SK on announced on the 10th that they will mass-produce the world's first ‘9-1/2-1/2 Battery(or ‘Nine half half’)', which is considered to be the best specification for mid- to large-sized lithium-ion batteries, from next month. 9-1/2-1/2 batteries are called 'dream batteries' with higher performance and lower prices. EcoProBM, a cathode material supplier to SK on, started mass production of ternary system (NCM) cathode materials for 9-1/2-1/2 in the third quarter of this year, and started supplying them to SK on from this month. SK on entered the final inspection for commercial mass production of batteries. They will start producing finished products at their plant 1 in the U.S. from next month. After that, all production will be installed in Ford's electric vehicle model, 'F-150 Lightning', which will be released in the first half of next year. If all goes as planned, Ford will have the most energy-dense battery among electric vehicles.
In lithium-ion batteries, the higher the nickel content, the higher the energy density and the greater the space utilization. The mileage per charge is also improved. 9-1/2-1/2 batteries also have the advantage of reducing the cobalt content, which increases the price of raw materials. The price of cobalt raw material is trading at $56,240 per ton, up 70% this month from $33,000 per ton in January this year. However, it was difficult to guarantee safety as the battery energy density increased.
Competition for the development of ‘9-1/2-1/2 Battery' is also fierce. China's CATL, the world's No. 1, is also developing high-nickel products, but mass production products have a ternary ratio of 8:1:1. LG Energy Solutions is developing next-generation products that reduce the proportion of cobalt from NCM to NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum) to realize high nickel. LG Energy Solution's NCMA battery has a nickel ratio of up to 90% and a cobalt ratio of 5% or less. It is known that the company is currently negotiating supply with General Motors (GM) and Tesla.
Since the second half of this year, Samsung SDI has been supplying high nickel technology Gen 5 (Gen. 5·5) with nickel ratio of up to 88% and a cobalt ratio of 5% or less to BMW. Currently, the development of 'Gen 6', Samsung is going full throttle to increase the proportion of nickel by more than 90%.
SK on invested about 3 trillion KRW in July last year to start construction of 11.7GWh battery factories in Georgia, U.S., and it is about to be completed.
9-1/2-1/2 Battery (or ‘nine half half’) = The ratio of nickel, cobalt, manganese (NCM), which is the ternary system of the electrode material, is designed to be 9:½:½ (nine half half). 8:1:1 or 6:2;2 products usually did not increase the nickel, which has a higher energy density, but instead, they lower the cobalt ratio, which is expensive material. Although it is called a 'dream battery' with high performance and low cost, it was difficult to commercialize it due to high technological barriers.
By Staff Reporters Tae-jun Park (gaius@etnews.com), Ji-woong Kim (jw0316@etnews.com)