Korean automakers, battery-makers are collaborating on safety patents, digital battery passports, design, manufacturing and fire safety technology
Hyundai Motor, Kia and Korea’s three leading battery-makers — LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On — have agreed to strengthen collaboration to bolster safety technology for electric vehicle batteries, officials said Friday.
Representatives from the companies shared the results of their joint task force, which was discreetly formed in August last year when Hyundai and Kia asked the battery-makers to form a working group on EV battery safety. They had also signed a partnership to further advance their work at Hyundai Motor Group Namyang R&D Center in Gyeonggi Province.
Joined by government officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the companies laid out the results of their five joint projects over the past year: safety patents, digital battery passports, design quality, manufacturing quality and fire safety technology.
“The success of this collaboration was made possible by the strong commitment of the companies’ leadership, the dedication of researchers and support from the government,” said Yang Hee-won, head of Hyundai-Kia R&D. “We will continue to work closely with battery-makers to build safer and more reliable EVs.”
In terms of safety patents, the companies began developing and sharing proprietary technologies designed to ensure safety when battery cells deteriorate abnormally. The joint task force came up with patents such as a technology to prevent short circuits.
On digital battery passports — an initiative led by the European Union to track batteries through their entire lifecycle from production to waste — the Korean companies teamed up to establish a new battery quality tracking system that can meet international standards with an additional safety-specialized category.
“The global EV battery market is a competition between countries, and the way we can survive it is cooperation — going beyond competition,” said LG Energy Solution CEO Kim Dong-myung. “As the government and corporations form one team, LG Energy Solution will race to the end to secure Korea’s future competitiveness.”
In terms of design quality, the companies have been working to strengthen battery cells against fire risks by enhancing their components and improving certification standards and validation processes.
They have cooperated in stabilizing the production of battery cells and reducing defect rates, aiming to set up a smart manufacturing management system by systematically controlling manufacturing data and using artificial intelligence to improve analysis.
“This collaboration is not just a technological improvement but a shift that has redefined industrial safety standards and technological direction, and it’s a responsible change throughout the (EV battery) ecosystem,” said Samsung SDI CEO Choi Joo-sun. “Based on this experience, Samsung SDI will contribute to advancing the industry by developing safer, sustainable battery technologies.”
The companies provided data on EV battery cells to the National Fire Research Institute so that the National Fire Agency can conduct basic research, and they supplied test technologies for use in actual emergencies. They registered a patent for detecting and extinguishing fires in battery cells. They also revised guidelines for responding to EV fires while planning to continue working with fire authorities to enhance such technologies moving forward.
“It means a lot that the three Korean battery firms joined forces with Hyundai Motor and Kia for the safety of EV batteries,” said SK On CEO Lee Seok-hee. “Through this cooperation, we expect that the safety of batteries will improve. SK On will do its best to develop safe batteries that customers can trust.”
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
