Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Car battery makers rushing to build plants abroad
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By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korea's three car battery makers ― LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation ― have been rushing to build production lines abroad to meet growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs).
The companies said Monday they are seeking to increase their capacities in Europe where demand for EVs has been growing rapidly.
They said the move is also to respond to their Chinese competitors' rising investments in the region as China's CATL recently announced it will increase battery production capacity at its Germany plant to 100 gigawatt hours (GWh).
LG Chem, the country's largest car battery maker, said it is considering constructing a second battery plant in Europe. The firm operates a battery plant currently in Wroclaw, Poland.
“Thanks to the growing demand for EV batteries in Europe, we are considering adding a battery plant there,” said an LG Chem spokesman, adding the firm has not yet decided on the location of the second battery manufacturing plant. “The location will either be next to our Poland plant or a completely new spot.”
The spokesman said LG Chem has been accelerating its investments in Europe to reach its 2020 yearly output goal of 100 GWh.
LG Chem built a battery plant in Poland in 2016 and began mass production in the first quarter of 2018. It said it will invest $571 million in the plant to expand battery production capacity from 6 GWh to 15 GWh.
LG Chem has been operating four battery manufacturing plants in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, Michigan in the U.S., Nanjing in China and Wroclaw. As of 2018, the firm has a yearly output of about 35 GWh.
Samsung SDI also decided to invest 560 billion won ($496 million) in its Hungary plant to build an additional battery manufacturing plant there.
The battery making unit of Samsung Group commenced the operation of its Hungary plant in 2018. The firm invested 400 billion won to build the plant in the Hungarian city of God, some 30 kilometers north of Budapest.
“The plan is to increase manufacturing lines in our plant in Hungary,” the firm's spokesman said, adding this is to meet the growing market demand for EV batteries.
The firm has operated three battery manufacturing plants in Ulsan, Hungary and Xian in China with capacities to produce battery cells for 60,000 EVs, 50,000 EVs and 30,000 EVs, respectively.
Samsung SDI also announced in November 2018 that it will build a battery pack plant in Auburn Hills, Michigan, after investing $62 million.
SK Innovation also plans to increase its production capacity in Europe.
The firm said on Feb. 27 that it will build a second battery plant in Komarom, Hungary, after investing 945.2 billion won ($840 million).
SK Innovation is currently constructing its first Hungary plant, which will begin mass production of EV batteries starting early 2020. The second plant is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021 and begin mass production in early 2022.
SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun announced in January that its long-term goal is to reach its production target of 60 GWh by 2022.
To achieve the goal, the firm has been increasing its investments in building new battery plants not only in Europe but also in China and the United States.
Its Changzhou plant, which will have a yearly output of 7.5 GWh, will start operation early 2020. Prior to the additional investment in Hungary, the firm announced its plan to build a battery plant in the U.S. state of Georgia. The plant, with a projected yearly output of 9.8 GWh, began construction in February and is scheduled to commence mass production starting 2022.