers are getting stricter.
3. Application development — defending existing markets is not enough; new use cases are needed.

Li Yong, vice-chairman of CIAPS and chairman of Fengfan, said lead-acid still has a long market and life cycle because of its safety and reliability. His prescription: face the situation squarely, push technology development, innovate the business model, accelerate automation and intelligent manufacturing, and build out collection and recycling of used batteries.

Presentations were also given by Wang Jinliang (China Battery Industry Association), Lu Xuelong (Industrial Technology Research Institute), Huang Wenping (Jiangsu solid waste supervision centre), Shang Huiliang (China Recycling Industry Technology Innovation Alliance), Pan Junqing (Beijing University of Chemical Technology) and Zhang Ruihua (Tianjin bicycle and e-bike association). Companies including Fengfan, Chilwee, Shuangdeng, Tianneng, Yuasa and Narada Power presented in the following sessions.

What it means for buyers

• Lead-acid capacity is not disappearing, but it is consolidating into compliant, automated plants.
• Tighter recycling and environmental supervision favours suppliers with a documented take-back chain.
• Higher automation improves consistency, so batch-to-batch variation is narrowing among established makers.

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_Summarised from on-site reporting by Battery China (电池中国网), 12 November 2020._