SK Innovation to mass produce EV battery with driving range up to 450km

By Park Sae-jin Posted : August 31, 2017, 10:19 Updated : August 31, 2017, 10:25

[Courtesy of SK Innovation]


In an effort to take the advantageous position in the global EV (electric vehicle) battery industry, SK Innovation will start mass producing NCM (lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide) 811 batteries with the driving range of up to 450 kilometers (279 miles) for the first time in the world.

The NCM batteries created by the South Korean battery giant currently has the longest driving range than other batteries used in electric vehicles. Hyundai's Ioniq EV has the maximum driving range of 191 kilometers while Tesla's Model 3 has the maximum driving range of 350 kilometers.

"Because of the recent increase in the prices of materials and the market's demand for increased energy density in batteries, it was vital to create a new technology," said SK Innovation in a Wednesday statement. The battery giant added the new NCM batteries will be applied to EVs starting from the latter half of 2018.

The NCM 811 batteries contain more nickel but less cobalt than other batteries, cutting down the manufacturing cost. The cost of the raw cobalt has increased over 135 percent from 25,750 US dollars per ton in August last year to 60,500 dollars in August this year.

The company speculates that once the NCM 811 batteries are applied to EVs, the market will eventually shift to using the new power packs instead of conventional ones.

Because of the growing size of the global EV market, the EV battery market has also relatively increased. According to a data from Electric Cars Report, an analyst group, the global EV battery market size will reach 30 billion dollars by 2024.


 
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