SK Innovation

SK Innovation to target EV market with cells from its first ‘overseas’ lithium-ion gigafactory

South Korea’s battery maker SK Innovation will begin mass production of lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles at its new plant dubbed BEST early next year.

Operations at the 168,000 square meter plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, will begin after test operation and product approvals, following completion of the battery line.

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SK Innovation

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BEST

Hungary woos another Asian battery maker

Inzi Controls, a South Korean automotive company, is to build an electric vehicles battery plant in Hungary.

The company will build the plant in the city of Komárom, backed by a HUF1.6 billion (US$5.6 million) grant from Hungary’s government, foreign affairs and trade minister Peter Szijjarto (pictured) confirmed.

US trade probe into Korean battery secrets theft claims

The US’ international trade watchdog is investigating allegations that Korean battery maker SK Innovation was involved in the theft of trade secrets from manufacturing rival LG Chem.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) probe follows a lawsuit filed in the US by LG Chem and its US manufacturing subsidiary, LGCMI, whose pouch-type lithium-ion battery tech underpins what the company said is a “significant share” of the American electric vehicle market.

US International Trade Commission (USITC)

LG Them

SK Innovation

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LGCMI

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SK Innovation to expand battery production in China

South Korea’s SK Innovation (SKI) is to build a second battery manufacturing plant in China in response to increasing global demand from the electric vehicle sector.

CEO Kim Jun (pictured) said the company intends to invest 579.9 billion Korean won (US$488 million) in the lithium-ion batteries project, which will be a joint venture with the Beijing Automobile Works Company— a subsidiary of the state-owned BAIC Group.

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lithium-ion batteries

Kim Jun

Beijing Automobile Works Company

BAIC

SK Innovation ‘in battery venture talks with VW, China’

South Korea’s SK Innovation (SKI) is reportedly in talks to establish two separate battery production joint ventures— one with Volkswagen and another with Chinese partners.

SKI confirmed talks with Volkswagen in an interview with Reuters, saying the two companies were discussing building a factory together. SKI also said I was “on the cusp” of agreeing plans to build a plant in China with “undisclosed partners”.

The president of SKI’s batteries business YS Yoon told Reuters: “Our strategy is to keep up with technological advancement by having relationships with some of our key customers. Compared with rivals, we’ve been matching or exceeding investment in the (EV batteries) area since last year.”

SK Innovation building Polish battery plant

SK Innovation is to start work on a factory in Poland to manufacture lithium-ion battery separators (LiBS) and ceramic coated separators (CCS) for electric vehicle batteries in Europe.

The South Korean group will break ground on the plant site in Województwo Śląskie in southern Poland in the third quarter of 2019— and expects to begin mass production in the third quarter of 2021.

SK Innovation intends to invest €335 million (US$378m) to realise four LiBS production units and three CCS production units on the 270,000 square metre site.

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Infrastructure

battery separators

SK Innovation starts work on US battery factory

Artist's impression of SK Innovation's EV plant

SK Innovation has broken ground on a US$1.1 billion electric vehicle batteries production plant in the US state of Georgia.

The South Korean group said the plant would have an annual production capacity of around 60 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries annually by 2022— when full production is slated to start.

SK Group vice-chairman Choi Jae-Won said the facility— being built on a 278-acre site in Commerce City— would be completed in the second half of 2021 and help to strengthen Korean-US economic cooperation.

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US-Korean partnership for novel lithium technologies

PolyPlus and SK Innovation are to jointly develop “the first rechargeable lithium metal battery with a conductive glass separator”.

The partners’ initial goal will be to produce and test prototype cells using California-based PolyPlus’ solid-state lithium anode laminate, which is describe as having “the potential to double the energy density and cycle life of rechargeable batteries”.

Under the agreement, financial terms of which have note been disclosed, South Korea’s SK Innovation will provide development funding, and will receive an option to make “a significant investment in Polypus” and an option to negotiate a licence to PolyPlus technology for use in electric vehicles.

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lithium metal batteries

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US DOE

Battery giants back Korean R&D investment fund

Three South Korean battery giants have signed up to an agreement to support the launch of a government-backed “next-generation batteries investment fund”.

Samsung SDI, LG Chem and SK Innovation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to support the KRW1 billion (US$885,000) fund, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) said.

The signing comes a year after South Korea’s government said it would support plans to expand domestic battery production and challenge China’s increasing dominance of the global market.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

SK Innovation battery project targets US automotive market

SK Innovation plans to invest 1.98 trillion South Korean won (US$1.01 billion) to establish an electric vehicle (EV) batteries production base in Jackson County, Georgia as they look to establish themselves in the US, “the largest battleground of global automakers”.

The plant will be built on a 278-acre site in Commerce City and is expected to have an annual production capacity of 9.8 gigawatt-hours.

The announcement confirms speculation of such a project reported earlier this year.