SK Innovation Co. plans to move two years or more ahead of its rivals and deliver solid-state batteries by 2025, according to the head of battery research at the South Korean company.
The batteries are a keenly anticipated development in the industry, potentially hastening adoption of electric vehicles by providing automakers with a safer and less expensive alternative to lithium ion batteries. The technology could potentially slash EV charging times to about 10 minutes from as much as several hours.
SK Innovation plans to use a nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode and anode based on silicon or graphite for its solid-state batteries by 2025 and also seeks to deliver one with a lithium-metal anode by 2030, said Seongjun Lee, head of the department overseeing battery research.
LG Energy Solution, the world's second-largest lithium ion battery maker, has said it aims to commercialize solid-state batteries between 2027 and 2030. Another Korean player, Samsung SDI Co., is forecast to start mass-producing the batteries in 2027, according to BloombergNEF.
"We have never caused fires with our batteries and we have the world's best technology for high-nickel batteries," Lee said in an interview Oct. 28 at the company's campus in Daejeon, south of Seoul.