"Many enterprises worry that we will transport in a few years. Power Battery there is no car to transport." Wu Jinzhong, head of the expert group on road transport of dangerous goods of the Ministry of Transport, described the severe current situation of power battery transportation at the industry conference in 2023.

As we all know, logistics transportation mainly includes four categories: highway, railway, waterway and air transportation. At present, China's power batteries are mainly based on highway transportation and supplemented by waterway transportation.

In the power battery export link, mainly sea transportation. However, shipping usually takes more than one month or even several months of transportation, and is easily affected by bad weather, sea conditions/shipping delay, etc. It is difficult to supervise on the way. However, if it is changed to railway transportation, the central European class is listed as an example. It only takes 10-20 days to deliver goods from China to Europe, and the transportation route/time is fixed, traceable, reliable, flexibility is higher than sea transportation, and it is easier to control potential risks on the way. Therefore, the "voice" of promoting international railway transportation of power batteries is rising day by day.

In the international competition of power batteries, supporting transportation services are an important part. It is very important to establish a high-efficiency and low-cost power battery transportation system. However, at present, there are few forms of power battery transportation in our country, and there are blocking points and lack of standards in domestic and international multi-form Transportation, which has become one of the "stuck points" that restrict the global development of power battery in our country.

In order to solve these problems, the state and industry are taking a series of measures to get through the transportation blocking points of power lithium batteries. Recently, ten departments such as the Ministry of Transport and the State Railway Administration issued "several measures on accelerating the promotion of new energy vehicle power lithium battery transportation service and safety guarantee capability" (hereinafter referred to as "power lithium battery transportation measures").

Power lithium battery transportation measures put forward, "strive to reach 2027, the blocking points of power lithium battery transportation will be further opened, and the transportation efficiency will be stable.Step by step, the comprehensive transportation structure is further optimized, and the level of transportation safety guarantee is greatly improved, ensuring the safety and stability of the supply chain of new energy vehicles and power lithium battery industry chain, in order to better serve the 'new three sames' of foreign trade ', we will fully support high-quality economic development and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern to provide strong support."

in fact, in recent years, dredging lithium battery transportation and exporting "stuck points" has always been a hot topic in the industry, including issues such as difficulty in transporting lithium batteries through railways and so on, which have been controversial.

Head Battery enterprises such as Ningde era once proposed suggestions and suggestions during the national two sessions. With the implementation of the transportation measures for power lithium batteries, the industry generally "claps and praises".

So, focusing on the transportation and safety guarantee of power lithium batteries, what are the pain points in the current industry? What are the key measures for the transportation of power lithium batteries released this time? What significant impact will these measures have on the industry?

01

power Lithium Battery Transport pain point

according to the 2023 power battery Transportation Industry Development Report released in September 2 this year, road transportation is currently the most important mode of transportation for domestic power batteries, accounting for about 90%.

The report points out that the current road transportation still has problems such as insufficient capacity, limited parking, limited transportation during holidays, difficult transportation of container energy storage electric cabinets, illegal transportation of lithium batteries by ordinary trucks, etc. At the same time, there are blocking points in inland water transportation, railway transportation needs to be accelerated, air transportation needs to optimize the process, transportation technical standards lag behind, multimodal transport connection is not smooth, security prevention and control capabilities need to be improved, which is also an urgent problem to be solved.

In terms of export, power lithium batteries currently rely mainly on sea transportation, but sea transportation has the following shortcomings:First, the current shipping capacity has become increasingly difficult to meet the increasingly vigorous export transportation demand of China's power lithium batteries, resulting in much higher transportation costs and time costs than ordinary goods.

Secondly, China's shipping rules in line with international standards are relatively lagging behind, causing "stuck points" for power lithium batteries to "go to sea".

Thirdly, it is necessary to further improve the safety guarantee of the shipping process. The power lithium battery itself has the characteristics of easy spontaneous combustion, fast fire, difficult to extinguish, etc. The combustion temperature can be as high as 800℃ to 1000℃, and it may release toxic, corrosive, flammable and explosive liquid or gas. These features increase the safety risk of its transportation. Ensuring the safety of sea transportation and taking measures to deal with risks are not a big challenge for major exporters of power lithium batteries in the world.

At the same time, railway transportation has pain points such as difficult approval, lack of professional unit load device, lack of supervision and so on, which makes it have not yet played a potential value in the transportation of power lithium batteries.

In the view of battery China, the above pain points not only affect the domestic and international transportation efficiency of power lithium batteries, but also restrict the promotion of the international competitiveness of China's new energy industry chain. On the other hand, except for highway, railway, waterway transportation and other modes, there is huge room for expansion.

02

key points of power lithium battery transportation measures

after sorting out, the main points of the power lithium battery transportation measures released this time are as follows:

1. Strengthen the standardized management of lithium battery industry. Speed up the revision of "safety requirements for power batteries for electric vehicles" (GB 38031) and improve the safety technical requirements for power lithium batteries.

3. Strengthen the transportation supervision of power lithium batteries. Guide local transportation, industry and information departments, urge power lithium battery production, maintenance and recycling enterprises to properly package and entrust enterprises with dangerous goods road transportation qualification to carry power lithium battery according to standard requirements, promote standardized container unit load device carrying power lithium battery multimodal transport conditions.

4. Improve and perfect the standard rules for the transportation of power lithium batteries: Formulate and publish the standard rules for the transportation of power lithium batteries, establish the domestic implementation mechanism for the international rules for the transportation of power lithium batteries, and promote the internationalization of the technical rules for the transportation of power lithium batteries.

5. Strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation in international transportation and cultivate leading transportation enterprises to improve the resilience and safety level of the international supply chain of power lithium batteries.

It is noteworthy that in the aspect of railway transportation, the transportation measures of power lithium battery released this time clearly point out that the safe transportation conditions of power lithium battery railway will be studied and formulated, and the scope of goods, testing requirements, packaging requirements, container technical conditions, station technical conditions, transportation organization requirements, operation and management requirements, etc. Carry out railway trial operation of power lithium batteries at qualified stations. Research and promote power lithium battery International through railway transport.

In terms of waterway transportation, the declaration procedures for the entry and exit of lithium batteries for ship-carrying power will be optimized, and the efficiency of ship entry and exit and cargo turnover will be improved. To promote the feasibility study of carrying power lithium batteries through the Three Gorges ship lock, and to study and promote the power lithium batteries to be transported through the "dam" in advance to reduce the transportation cost.

In terms of air transport, the implementation plan of air transport technology for power lithium batteries will be studied and introduced, and the evaluation content will be refined and the operating procedures will be optimized in accordance with the technical rules for safe air transport of dangerous goods of the International Civil Aviation Organization, strengthen safeguard measures to further improve the guarantee capability of air transport services.

03

lithium battery faucet once made suggestions in the "two sessions"

according to the data, during the national two sessions in 2022, as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde era, submitted a proposal on optimizing the road transportation management system of large-capacity lithium batteries to help the healthy development of new energy industry.

It is suggested to improve the transportation management of lithium batteries from three aspects:

1. Strict transportation access and strengthen law enforcement supervision. For enterprises that disrupt the market competition order, speculate and drill loopholes in laws and regulations, and violate national transportation laws and regulations, plus-sized enforcement penalties.

2. Establish a credit-based regulatory mechanism. Establish a "green channel" to reasonably encourage lithium battery enterprises that maintain good credit, safety and compliance, such as canceling management restrictions such as high-speed ban at night to improve transportation efficiency.

3. Promote transportation classification and scenario management and control measures. For some transportation scenarios or products with higher safety, such as lithium batteries with lower state of charge or lithium batteries transported in small batches in the city, differentiated management measures are formulated to reduce transportation costs.

It can be seen that the needs and suggestions of enterprises are reflected in the transportation measures of power lithium batteries this time, and the transportation measures of power lithium batteries are becoming the short board of our country to complete the transportation standards and realize diversified transportation, action Guide to ensure safe, efficient and convenient transportation of power lithium batteries.

Kong Jie, general manager of Ningde era Logistics, said last year that with the rapid growth of battery demand, the battery transportation volume will increase sharply. It is estimated that the transportation volume of the whole industry will reach 4.14 million containers by 2030, the transportation weight will reach 87 million tons, a 25-fold increase over 202020.

In addition, in November 2023, BYD's Fredi battery made a single pack of large power lithium battery pack with a weight of about 300kg, which was successfully transported from Hubei to Frankfurt, Germany by air transportation, realizing the first air transportation export of domestic large-scale power lithium battery pack also provides data support and successful cases for China's power batteries to open up more efficient transportation channels.

The current relatively lagging transportation service and safety guarantee are in great contrast with the iteration speed of China's power lithium battery technology and products. With the introduction of relevant transportation measures, it will gradually improve the international competitiveness of the transportation link of China's power lithium battery, thus further assisting new energy enterprises to "go to sea".