[Courtesy of SK Innovation]
SEOUL -- SK Innovation (SKI), a subsidiary of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate SK Group, earmarked a new investment worth $845 million to expand the production of lithium batteries for electric vehicles at its plant in Hungary.
SKI said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that its board endorsed an investment of 945.2 billion won ($845 million) in building a second plant in Hungary. In early 2018, the company started building its first plant in the northern Hungarian city of Komarom. Production at the first plant is to begin in 2020.
Construction of the second plant to be built in Komarom will begin in March for mass production in early 2022. SKI said in a statement that the new investment reflects its decision to proactively respond to the rapid growth of the European electric car market.,
SKI has invested heavily in its battery business. It is building a battery plant in Changzhou in China's southeastern Jiangsu province. SKI's battery plant in the United States will be built in Commerce in Jackson County, Georgia. German auto giant Volkswagen has selected SKI as the fourth strategic supplier of battery cells to cover its demand in North America.
Last week, SKI agreed with PolyPlus Battery, a lithium battery developer based in California, to accelerate the commercialization of lithium metal batteries, which are high in energy density. PolyPlus has invented conductive glass separator for rechargeable lithium metal batteries. SKI plans to complete research on conductive glass separators by the end of 2021 and apply them to the development of lithium metal batteries.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
