A Huge Market for Battery Separator Oil: How New Energy Vehicles Are Driving Lithium Battery Growth

Published 31 October 2022 · By Sinolook Team · Reading time: 4 min

Battery separator oil (paraffin oil) demand rising as new energy vehicles drive rapid growth of lithium batteries in China. — New energy vehicle growth is fuelling demand for lithium batteries — and for the battery separator oil used to make them.

The rapid rise of new energy vehicles (NEVs) is fuelling explosive growth in lithium battery production — and, with it, surging demand for battery separator oil, the paraffin-based oil used in the manufacture of lithium battery separators.

Lithium batteries: the core of the green energy industry

Lithium batteries sit at the heart of the green energy transition, and China leads the field. China has been the world’s largest lithium battery market for more than five years, accounting for 59.4% of the global market in 2021.

Lithium-ion batteries can be classified in several ways:

By chemistry: lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), ternary (NMC) batteries and others
By shape: prismatic (square), cylindrical and pouch (soft-pack) batteries
By application: consumer electronics, energy storage and power batteries

Consumer lithium batteries are used mainly in 3C products; energy storage batteries serve household storage and distributed independent power systems such as solar and wind generation; and power batteries drive a wide range of electric vehicles, power tools and new energy vehicles.

NEVs and separators hit record highs in H1 2022

In the first half of 2022, China’s new energy vehicle sector reached new records — with cumulative production and sales both more than doubling year on year, and monthly output setting a fresh high in June.

59.4%

China’s share of the global lithium battery market (2021)

2.66M

NEVs produced in China in H1 2022 (2.6M sold)

5.4B m²

Lithium battery output in H1 2022, up 55%+ YoY

200+ GWh

Power battery output in H1 2022, up 150%+ YoY

Driven by stronger global demand for new energy vehicles, China’s power battery production exceeded 200 GWh in the first half of 2022 — a year-on-year growth rate of more than 150%. Over the same period, Chinese separator exports also continued to climb.

Rising demand for battery separator oil — and where ADbase 8 fits

As lithium battery and separator output surges, so does demand for the separator (diaphragm) oil used in wet-process separator manufacturing. This is a growing opportunity for high-quality paraffin-type base oils.

ADbase 8

ADbase 8 — the ADNOC Group III base oil grade that Xiamen Sinolook exclusively distributes across China — offers characteristics well suited to battery separator oil applications, including a favourable flash point, high viscosity, low evaporation loss and low impurity levels.

To learn more about ADNOC ADbase Group III base oil supply from Sinolook, explore our Base Oil range or get in touch for a product consultation.

Interested in ADbase 8 for battery separator oil?

Talk to Sinolook about ADNOC ADbase Group III base oil supply in China.

About Sinolook — Xiamen Sinolook Oil Co., Ltd is a B2B petrochemical trading group and the exclusive distributor of ADNOC Group III base oil (ADbase) in China since 2020, serving lubricant blenders, OEM suppliers and industrial buyers across 60+ countries.