SKI plans to exceed 100GWh of lithium battery capacity in 2025
According to foreign media reports, South Korean lithium battery giant SKInnovation plans to achieve a lithium battery production capacity of more than 100GWh in 2025 in order to fight against CATL, Tesla/Panasonic and LG.
According to the plan, SKI will increase its production capacity from the current 5GWh to 20GWh by the end of 2019, and this figure will rise to 40GWh in 2020, and reach 100GWh by 2025 Total production capacity.
At present, the total production capacity of CATL under construction and planning is about 148GWh; Tesla/Panasonic's total production capacity under construction and planning is more than 100GWh; The total production capacity of LG Chem's factories under construction and planning is approximately 75GWh.
This plan will mainly rely on SKI's new plant in Georgia, USA, which has just started construction. The plant will be constructed in two phases and is expected to have an annual production capacity of 20GWh by 2025. The first phase will have an annual production capacity of 10GWh. The project will be completed in 2021. SKI will supply batteries to Volkswagen's plant in the United States.
SKI's US plant currently plans to invest approximately US$1.67 billion. The first phase of investment is 1 billion US dollars and is expected to be completed in 2021. The second phase of investment is 670 million US dollars and will be completed in 2025, when its production capacity will reach 20GWh. At the same time, according to future orders, the plant’s production capacity can be expanded to 50GWh
In terms of technology, SKI’s current main goal will be the high energy density NCM811 (nickel in the cathode material). The ratio of cobalt to manganese is 8:1:1) ternary lithium battery.
It was previously reported that CATL will launch NCM811 batteries with an energy density of 280kWh/kg or more this year. Up to now, publicly available models equipped with NCM811 batteries from CATL include GAC New Energy AiON.S and Weilai ES6, both of which will be mass-produced in 2019.
LG Chem and SKI both adopt the soft pack route in power battery technology. It is expected that the new LG Chem NCM811 battery models will include Hyundai Kona EV, Nissan LeafE-Plus, Hyundai IONIQ Electric, second-generation Renault Zoe, Opel CorsaEV, Peugeot 208EV and other models. The first model I.D based on Volkswagen's new electrification platform will also be equipped with LG Chem NCM811 batteries. In the material system, the two companies are also accelerating the industrial application of the high nickel 811 system.
Whether it is in terms of production capacity or technical route, the international lithium battery giants are trying to get ahead in the fierce competition.