South Korean SK Group is a multinational manufacturing and services conglomerate, with headquarters in Seoul. Forbes believes its SK On subsidiary could become the world’s largest electric-vehicle battery maker by output by 2030. SK On is already the 5th biggest battery supplier with 13.2-gigawatt-hour capacity. Breaking news suggests the SK On NCM9 EV battery could reinforce its market dominance.
SK On NCM9 EV Battery Wins Edison Award
Edison Awards operates under the umbrella of American Marketing Association, honoring excellence in innovation. On April 23, 2023 SK On received the following bronze Edison Award recognition for EV battery enhancement in smart transportation:
“It is the world’s first NCM battery with a nickel content of nearly 90%. The EV battery with high energy density boasts enhanced capacity, better safety, higher performance, and increased cost-effectiveness than other NCM batteries. The world’s first mass-produced NCM9 batteries have been installed in Ford’s first EV pickup truck, F-150 Lightning.”
We heard nothing more about the SK On NCM9 EV battery until March 25, 2024, when a news item caught our eye. Business Korea made a remarkable announcement that is bound to cause a stir in the battery industry.
SK On Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt Battery Performance
NCM is an abbreviation for nickel, manganese and cobalt which are the active materials in the SK On battery. Ford has apparently been testing SK On battery performance under a variety of conditions with the following results:
- Still had 97% of original capacity after 21 months over 100,000 miles.
- There was no range loss due to weather, despite a number of terrains.
We have heard of previous occasions where the SK On NCM9 EV battery performed extraordinarily well. One of these incidents involved a Ford F-190 battery that apparently sustained a household for 44 hours.
There are two main types if rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, namely those with nickel-manganese-cobalt, and those with phosphate cathodes. Lithium-phosphate is generally regarded as a superior option. The discriminating factor appears to be that the SK On cathode is 90% nickel.
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