Geely replicates BYD's rise with the Aegis Dagger battery, completing the last piece of the puzzle in the industry chain

What has made BYD soar in the past three years? The blade battery released in March 2020 is undoubtedly a great contribution. This battery not only helped BYD become a global champion, but also led to the revival of lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Blade battery is actually a more general term, and it is not exclusive to BYD. In a broad sense, any battery pack composed of blade-shaped cells can be called a blade battery.

On June 27, Geely Auto released the "Aegis Short Blade Battery", which is also a "blade-type" lithium iron phosphate battery and is expected to be first installed on the Galaxy E5.

The Aegis Short Blade Battery is named after the shorter blade battery from Geely’s Aegis battery system. According to Geely Auto, the battery cell length is only 580mm, which is about 40% shorter than the current mainstream Long Blade Battery.

Why does Geely consider this an advantage? Because the longer the battery cell is, the longer the transfer path of lithium ions between the positive and negative poles of the battery will be, which will increase the internal resistance of the battery, causing performance degradation and safety hazards. In short, if the battery cell is made shorter, there will be no such problem.

So apart from being “short”, does this battery have any other highlights?

First of all, its energy density has reached a relatively high level. The official data given by Geely is: 192Wh/kg. Of course, this is the energy density of a single battery cell. After forming a group, the energy density will be reduced to 150Wh/kg-160Wh/kg.

At present, the energy density of mainstream power battery packs in the industry is generally between 140Wh/kg and 180Wh/kg, while the energy density of BYD's blade battery is only 140Wh/kg. The Kirin battery launched by CATL, if it uses lithium iron phosphate batteries, can reach an energy density of 160Wh/kg.

Judging from the data on paper, the performance of the Aegis Dagger battery is still good, reaching the current first-class level in the industry and can support Geely's huge new energy plan.

In addition, the Aegis Blade battery has also reached a relatively high level in terms of safety performance. It can achieve 8 5mm diameter steel needles puncturing at the same time and maintain it for 1 hour without smoke, fire or explosion. This performance has surpassed BYD's blade battery.

In addition, the Aegis Dagger battery adopts a CTB structure, which has a higher structural strength. Multiple layers of composite materials are added to the bottom of the battery cell to form a solid structural bottom guard plate. At the same time, two explosion-proof valves are used for rapid pressure relief. When thermal runaway occurs, it can minimize the risk of battery explosion.

Not only that, Geely officials also stated that the Aegis Dagger battery has passed the six extreme condition tests of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center. Even at an extremely low temperature of minus 30 degrees, the battery capacity can still be maintained at more than 90%.

The problem of insufficient low-temperature performance of lithium iron phosphate batteries has always plagued major manufacturers. If the Aegis Dagger battery can really achieve the effect officially promoted by Geely, it can be called a major breakthrough.

In addition, the charging efficiency of the Aegis Dagger battery has also been significantly improved, charging from 10% to 80% in just 17 minutes and 4 seconds. How this data was measured, whether it is a single cell or the entire battery pack, and how big the battery pack is, these information have not yet been officially released.

What is certain is that the charging speed of the Aegis Dagger battery is definitely faster than the battery currently used by Geely, but whether it has reached a new level is not certain. In theory, the shorter the battery cell, the smaller the capacity, and the faster the charging speed.

If you look at the Aegis Dagger battery as a whole, you will find that its various technical indicators have reached the mainstream or even leading level in the industry. In terms of the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries, Geely can already be compared with CATL and BYD.

So, what position does it occupy in the industry?

One thing is certain, the short knife battery is not an innovation, it just makes the battery cell shorter. For ordinary passenger cars, a 580mm battery cell is enough.

Interestingly, when BYD released the blade battery in 2020, it emphasized the "long battery cell". BYD's logic is this: the long battery cell grouping efficiency is higher, because it saves a lot of modules, structural parts and supporting parts in the middle of the battery pack, and improves the volume energy density.

In addition, batteries composed of long cells can also be used in commercial vehicles such as electric buses, which is also an area that BYD is good at. BYD has great ambitions in the field of power batteries, taking into account both commercial and passenger fields, so it tends to develop batteries composed of long cells.

Geely chose "short" for its key publicity, probably because it focuses more on the passenger car market. So Geely calls the short-blade battery the "optimal" solution, and this may be the reason.

In fact, Geely's choice is relatively rational. Its goal is not to become a manufacturer like CATL in the field of power batteries. At this stage, its power batteries can meet its own needs, rather than competing with anyone.

In addition, the Aegis Dagger battery has also undergone significant upgrades in terms of safety performance, but from an objective point of view, it has not made any major breakthroughs in core technology and is only aimed at the level of being "usable".

In fact, not to mention Geely, even the two giants CATL and BYD have not made any substantial breakthroughs in the field of power batteries. Generally, they have only made improvements in technology, and the chemical level remains the same.

In the past three years, the domestic power battery technology has been continuously improved, but it can only be called "micro-innovation", and it has not reached the shocking level of solid-state batteries. The Aegis Dagger battery released by Geely Auto this time is also a micro-innovation, which shortens the gap between it and CATL and BYD, that's all.

In this case, why does Geely attach so much importance to the Aegis Dagger battery?

In fact, the significance of the Aegis Dagger battery to Geely is not in the technical aspect. This battery is developed and produced by Geely itself. After large-scale mass production, Geely will no longer need external power battery suppliers and can also significantly reduce production and procurement costs. This is what Geely really wants.

For large new energy manufacturers like Geely, the stability of the power battery supply chain and the reduction of procurement costs are far more important than breakthroughs in battery technology.

In this regard, BYD is a good example. It is the first automobile manufacturer with the ability to independently produce power batteries. It is basically unaffected by fluctuations in power battery raw material prices and supply chain turbulence. This has also become the key to BYD's rise. The so-called "Follow if you can afford it, and pass if you can't."

Tesla is a negative example. Its power batteries mainly rely on suppliers such as CATL, LG, and Panasonic. However, in the past few years, Tesla was first cheated by LG and then by Panasonic. Due to Panasonic's insufficient capabilities, the legendary 4680 battery has not yet been mass-produced and delivered, which has seriously hindered Tesla's new car launch plan.

With the Aegis Dagger battery, Geely has basically eliminated its worries about power batteries. Looking at the global new energy market, new energy manufacturers that can independently develop and produce power batteries are rare.

After achieving "battery freedom", Geely Auto has realized "freedom" in various key links such as batteries, motors, electronic controls, chips, operating systems, etc., perfectly replicating BYD's path to rise back then.

In the past, the industry always believed that Geely had a gap with BYD in terms of cost control and sales volume, but now it has also opened up various core technical links, and it is not impossible for it to surpass BYD in the future. As BYD executives said, if this round fails, there is always the next round.

In this round, Geely comes with the Aegis Dagger Battery!

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.