We believe that high lithium prices are the biggest catalyst for the sodium-electric sector, so [cost] is the core essence of the development of sodium-ion batteries. The investment focus of the sodium-ion battery material link is [cost reduction]. Looking from top to bottom, we

We believe that high lithium price is the biggest catalyst for the sodium-electric sector, so [cost] is the core essence of the development of sodium-ion batteries. The investment focus of the sodium-ion battery material link is [cost reduction]. Looking from top to bottom, we believe that the [hard carbon negative electrode] track is worthy of attention. The core targets are Yuanli Co., Ltd. (biomass), Baisige (not listed), and Shengquan Group (resin).

1. Why is it the negative pole?
After we sort out the differences between sodium and lithium battery materials, we can find that:
1) Diaphragm: Just the difference in the size of the diaphragm pores, it is still dominated by lithium battery diaphragm manufacturers.
2) electrolyte : The lithiate system has changed into a sodium compound system, and the additives and solvents have changed, but traditional electrolyte manufacturers still have advantages.
3) Positive electrode: The current mainstream is the layered oxide route. Since its structure is similar to that of the ternary and the traditional ternary production process, it is still mainly the transformation of traditional ternary enterprises; the Prussian blue /white technology route still has process problems that need to be solved urgently.
4) Negative electrode: Because the radius of sodium ion is large, traditional graphite cannot be embedded and removed. Therefore, the sodium electro negative electrode needs to be equipped with amorphous carbon (including hard carbon and soft carbon). Hard carbon has become a deterministic technical direction due to its advantages such as high energy density, excellent fast charging performance, and low theoretical cost. Since hard carbon raw materials, production processes, and equipment are all largely different from traditional graphite, the advantages of traditional graphite negative electrode manufacturers to transform into hard carbon are not obvious. Currently, the better hard carbon negative electrodes are Baisige, Berry, Colali (Japanese company), Baowu Carbon Industry, etc. The domestic hard carbon industry is in a period of accelerated development and domestic substitution, and new players still have the possibility of overtaking on the curve.

2. Comparison of three different technical paths of hard carbon?
1) Biomass route: The raw materials are plant residues or shells. Currently, starch, coconut shell and other applications are widely used, and the theoretical raw materials cost is low, but long-term raw material supply capacity and raw material consistency are core issues. At present, most layout companies adopt this technical route, and the main targets include [Yuanli Co., Ltd.] (activated carbon transformation hard carbon), [Baisige] (non-listed, domestic hard carbon leader), [Betry], etc.
2) Petroleum-based route: Raw materials are mainly petroleum-based products such as asphalt , but the capacity is not rated and the first-term efficiency is low. Currently, the main enterprises are [ Shanshan Co., Ltd. ], etc.
3) Resin route: Resin-based hard carbon can accurately adjust the pore structure, surface chemical composition and active sites, with high gram capacity, good performance of electrochemical , but high cost, the main target is [Shengquan Group] (domestic phenolic resin leader).

3, target sorting
1) Yuanli Co., Ltd.: Completely benchmarked against Japan's Cola Li, the main business activated carbon has increased steadily, and jointly deployed Malaysian 30,000 tons of coconut, the biomass hard carbon negative electrode opened the second growth curve, and it is expected to occupy a place in the sodium electrohard carbon market in the future.
2) Shengquan Group: Domestic resin leader, expected to enter the resin hard carbon field based on the synergistic advantages of raw materials.
3) Baisige (not listed): Domestic biomass hard carbon leader, planned to produce 10,000 t production capacity , and currently has delivered small batches of domestic leading battery factories.

4. Investment advice Under the development trend of
sodium ion, the hard carbon negative electrode track is strong, and domestic substitution is accelerated. It is recommended to pay attention to the layout of biomass hard carbon [Yuanli Co., Ltd.] and the resin hard carbon [Shengquan Group].