Samsung SDI targets U.S. electric car market

A Samsung SDI employee gives a briefing about the company’s electric car battery cells and car material products to visitors at the company’s exhibition booth during the 2015 North American International Auto Show at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, Monday. / Courtesy of Samsung SDI

New battery cells, car materials showcased at Detroit motor show

By Yoon Sung-won

Samsung SDI, the battery manufacturing affiliate of Samsung Group, said Monday that it has showcased its latest car battery and materials at a motor show in the United States.

The company said it hopes to expand its presence in the electric car battery manufacturing sector to the lightweight, functional car materials business through its exhibition at the 2015 North American International Auto Show at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. The show is one of the five biggest motor shows in the world.

“We vow to strengthen cooperation with carmakers, not only in the American market, but also in other parts of the world,” said Samsung SDI’s Automotive and Energy Storage System Business Vice President Jeong She-woong in a press release. “For this, we prepared various battery and car products for automobiles for this exhibition to meet the needs of the market.”

This is the first time for the company to participate in an international trade fair since it integrated with the material business division of Cheil Industries, the textile manufacturing arm of Samsung Group, in Jul. 2014.

At the Detroit motor show, Samsung SDI displayed four battery products ― high capacity battery cell for electric cars, interchangeable battery module for plug-in hybrid cars and electric cars, compact battery cell for hybrid cars and lastly a low-voltage system for energy-efficiency and low carbon emission.

The company said an electric car with an 120 ampere-hour high capacity battery cell can run for more than 300km from a single charge. The interchangeable battery module will help carmakers standardize the room for battery equipment when they develop an automobile design that can be built as either an electric car or a plug-in hybrid vehicle, it said.

The low-voltage system can replace or be added to the existing lead-acid battery for automobiles to enable the fuel efficiency mechanism such as “idle stop and go.”

Alongside the battery products, Samsung SDI said it also exhibited interior and exterior materials for automobiles, tapping into its know-how in the engineering plastic material manufacturing.

The company’s non-painting metallic material has its original color and thus does not need painting process, freeing its painting from peeling-off and discoloration.

It has been applied for the center fascia part of Ford Mondeo’s new model, the company said.

“We aim at leading the market by expanding our high-value product business under partnerships with automobile parts manufacturers and carmakers,” said Samsung SDI’s Chemical Business Executive Vice President Lee Seoung-ku.