Battery management system (BMS) is the “housekeeper” and “nanny” of battery, which makes the battery work more “safe, efficient and long-life”. The main function of battery management system (BMS) is to realize the intelligent management and maintenance of battery units. Through condition monitoring, abnormal fault protection and other methods, it can monitor the battery status and prolong the battery service life. It has been widely used in all kinds of electronic and electrical equipment. BMS system involves algorithms, hardware circuits, software, etc. this field has long been monopolized by international analog leaders such as Ti and Adi, and the market space is broad.
Multiple factors are conducive to the development of domestic BMS industry, which is expected to accelerate into the fast lane of development. First, breakthroughs have been made in the field of consumer electronics, and more efforts have been made in the field of power and energy. This field has been monopolized by European and American enterprises for a long time. However, with the persistent R & D investment and application practice of Chinese enterprises in the field of BMS, the product performance in the field of consumer electronics is no less than that of large European and American manufacturers, and the vehicle specification BMS technology with higher technical difficulty is also in active layout. Second, China has the advantages of electronic product terminal and battery industry chain, and has a strong voice in the development of independent brand BMS. The strong demand of China’s consumer electronics and new energy vehicle industry has become an important driving force for the development of global lithium battery industry. Domestic battery pack plants have also occupied an important position in the global market. Third, active policy support has accelerated the domestic substitution process. China’s BMS chips have long relied on imports, especially vehicle specification grade AFE, ADC, MCU, isolation and other chips. In recent years, the state has issued many policies to support the development of automotive electronics and battery management related chip industry, and the independent chip industry is expected to go to a higher level.
Battery management chip is a sub circuit of power management. Its main product forms include three categories of chips: Battery metering (electricity meter), battery safety and charging management. The battery management chip belongs to the subdivision circuit of power management. The battery metering chip is used to determine the battery power state (SOC) and health state (soh) and estimate the battery state of charge; The battery safety chip is mainly used for battery status monitoring and battery cell balancing to avoid overcharge, over discharge, overcurrent, short circuit and other faults; The charging management chip is used to complete the functions of voltage conversion, regulation, battery charging management and overvoltage and overcurrent protection.
Consumer electronics market: the product competitiveness of domestic chips continues to improve, and the market share increases rapidly. In the field of consumer electronics, battery management chips are required for mobile phones, laptops, smart wear (headphones, watches), power tools ( Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) , vacuum cleaners), etc. According to the statistics of IDC and other data, the sales volume (units / sets) of mobile phones, PCs, pads, watches and headphones in 2021 were 1.3 billion, 270 million, 170 million, 130 million and 310 million respectively. Among them, battery safety is a necessary chip for all kinds of electronic equipment. With the popularization of fast charging, 5g, high-capacity battery and other technologies, mobile phones, laptops, pads, high-end watches and headphones put forward higher and more urgent needs for battery metering chips. High precision and reliable battery metering functions have become the mainstream selection. We believe that in the field of consumer electronics BMS, the performance of domestic chips has not been inferior to Ti and other products, and there is a catch-up trend. Affected by the shortage of Ti and other products, the products of China’s leading enterprises have been introduced into Huawei, Xiaomi, oppo, vivo and glory and accelerated in large quantities. The next 1-2 years will be a window period for the rapid increase of localization share, and the performance of relevant enterprises is expected to be realized.
Ti / ADI: the layout of China’s automobile market is still very broad, and the reliability of ADI / ADI is still required by Chinese enterprises. According to cleantechnica and other data, the cumulative sales volume of global new energy passenger vehicles in 2021 reached 6.4954 million, up 108% year-on-year; According to the data of the Ministry of industry and information technology, in 2021, China Shanxi Guoxin Energy Corporation Limited(600617) sold 3521000 vehicles, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year. According to the cheetah Research Institute and the electric vehicle resource network, the cost of power battery accounts for about 40% of new energy vehicles. The total cost of BMS and thermal management system in power battery accounts for about 10%. Vehicle BMIc involves AFE, MCU, active / passive equalization circuit, isolation and interface chip, etc. Some Chinese enterprises have started the R & D layout of vehicle multi battery management products, but the market is still monopolized by European and American simulation leading enterprises, such as ADI, Ti, St, Infineon, NXP, Renesas, Panasonic, etc. We believe that in the field of new energy vehicles, China’s leading enterprises are cutting into power BMS from different angles, and the products and technologies are expected to make breakthroughs in the next 3-5 years. With the improvement of the global voice of China Shanxi Guoxin Energy Corporation Limited(600617) automobile industry chain, the vehicle BMS business is expected to become the second growth curve of domestic lithium battery management enterprises.
The energy storage market has broad prospects: energy storage technologies mainly include thermal energy storage, electric energy storage, hydrogen energy storage, etc., among which electrochemical energy storage is widely used in power system. Through electrochemical energy storage technology, electric energy is stored in the form of chemical energy and fed back to the power network in time. From the technical path, the realization of electrochemical energy storage depends on energy storage batteries, which are mainly lithium-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries and sodium based batteries. Battery management system (BMS) is an important part of electrochemical energy storage system, which is mainly responsible for battery monitoring, evaluation, protection and equalization. The complete electrochemical energy storage system is mainly composed of battery pack, battery management system (BMS), energy management system (EMS), energy storage converter (PCS) and other electrical equipment. According to the international energy network and other data, in the cost composition of the energy storage system, the battery is the most important part of the energy storage system, accounting for 60% of the cost; The second is the energy storage inverter, accounting for 20%, the cost of EMS (energy management system) accounts for 10%, the cost of BMS (battery management system) accounts for 5%, and the other accounts for 5%.
Related targets: Analog IC enterprises, digital analog hybrid IC enterprises and MCU enterprises have their own characteristics and enter battery management from different angles. The battery metering chip is a digital analog hybrid chip, and the functions of battery safety and charging management chip are closer to the traditional power management chip. The core of battery metering chip involves metering algorithm, AFE / ADC and computing circuit. The main technical barriers are metering accuracy, managing the number of battery strings, platform voltage, power consumption level, etc. among them, AFE has ADC coulometer and other data that can measure current, but there is no processor core and can not process current data. Generally, it needs to cooperate with MCU to realize the function of electricity meter, which is Sino Wealth Electronic Ltd(300327) (analog + MCU) Chipsea Technologies (Shenzhen) Corp.Ltd(688595) (ADC + MCU) and other digital analog hybrid IC enterprises cut into the logic of battery metering track, and Sino Wealth Electronic Ltd(300327) has battery safety chip products. Saiweidian focuses on the battery management track and provides metering, safety and charging management products. The leading analog IC enterprises represented by Sg Micro Corp(300661) , Wuxi Etek Microelectronics Co.Ltd(688601) , xidiwei have deep accumulation in the technology of power management products, and their products cover more charging management chips or battery safety chips. Yingjixin is an important supplier of power management chips and fast charging protocol chips in China. MCU / CPU enterprises represented by Guoxin technology, Gigadevice Semiconductor (Beijing) Inc(603986) , Ninestar Corporation(002180) (Jihai), etc., give play to their advantages in computing and control, self-developed bmsmcu, or cooperate with self-developed and imported AFE chips to layout lithium battery management solutions. Nano chip micro isolation and interface chip is applied to automotive BMS to realize the batch supply of mainstream manufacturers in China. Enterprises represented by Byd Company Limited(002594) semi guide focus on the technical research and development of vehicle regulation products and have the advantages of application scenarios. The progress in BMS field is also worth looking forward to Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) , Shenzhen Desay Battery Technology Co.Ltd(000049) , Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and other leading battery pack enterprises in China will benefit from the development of battery industry and localization substitution.
Risk tip: the R & D progress is less than expected, the market development is less than expected, and the localization substitution is less than expected.
