The following are two videos produced by LG and SDI respectively about their exhibition booths. This article mainly introduces the exhibition booths, and there was a battery forum held at the same time as Interbattery 2021. Unfortunately, there are only scattered photos on Korean blogs, and I will add more complete ones when I find them.
LG Battery Display
The overall booth layout is mainly divided into automotive batteries, energy storage batteries, and future batteries. The automotive batteries mainly showcase the 60Ah E61 cell, 78Ah E78 cell, and next-generation NCMA battery. It was mentioned that silicon-negative electrode materials and Safety Reinforced Separator (SRS) will be added. Overall, LG did not showcase more products in this exhibition.
## LG’s Next Generation Battery
LG’s main focus on the development of the next generation of batteries is towards lithium-sulfur batteries and sulfide solid-state battery technology. During the exhibition, LG showcased two small cells for both technologies.
SDI Battery Display
At the SDI exhibition area, there was only one battery system for the Fiat 500e, and there was not much display on battery pack technology by SDI.
After withdrawing from the mainstream BEV market, Samsung SDI returns to the production of high-nickel lithium-ion batteries. Their latest battery includes cylindrical cells with an energy density of 670 Wh/L, and prismatic cells at 630 Wh/L.
The fifth-generation of Samsung SDI’s prismatic cells have begun production in Europe, which can upgrade BMW i3’s range to a whopping 490 km, upgrade the Fiat 500 from 42 kWh to 58 kWh, and increase the WLTP range to 440 km. It also upgrades to a higher charging rate (>100kW).
Samsung SDI also introduced their technical development roadmap and the next generation of solid-state batteries, along with their development schedule and safety testing videos.
Summary: Currently, the three Korean companies are not putting too much effort into lithium-iron batteries, but are still focusing on the development of high-energy density cells.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.