The race to be at the front of the lithium-ion battery market as electric cars become mainstream, is heating up with South Korea announcing plans to invest 15trillion won to become the world’s dominant producer of rechargeable batteries.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Ministry of Educational Science and Technology has launched a new “Battery 2020 Project” with the aim of pooling resources from the private sector and the state in the hope of gaining control of the sector.
South Korea is already among the dominant players in the market – its companies, along with those in China and Japan, controls 95 per cent of global production. However, Japan’s Sanyo is the leading player with 20 per cent of the market; followed by Samsung and LG which control 19 per cent of worldwide production.
The Battery 2020 project hopes to boost local sourcing for parts and materials while also developing technologies that will boost competitiveness. It is predicted by the Government that there will be up to 10 globally competitive battery manufacturers in the next decade.
