Spending 30 million US dollars, SKI targets solid-state batteries!

　　On October 28, South Korean battery manufacturer SKI signed a joint development agreement and a memorandum of understanding with Solid Power, a US all-solid-state battery developer. SKI promised to invest 30 million U.S. dollars (about 35.325 billion won) in Solid Power to acquire shares in the latter. It aims to develop an all-solid-state battery with an energy density of at least 930Wh/L.

　　Solid Power has produced prototype all-solid-state batteries on a trial production line at its headquarters in Colorado, USA. Just last month (September 7), Solid Power announced that it would build a second factory in Colorado, USA. The new plant will expand the production capacity of key materials for all-solid-state batteries, including the annual production of up to 30 metric tons of sulfide-based solid electrolyte materials, which is 25 times more than the current capacity.

　　SKI plans to cooperate with Solid Power to further develop Solid Power's existing all-solid-state battery technology by increasing energy density and jointly coping with the technical challenges of commercialization. Solid Power will use a factory owned by SK On, a subsidiary of SKI's battery business, to produce all-solid-state batteries in order to reduce investment costs and facility establishment time.

　　In addition, SK Innovation officially split the battery and exploration and production businesses. SK Innovation will own these two new companies as subsidiaries and hold 100% of the shares of the two companies. Among them, the name of the company responsible for the battery business is SK On.

　　After the spin-off, SK On's current battery order backlog has far exceeded 1,000GWh. SK Innovation stated that SK On intends to make full use of this spin-off to promote the company to a global leader by 2030. According to the plan, the company's current annual battery production capacity of 40GWh will be expanded to 85GWh in 2023, 220GWh in 2025, and more than 500GWh in 2030.

　　It is worth noting that in addition to SKI, Ford, BMW and many other large global car companies have recognized Solid Power's all-solid-state battery R&D and production technology and have invested in the company.

　　On June 15 this year, Solid Power announced a merger agreement with Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp. III. The combined company is valued at approximately US$1.2 billion and is expected to be listed in the fourth quarter of 2021.

　　Lithium-ion battery (LIB) has become the main energy storage solution in modern social life. Among them, lithium iron phosphate batteries are a perfect substitute for lead-acid batteries, and are the first choice for grid-connected peak shaving, off-grid energy storage, photovoltaic energy storage, UPS, data center and other industries.

　　Solar power generation system with lithium battery energy storage system is a very promising clean energy.