The main players and their predicaments in the market
The commercialisation of China’s electric bicycle (e-bike) industry began in 1995. Lead-acid batteries, which provide the power for these bicycles, have been key to the industry’s progress and development, with sales reaching RMB 17 billion yuan in 2010. With the entry of lithium-ion batteries in recent years, fierce competition has emerged between lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries in the e-bike power battery market.
Although lithium-ion batteries experience frequent accidents, their high performance (long lifespan, high specific energy, etc.) is a reality and challenge that lead-acid batteries must face in a market exceeding RMB 100 billion yuan in revenue recently. The emergence of sodium-ion batteries has further exacerbated the crisis for lead-acid batteries. Innovation and upgrading have become crucial for the survival of lead-acid batteries in the e-bike power battery market.
The market is the standard for testing a product’s viability. The fact that lead-acid batteries, despite their shortcomings compared to lithium-ion batteries, still maintain a mainstream market share precisely demonstrates their comprehensive competitiveness. To continue stabilising the market in the future, the most important area for lead-acid batteries to focus on is cycle life. The core competitive advantages of lead-acid batteries lie in low cost, high safety, mature distribution channels, convenient after-sales service, and recyclability.
However, the way forward is through technological upgrades to address the two major shortcomings: cycle life and energy density. In this market context, the key to their survival and development lies in how to improve cycle life through technological upgrades, overcome the shortcomings of lead-acid batteries, and leverage their core advantage of low cost.
To improve the performance of lead-acid batteries in e-bike applications and gain an advantage in competition with other new energy batteries, industry players have never stopped innovation of the lead-acid battery, focusing on grid alloys, manufacturing methods, and battery design, resulting in performance improvements. However, the 2-hour 100% DoD lifespan of lead-acid batteries remains a bottleneck, hovering between 300-400 cycles.
Facing this challenge, Jinkeli leverages its strengths to participate in the competition and lead innovation. It begins its efforts to improve the performance of lead-acid power batteries by focussing on areas such as long lifespan and low-temperature capacity.
Long-life formulation solutions – Jinkeli’s contribution
Jinkeli, a supplier of optimised lead-acid battery formulation bag and additives solutions, began its long-life formulation development project for e-bike power lead-acid batteries in 2019. Taking into account factors such as low-temperature performance and initial capacity, the company leveraged its expertise in lead-acid battery active material additives to achieve breakthroughs through research and innovation.
Starting with diversified composite additives, they focused on improving the deep-cycle performance of AGM valve-regulated batteries, developing two major composite formulation systems: JEV-1019 and JEV-5079. These systems are applied to different electric power battery application scenarios, achieving excellent results of e-bike battery such as a 5-10% increase in initial battery capacity, a 9% improvement in low-temperature performance, and a doubling of cycle life.
Batteries manufactured by customers using Jinkeli’s composite formulation bag have demonstrated long life and high performance in field testing. Tiger from BEST conducted an exclusive interview with Xing Yanchao, General Manager of Jinkeli, to reveal the secrets behind Jinkeli’s innovative work and success in long-life e-bike power batteries.
Tiger: Thank you, Mr. Xing, for agreeing to our interview today. Could you first briefly introduce the overview of the long-life power battery project?
Xing Yanchao: Welcome Tiger to Jinkeli. Jinkeli’s research on long-life e-bike power battery formulations originated in 2019. When lead-acid battery life became a major challenge in the industry, we, as a member of the industry, (Jinkeli is a member of CBI, and secretary of CBI APAC as well) took on this task without hesitation. Targeting market needs, our team dedicated years to intensive research, allowing our R&D capabilities to contribute to industry progress. This breakthrough has enabled lead-acid batteries to compete with lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries in the e-bike power battery market in recent years.
Test results show that Jinkeli’s e-bike power battery formulation can significantly improve the deep cycle life of e-bike power batteries, exceeding it by more than double that of current market products. Simultaneously, it improves key aspects such as initial capacity and low-temperature performance. For example, the cycle life results can be seen in Fig 2.
Tiger: Could you provide some of the experimental results so that we could see it in detail?
Xing Yanchao: Of course! We all know that the various performance indicators of a lead-acid battery are interconnected. Optimising one indicator will affect the results of other indicators. Therefore, Jinkeli’s work focuses on improving the overall performance of the battery, rather than just improving a single performance indicator. While improving cycle life, the initial capacity, internal resistance, and low-temperature performance of the battery are shown in Fig 3.
The comprehensive improvements have resulted in outstanding performance for the batteries produced by our customers, laying the foundation for Jinkeli to win their trust. Overall, Jinkeli’s composite formulation bag allows for a breakthrough in battery performance under otherwise identical conditions. Winning customer trust translates to market recognition, placing lead-acid batteries in a favourable position in the competition with new energy batteries. Jinkeli has made significant contributions to this area of industry development.
Tiger: Mr. Xing, could you please describe the structure of Jinkeli’s R&D capabilities? How are they reflected in R&D projects?
Xing Yanchao: Since its inception, Jinkeli has embarked on a path of innovation, R&D, cooperation, and win-win outcomes. Currently, it has established a large-scale, standardised, and systematic R&D cooperation model with international and domestic companies in the industry. These include companies such as Borregaard (Sweden), Cabot (USA), Gore (USA), Yunnan Tin Group (China), and Wavetech (Germany), with whom it has jointly established laboratories to collaborate on innovative research and development in lead-acid batteries (Fig 4).
Simultaneously, it collaborates with companies such as H&V (USA), Yunnan Tin Group (China), and universities such as Shandong University of Technology, leveraging industry and societal research resources to ensure its research remains at the forefront of the industry. Jinkeli’s own R&D team comprises experienced industry experts who understand industry needs, possess extensive professional backgrounds, and master relevant technical capabilities.
Working collaboratively from multiple perspectives and disciplines, Jinkeli’s research projects closely align with market needs and serve industry development. Jinkeli’s patented technology, research capabilities, and industry standing are widely recognised and have a far-reaching impact on the global lead-acid battery industry.
Tiger: That’s truly impressive! What are Jinkeli’s main research areas? What methods do you employ in Jinkeli R&D works?
Xing Yanchao: Jinkeli’s R&D focuses primarily on lead-acid battery technology, particularly formulation technology, aiming to fundamentally identify the problems of lead-acid batteries, explore effective solutions, and provide comprehensive services to customers. We concentrate our efforts in three areas: basic electrochemical principles, simulated battery testing and evaluation, and standardised testing and evaluation of commercial battery products according to industry standard.
Jinkeli possesses over 50 sets of various materials research equipment and more than 1,500 battery testing circuits, and its R&D centre has passed CNAS certification. These conditions form the basis for our cooperation with advanced research institutions and organisations both domestically and internationally (Fig 5).
Tiger: What are Jinkeli’s plans for e-bike power batteries? What are your new goals for the future?
Xing Yanchao: In accordance with industry and market demands, the new “Technical Specifications for Lead-Acid Batteries for Electric Bicycles (2025 Edition)” promotes a 10% increase in power battery energy density and a 20% extension in cycle life, thereby driving system upgrades across the industry. This is also our new goal and requirement.
Lead-acid batteries possess advantages such as cost-effectiveness throughout their entire lifecycle, outstanding safety features, and a mature recycling system, placing them in a favourable position for future competition. This is the foundation of Jinkeli’s work. However, compared to other new energy batteries, we also have other projects aimed at comprehensively improving the shortcomings and deficiencies of lead-acid batteries. I cannot disclose them now. Once the results are available, we will report to the industry as soon as possible. Let’s all work together for the progress and development of the industry!
Tiger: Thank you, Mr. Xing, for your introduction. We are looking forward to the new achievements of Jinkeli. See you at ELBC Vienna this year.
Xing Yanchao: Thank you for your support and efforts. Let’s work and meet again in our industry.
