SK Innovation works on developing technology to recycle spent electric vehicle batteries

By Lim Chang-won Posted : August 20, 2019, 16:41 Updated : August 20, 2019, 16:41

[Courtesy of SK Innovation]


SEOUL -- SK Innovation, a battery-making subsidiary of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate SK Group, is developing technologies that can recover the high concentration of lithium hydroxide from anode materials of spent electric vehicle batteries. It hopes to commercialize them next year.

SK Innovation (SKI) said that if related technologies are acquired, it can get key materials such as nickel, cobalt and manganese in higher purity by recycling more than 80 percent of electric vehicle battery components. SKI CEO Kim Jun has said that spent electric vehicle batteries can be collected and reused or recycled.

Local rivals such as LG Chem and Samsung SDI are also developing technologies to recycle battery packs for electric vehicles as lithium-ion battery-powered cars are just now coming to the mass market worldwide.

Electric vehicle batteries use chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. They reach an end of life for replacement. Valuable materials in battery packs such as aluminum, cobalt, nickel, lithium and other types of metals can be recovered and recycled.

The global electric vehicle battery recycling market is projected to reach $2,272.3 million by 2025, according to Allied Market Research, a market research company.
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