[Courtesy of Samsung SDI]
South Korean research institutes, companies and government agencies joined forces Wednesday to launch a four-year project aimed at developing high-powered batteries for electric vehicles amid growing competition in the global battery market.
The 43 billion won (38.3 million US dollars) project involved 27 research institutes and private firms, including Hyundai Motor and LG Chem. By 2020, they will work together to develop a new EV battery that can travel about 400 kilometers (248 miles) on a single charge, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
A battery installed in Hyundai's Ioniq Electric has a maximum range of 190 kilometers while US electric carmaker Telsa Motors will release its Model 3, which can run 346 kilometers on a single charge, by late 2017.
EV batteries are considered one of the world's most promising sectors due to rising demands for an alternative to fossil fuels and the fast distribution of electric vehicles. According to TNS, a market research firm, the share of electric vehicles in the auto industry is expected to rise to 15-20 percent by 2025.
Beijing aims to have five million electric cars and buses on the road by 2020 as part of efforts to reduce both air pollution and dependency on imported oil.
LG Chem and Samsung SDI have been strong battery cell suppliers, controlling one-third of the world’s battery market for electric vehicles.
The battery producing arm of Samsung Electronics suffered a serious setback after the world's largest smartphone maker announced a global recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on September 2 due to explosions caused by defective batteries.
Samsung SDI was not involved in the new EV battery project.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
