Korean battery giant LG Chem held a ground-breaking ceremony this week in Nanjing, China, where it started construction on a new EV battery plant. The new facility will be able to produce enough batteries annually to supply more than 100,000 EVs when it opens by the end of 2015. It will supply batteries to Chinese… Read more »
After years of disappointment, the EV market is ready to grow, predicts Prabhakar Patil, CEO of LG Chem Power, and the Korean battery maker means to be one of the top players. “We expect to have a 25 percent share [of the global battery market],” Patil told Automotive News. “We know that we will be… Read more »
Korean giant LG Chem has agreed to supply batteries to Audi for hybrids and plug-in hybrids, and the companies will collaborate on various future plug-in projects, according to Reuters. “The batteries will be used in Audi’s next-generation plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Given that Audi shares many auto platforms with parent Volkswagen, we expect more such… Read more »
LG Chem CFO Cho Suk-jeh told Reuters this week that the South Korean company plans to supply batteries for an EV with more than 200 miles of range in 2016. Cho Suk-jeh did not say which automaker(s) would be using the new cells, but GM seems to be a likely candidate. It currently has a… Read more »
LG Chem has agreed to license its separator film technology agreement to Ube Maxell. Under the agreement, Ube Maxell acquires patent use rights from LG Chem for ceramic coating of separator substrates, a key component of lithium-ion batteries. Ube Maxell, a joint venture between Ube Industries and Hitachi Maxell, was formed in 2011 to manufacture… Read more »
Celgard, a subsidiary of Polypore International (NYSE:PPO), has filed a complaint against LG Chem, alleging that the Korean chemical giant has infringed one of Celgard’s US patents for a battery separator. The patent in question covers ceramic composite layer lithium-ion battery separators. Celgard filed the lawsuit following a lengthy period of discussions with LG regarding… Read more »
LG Chem, the world’s largest lithium-ion battery maker, has obtained a patent for its safety-reinforced separator (SRS) in Europe and Japan. The company already has patents for the technology in South Korea, the US and China. The separator is an important component of lithium-ion polymer batteries, separating the negative and positive poles to prevent internal… Read more »
South Korea’s LG Chem plans to start production at its US car battery factory in the second half of this year, two executives told Automotive News. The Holland, Michigan manufacturing plant drew some unpleasant publicity in February, when a DOE investigation found that the production line at the plant was idle, but workers were being… Read more »
Commercial EV innovator Proterra (NASDAQ: PTRA) has formed a new agreement with LG Energy Solution to provide a long-term supply of cylindrical battery cells, to be manufactured at a new LG Energy Solution plant in the US. LG will deliver cells to Proterra’s factories for the manufacture of the company’s commercial EV battery systems. Proterra… Read more »
Over the last few years, Tesla has been diversifying its battery supply chain, working with new suppliers and trying out new chemistries in its cells. Gigafactory Shanghai, which is geographically close to the Asian firms that currently supply most of the world’s Li-ion cells, has been the center of the automaker’s brave new battery biz…. Read more »