SK Innovation Set To Quadruple EV Battery Cell Production In 2018
The prominent electric vehicle lithium-ion battery manufacturer SK Innovation will be quadrupling its current production capacity in 2018, according to recent reports. This will be accomplished through the opening that year of a new battery production facility with a production capacity of 3 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year.
The firm’s current electric vehicle (EV) battery production capacity is 1 GWh. Total production capacity once the new, second production facility at its Seosan complex in South Chungcheong is up and running will be 4 GWh.
As the firm currently supplies lithium-ion EV batteries to Mercedes-Benz (Daimler) and Kia, it’s an interesting question what exactly the expansion plans relate to.
Push EVs provides more: “The Mercedes-Benz Generation EQ is expected to have a battery with at least 70 kWh capacity. This means that the new SK innovation 3 GWh facility would be able to supply battery cells for almost 43,000 battery packs per year. The battery packs will be assembled by Daimler’s subsidiary Deutsche Accumotive at the new facility which is being built in Kamenz, Germany and is expected to enter into service in mid-2018. The current Kia Soul EV has a 30.5 kWh (27 kWh usable) battery made with SK innovation cells. This well-built electric car has suffered from production constrictions.”
As an example of the point being made in that coverage, there have only been 453 Kia Soul EVs sold in South Korea so far this year, despite the country being Kia’s home market. As a comparison, fellow South Korean firm Hyundai has sold 1,304 IONIQ EVs, and that’s a brand new model.
Notably, Hyundai sources it’s lithium-ion batteries from LG Chem, one of the top battery manufacturers in the world, and likely a company that can produce at lower costs than SK Innovation. The expansion plans will presumably help to lower production costs at SK Innovation.
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