Hyundai Mobis, LG Chem Finalize Lithium-Ion Battery Joint Venture
By John O'Dell November 2, 2009
Batteries, batteries, batteries. That's looking like the name of the game these days.
Automakers have shown they can build decent conventional hybrids, and are about to show how well they can do on all-electric and extended-range, gas-electric hybrids - but the wall they all run into is how far their cars and trucks can go before the electrons run out.
That's in the batteries, and with few exceptions (Nissan and Hyundai come to mind) automakers don't make batteries. They may assemble the individual cells into battery packs designed for their specific vehicles, but it is at the level of the cell - and the chemistry incorporated into that cell - that the ability of a battery to store and release energy is controlled.
So its good to see so much activity in the battery development world.
Latest is in South Korea, where Hyundai Mobis and LG Chem have announced a joint venture agreement to produce lithium-ion batteries for hybrids. The $34-million venture is scheduled to start producing in the second half next year, with a goal of building batteries for as any as 200,000 vehicles a year.
LG also is a supplier to General Motors, for the Chevy Volt, and Hyundai Motors (a cousin to Hyundai Mobis in the extended Hyundai family conglomerate) and its Kia subsidiary - for the recently introduced Hyundai Elantra and Kia Forte LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)-electric hybrids.
They don't talk about battery R&D in the announcement, just production, but LG Chem's already done a lot of work on a flat-pack lithium polymer battery cell that's easier to cool and to package into bundles for hybrids and EVs, and we expect that it won't stop there.
The company earlier this year broke ground on an $800 million lithium-ion polymer battery manufacturing plant of its own (no Hyundai investment that we know of) to supply the cells for the Volt and Hyundai-Kia battery packs.
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