On December 14th, Jike released its mass-produced fast charging lithium iron phosphate battery product, the "Golden Brick Battery," which increased its range by over 500 kilometers after 15 minutes of charging and increased its fast charging speed by 25% in low temperature environments below minus 10 degrees Celsius.
This is the first self-developed battery by JiKron. JiKron CEO An Conghui stated in an interview with Interface News and other media after the event that JiKron has two synchronous paths in battery development, continuing to use batteries from Ningde Times and planning to install BRICS batteries.
As for why we need to develop our own batteries, he explained that as an intelligent electric vehicle enterprise, Jike believes that in order to form competitiveness in the future, batteries are the core and most basic element, which is also one of the moats for Jike's future development.
The BRICS battery will first be installed on the Geely Krypton 007, which will be officially released on December 27th. The latest data disclosed by An Conghui shows that within two hours of the release of the Extreme Krypton Gold Brick Battery, 007's orders increased by 487 units. "It is sufficient to prove that BRICS batteries have contributed to 007's orders, and even the entire Jike's orders."
At present, the gold brick batteries for extreme Krypton mainly focus on the lithium iron phosphate route, and ternary lithium battery solutions are not being considered at this stage. Lithium iron phosphate batteries are lower in cost than ternary lithium batteries, and the current installed capacity in China has exceeded 60%.
According to the analysis of extreme Kr, using a short knife structure is the best solution in lithium iron phosphate batteries, with a volume utilization rate of 83.7% for gold brick batteries. In the industry, Honeycomb Energy also adopts a similar structure, and the company implements a short knife product strategy in the fields of power batteries and energy storage.
Cost is also an important factor for the self-developed battery of Extreme Krypton. An Conghui said that the progress of technology and the mastery of core enterprise technologies are very important in terms of cost. "Technology needs to be leading, while costs need to be low, in order to form core competitiveness."
The progress made by Extreme Krypton in batteries is expected to further reduce costs and increase efficiency. It is reported that the production efficiency of the new self-developed battery has increased by more than 40%, and compared to ternary lithium batteries with equivalent performance, the cost of gold brick batteries can be reduced by 14.8% per kilowatt hour.
At present, the supply of BRICS batteries mainly focuses on the Extreme Krypton brand. However, An Conghui revealed that in addition to meeting the needs of its own products, the Jike Gold Brick Battery is not ruled out to be applied to other brother brands that also adopt the Haohan architecture, and it is also not ruled out to be supplied to other friends in the future.
Last month, Geely Holdings and NIO signed a strategic cooperation agreement on battery swapping. As a high-end intelligent electric brand under Geely, does this mean that Jike will also adopt a strategy of parallel development of fast charging and battery swapping in the future.
An Conghui stated that Extreme Krypton will continue to develop towards ultrafast charging, and this strategy is clear and definite. At the same time, he believes that whether it is 800V or battery swapping, the purpose is to improve energy replenishment efficiency and solve users' energy replenishment anxiety.
At present, Jike builds and operates its own energy supplement network through self-developed, self built, self built, and self operated methods. "If we had independent accounting, we would still be at a loss until today, but I believe we can definitely turn to profitability in 2025," he said.
With the gradual popularization of vehicle integration technology, improving the standardization construction of batteries is seen as a prerequisite for achieving the critical value of economies of scale. Xie Shibin, Vice President of Extreme Krypton, said that from a cost perspective, it is likely that more and more manufacturers will choose to approach standards.
But in recent years, with the emergence of new technologies and the continuous differentiation of consumer demand for car models, he judged that batteries are unlikely to completely converge. "In the future, batteries may be smaller or larger, which may be similar in technology but not identical".
Since the Shanghai Auto Show, 800V fast charging has gradually become a standard feature. Regarding whether the future voltage will further iterate, Xie Shibin stated that it may slightly increase to 900V, but it is not possible to increase indefinitely because safety risks will also increase accordingly. "It is possible to improve the battery cell's capabilities, but we are already prepared in this regard."
Extreme Krypton is accelerating its product launch, and a few days ago, the first European version of Extreme Krypton 001 was delivered in the Netherlands. But after the EU Battery and Waste Battery Regulation officially came into effect, Chinese power battery and electric vehicle companies are facing the challenge of zero carbonization transformation. The carbon emissions generated at any stage of raw material acquisition, processing and manufacturing, transportation and sales, and product scrapping will be included in the carbon footprint.
Jike intends to turn Quzhou manufacturing base into a zero carbon factory to meet relevant requirements. The renovation has already begun earlier, and the brand is seeking cooperation with the local government and banks on related matters. An Conghui stated that Jike is aimed at the global market and meeting global standards is a "must do".