LG Chem To Build Plant for Auto Battery Materials in Korea

News: South Korea

2022-01-22

LG Chem To Build Plant for Auto Battery Materials in Korea

FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT

LG Chem says it will build a cathode material plant for automotive battery materials in Gumi, central South Korea. LG Chem has the second largest automotive battery business in the world. They will continue to invest in increasing production in the materials field to meet the increasing demand and plans to start mass production by 2025 and will build a dedicated line for cathode materials with high nickel content, called NCMA, which can increase the output of batteries.

LG Chem’s new plant will be its fourth; it has two cathode material plants in operation in Korea and one in China. The current production capacity is 80,000 tons. LG Chemical produces its own cathode materials, separation membranes, and adhesives, and supplies them to LG Energy Solution, its battery subsidiary. LG Chem is working with Toray Industries, Inc. to secure the amount of separation membrane to be procured.

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2021-11-21

Hyundai Motor Launches ‘Wage Half Price Plant’

For the first time in 23 years, a finished car plant has started operations in South Korea. The operator is Gwangju Global Motors (GGM). This unfamiliar company was established under the leadership of the city of Gwangju in southwestern South Korea, with Hyundai Motor taking a stake, to specialize in contract manufacturing of small cars. The city of Gwangju, which aims to attract industry and create jobs, and Hyundai Motor, which wanted a plant where production can be outsourced at a low cost, coincided in their intentions.

The site area of 455,000 square meters is lined with three buildings: a pressed car body factory, a painting factory, and an assembly factory. Inside the assembly plant, which measures 340 meters by 140 meters, eight colorful car bodies flow smoothly down a three-dimensional production line.

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2021-10-24

Subsidy Program for Scrapping Diesel Vehicles Ineffective

FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT

About half of those who received South Korean government aid to scrap their old diesel vehicles early have purchased diesel vehicles again, according to a new study. The government spent 845.4 billion won (about 79.6 billion yen) in the last five years (2016-2020) to scrap 959,000 aging diesel vehicles, but the number of all diesel vehicles increased by 9% during the same period. The government has pointed out that diesel vehicles are the main culprit of particulate matter such as PM2.5 and has implemented a policy to “eliminate” them, but this policy has not been effective.

There is subsidy support if old diesel cars are scrapped depending on the level of emissions in operation. In addition, there are additional subsidies if you buy an eco-car or a gasoline/LPG car.

If old diesel vehicles with a gross weight of less than 3.5 tons are scrapped early, they can receive up to 6 million won (about 570,000 yen) in subsidies. According to data from the Ministry of the Environment, 48,757 people in the Seoul metropolitan area purchased new cars in the first half of last year after receiving subsidies to scrap their old diesel vehicles. However, of the cars purchased by these people, 21,686 (44%) were diesel vehicles. Moreover, 15,990 of them were used diesel cars, 2.8 times more than the number of new cars (5,696).

Source: Chosun Online

PSR Analysis: It is hard to say that this is a flaw in the system, but the reality is that this system has not achieved its purpose and has produced the opposite effect. The reason for this situation is simple: many of the users of trucks under 3.5 tons are small businesses, and considering their expenses, they do not choose gasoline vehicles, and new vehicles are not an option, so they choose used diesel vehicles.

EVs and fuel cell vehicles, which are now being widely reported, are attracting attention as vehicles equipped with next-generation technologies. However, especially in the case of commercial vehicles, the high initial cost is frowned upon. The market should take another look at the fact that inexpensive vehicles that can easily demonstrate their contribution to business will be selected. PSR

Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asia, for Power Systems Research

2021-06-27

SK Plans To Develop Hydrogen Base in Ulsan

South Korea’s SK Group has announced plans to build a 140,000 square meter hydrogen fuel base in Ulsan. A liquid hydrogen production plant will be built, and a hydrogen-fueled power plant will also be constructed.

With the participation of Lotte Chemical, the project aims to promote the accumulation of hydrogen-related industries in the city. SK Gas will be the main proponent of the project. The company plans to invest 2.2 trillion won (about 216 billion yen) over the next five years to build infrastructure for the generation, storage, and transportation of hydrogen energy in anticipation of its widespread use, and has also announced plans to build 100 hydrogen filling stations in South Korea by 2030.

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2021-05-24

Doosan To Produce Hydrogen from Waste Plastic

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DHIC) announced on May 6 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Libotec, which has a continuous pyrolysis technology for waste plastics, to develop hydrogen production technology using waste plastics.

Libotec will produce gas from waste plastic through continuous pyrolysis, while Doosan Heavy Industries will be in charge of developing equipment to reform the pyrolyzed gas into hydrogen and building the plant. Doosan Heavy Industries has developed a hydrogen reformer capable of producing about 300 kilograms of hydrogen per day, which will be installed and operated at Libotec’s plant.  The company plans to conduct demonstrations and commercialize a technology that can produce more than three tons of hydrogen per day from waste plastic.

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2021-02-23

Hyundai To Custom Design EVs for each Customer

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group is launching a new business to produce EVs to order, according to customer preferences. It is designed to be used for corporate purposes such as delivery and car sharing, and the body design and loading capacity can be flexibly changed to suit the intended use.

The company will take advantage of the characteristics of EVs, which have a higher degree of freedom in design than gasoline vehicles. The company will also introduce a business model that does not involve mass production to accelerate the growth of its EV business.

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2021-01-25

Hyundai and Apple in Talks To Develop Self-Driving EVs

Hyundai Motor and Apple are negotiating a partnership in the field of self-driving EVs, reports the Korean newspaper Korea IT News. Other media reported that Hyundai and Apple are aiming to launch a self-driving EV in 2027. Soon after this report, Hyundai announced that it was in early stage talks with Apple. (The above is excerpted from Newsweek)

Hyundai is playing a central role in the Apollo Project, the self-driving EV strategy of Chinese IT giant Baidu and is also actively mass-producing EVs.

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2020-09-28

SOUTH KOREA REPORT: Doosan Infracore Collaborates with Game Developers

Doosan Infracore says it has signed an MOU with Unity Technologies Korea for mutual cooperation in the development of a construction process simulator.

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

This is the first joint project with a game engine developer in the construction equipment industry, which is rare in the global construction equipment industry.

The game engine is regarded as very useful in various industries such as shipbuilding, logistics and construction. Doosan Infracore and Unity will work together to develop a simulator. It realizes various physical elements on a construction site where excavators and other equipment operate in a virtual environment. The simulator will be very useful in accurately predicting complex variables that may occur on a real construction site.

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2020-08-23

Doosan Sells 10,000 Excavators in China in H1 2020

Doosan Infracore announced that it sold 10,728 hydraulic excavators in China in H1 2020. This is the company’s largest sales volume in nine years since it sold more than 12,000 units in the market in H1 2011. The company sold 1,320 excavators in June, a 23% increase in sales over the previous year.

Akihiro Komuro
Akihito Komuro

China’s hydraulic excavator market suffered a slowdown in the first two months of the year due to COVID-19 but is now consistently showing signs of a rapid recovery. Overall sales in the Chinese hydraulic excavator market exceeded 155,000 units in H1 2020, significantly exceeding the 125,000 units sold nationwide in H1 2019.

Source: Kikai-News (The original article was partially revised by the author.)

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2020-07-26

Hyundai Exports Fuel Cell Trucks To Europe

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor announced on July 6 that it has begun exporting commercial hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to Europe. The company shipped 10 trucks to Switzerland, and it plans to export 1,600 units by 2025 using a long-term lease contract system.

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Hyundai has set up a joint venture company to build a hydrogen infrastructure in Switzerland; it also plans to develop hydrogen stations and other infrastructure in cooperation with a local company. They plan to use Switzerland as a base for expanding their exports throughout Europe.

The South Korean government is also focusing on the spread of the hydrogen-based society and will appeal to the governments of other countries. The trucks exported this time will be used by the food distribution industry. The route for these trucks is fixed, making it easy to set up the infrastructure for refueling.

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