① Sodium battery “crossover players” welcome toy companies. Gaole Co., Ltd. (002348.SZ) plans to invest 30 million yuan to develop solid sodium batteries. ② Furthermore, due to the cooperation, the legal representative of the counterparty is a shareholder holding 5% or more of Gaole shares, and this cooperation constitutes a related transaction.
Financial Services Association, January 29 (Reporter Zeng Chuchu) Sodium battery “crossover players” have welcomed toy companies. Gaole Co., Ltd. (002348.SZ) plans to invest 30 million yuan to develop solid sodium batteries. This act is not “reliable” in the eyes of industry insiders, and because of the cooperation, the legal representative is a shareholder holding 5% or more of Cloré shares, and this cooperation constitutes a related transaction.
It is proposed to develop solid sodium batteries across borders
Clore Holdings Co., Ltd. announced today that Clore New Energy Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (“Clore New Energy”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, and Chongqing Nicola Technology Industry Research Institute Co., Ltd. (“Nicola Research Institute”) signed the “Nano Solid State Sodium-ion Battery Complete Technology Development Research Project” on January 28. Cloré New Energy has commissioned Nicola Research Institute to research and develop the “Complete Nano Solid State Sodium Ion Battery Technology Development Research Project”. Nicola Research Institute has accepted the commission and carried out this research and development work.
According to the announcement, the goals of this technology are to develop a complete set of equipment and processes for solid-state sodium-ion batteries; second, to develop 160Wh/kg solid sodium-ion batteries to obtain preparation equipment and processes for positive and negative electrode materials; and third, to develop in-situ solidification electrolyte technology and curing process for solid sodium-ion batteries.
Regarding the above technical indicators, some sodium battery industry insiders told the Financial Federation reporter that currently it is not difficult to produce 160 Wh/kg solid state sodium-ion battery laboratory samples; the real problem is mass production.
Judging from the R&D agreement, Gaole shares also have production line construction plans. According to the announcement, the first amount of R&D expenses was 30 million yuan, of which Clore New Energy paid 10 million yuan for R&D expenses after the agreement came into effect; the second payment: After the 2GW production line was completed, complied with technical parameters and operated normally, Clore New Energy paid 10 million yuan; and the third payment: After the 2GW production line reached the mass production conditions, Clore New Energy paid 10 million yuan.
(Image source: Screenshot of the Cloré stock announcement)
It is worth noting that the “2GW production line” that appeared twice in the above announcement may be a clerical error. The industry insider mentioned above told the Financial Federation reporter that GW is a unit of power, representing the work done or energy consumed within one second. GWh is a unit of energy, representing the accumulation of power over time. The industry usually uses GWh as a standard for measuring the production capacity of battery production lines.
The above sources continued to say that if they invest in the construction of a 2 GWh solid sodium battery production line, it is likely to be made into a soft package or square shape. The estimated investment amount is about 2-3 billion yuan, plus about 400-500 million yuan for plant construction.
According to last year's three-quarter report of Cloré Co., Ltd., as of September 30, 2023, the company's monetary capital was 7.2041 million yuan.
Constituting a related transaction
According to the announcement, Nicola Research Institute was established on February 27, 2023. Its business scope includes energy storage technology services, transmission and distribution and control equipment manufacturing, photovoltaic equipment and components manufacturing, integrated circuit chip and product manufacturing, and battery manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Wang Xiangyu, the legal representative of the Nicola Research Institute, is a shareholder holding more than 5% of Gaole shares, and this cooperation forms a related transaction.
According to the company's 2023 semi-annual report, Wang Xiangyu transferred 52475,840 unrestricted tradable shares (accounting for 5.54% of the company's total share capital) through an agreed transfer on November 17, 2022. According to debts payable to related parties, Wang Xiangyu is a shareholder holding more than 5% of Gaole's shares. Last year, the company borrowed 10 million yuan from June 19 to December 18, 2023, with interest on the loan being 6.89%.
The announcement also mentioned that the Nicola Research Institute “has full compliance capabilities”. The Nicola Research Institute's first pilot product of a nano solid state sodium-ion battery has been discontinued, and the Nicola Research Institute's credit status is good.
According to public media reports, yesterday, the first high-capacity high-energy density nano solid state sodium-ion battery pilot product went offline on the Nicola Research Institute pilot production line in Tongnan High-tech Zone in Chongqing. The battery is based on high-performance positive and negative electrode materials independently developed by the Nicola Research Institute. Combined with techniques such as nano-modification of the anode surface, low temperature electrolyte formulation, and in-situ electrolyte curing, the battery energy density reaches 160-180 Wh/kg, which is comparable to that of lithium iron phosphate batteries.
On the same day, Nicola Research Institute signed project cooperation agreements with Gaole New Energy Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. and Yanshan University respectively to jointly develop nano-solid sodium-ion batteries and promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
Zhu Jianyong, chairman of Gaole Co., Ltd., said at the signing site that in recent years, the company has responded positively to the country's “carbon peak and carbon neutrality” goal, planned and laid out new energy projects such as photovoltaic energy storage and electric energy storage pools, sought top technical cooperation, and entered the field of intelligent new energy manufacturing in due course to promote diversified industrial development.
Judging from the annual reports disclosed in previous years, Clore Co., Ltd. has never been involved in the new energy business. Currently, the business structure mainly includes two major sectors: toys and internet education.
According to Clore's report for the third quarter of 2023, net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 8.317 million yuan, an increase of 754.09% over the previous year, achieving profit after three consecutive quarters of losses. However, the first three quarters of 2023 were still generally in a state of loss. The net loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 24.224 million yuan.