SK Innovation Co., the energy solutions arm of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, said on Thursday that it has decided to expand its manufacturing facility in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong, to ramp up output of lithium-ion battery separators (LiBS), a core component in developing electric vehicles. Ground-breaking is set for May.

LiBS is a technological component that separates negative and positive electrodes in smartphone and electric vehicle batteries that help prevent possible explosion or ignition. SK Innovation was the first in the country and third in the world to develop its own commercial-use battery separators in 2004. The nine production lines at the company’s facility in Jeungpyeong is responsible for 17 percent of global LiBS demand.

According to SK Innovation, once it completes the construction of expanding its manufacturing facility in the first half of 2018, the company will be capable of producing 330 million square meters of LiBS per year. The volume is enough to be fit and support 1 million all-electric vehicles.

An unnamed official from SK Innovation said that demand for battery separators has been on a rise in sync with rapid growth in the world’s electric vehicle and smartphone market. The company will become the world’s second-largest LiBS producer after expansion and reach closer to its goal of becoming the world’s largest by 2020.

The decision to expand its production facility is known to have picked up speed after SK Innovation ended the three-year court battle with Celgard - now Asahi Kasei - a Japanese producer of battery separators, over patent rights last month. The dispute first began in 2013 when the Japanese company filed a lawsuit against SK Innovation claiming that it was using its patented technologies with regard to LiBS.

SK Innovation sold 1 trillion won ($875 million) of battery separators so far since it began commercial production in 2005. Another SK Innovation official said that one in every five laptops and mobile phones in the world uses batteries that are fitted with SK Innovation’s LiBS.

Meanwhile, SK Innovation has also been aggressive in expanding its presence in the electric vehicle battery business, based on the LiBS technology. In July, last year, the company increased the annual production capacity of its battery plant in Seosan, North Chungcheong, from 15,000 units to 30,000 units per year. In March - only after 8 months - the company announced additional expansion in the production by 10,000 units.

By Chung Wook

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