SK Innovation doubles EV battery production

[JejuSoul]

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The good news. The expansion of the Seosan battery factory has been completed.

SK chairman bets high on EV battery unit

SK Innovation now has 4.7 GWh capacity compared to the 315 MWh a year ago.
This capacity is probably entirely for use by Kia.

There are new factories being built in Europe, China and the United States which will be used by other car makers.
In particular the European factory will supply Mercedes new EQC.

But there has been no announcement of any further increase of the Seosan battery factory.
I estimate that Kia will be able to build about 50,000 EV's a year, if most are the 64kWh option.
So the total capacity for the N iro EV and new Soul EV will be about 50,000 for the next 3 years at least.

Because of the European emission laws Kia will be trying to sell 40,000 EVs in Europe each year.
This leaves a fairly small quantity for the rest of the world.
No wonder Kia feels confident that it can maintain high prices. High demand and low supply will continue for the indefinite future.

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Update:
SK's biggest expansion plans are for the US. They seem to have got a big order from Volkswagen. This seems to have greatly upset LG Chem, their South Korean rival, who wanted exclusive rights with Volkswagen.
See - LG Chem files suits against SK Innovation for stealing trade secrets

 

[JejuSoul]

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There's a great article about LG Chem's lawsuit against SK Innovation here :-
LG sues SK, alleges stolen trade secrets used to make Kia Niro and future VW batteries

Here's my comment from that site

Thanks. Getting hold of the actual lawsuit is great. None of the major news organizations had bothered to go to the actual source for their material. They all just quote the press release. I had tried and failed to find the lawsuit at the United States International Trade Commission. You succeeded at the Delaware Court.

I follow the news and write about SK Innovation battery technology. I live in Korea and currently own two cars that contain SK batteries. A Hyundai Blueon Electric, and a Kia Soul EV. Reading this lawsuit make it sound like LG Chem has always been ahead of SK Innovation. Yet the Hyundai Blueon Electric was the first EV in Korea. The Kia Soul EV was the first EV to use NCM 622. And the Kia N iro EV is the first EV to include NCM 811 in its battery. The lawsuit twists the facts to claim that, because LG Chem has 30 years of experience making batteries for consumer electronics, it is has always been ahead in EV battery tech.

I don’t think the N iro EV quote mention is really important to this lawsuit. The motivation for this dispute is clearly Volkswagen.

…
LGC is informed and believes that many of the Former LGC Employees had worked specifically on
products and technologies concerning Volkswagen automobiles, one of LGC’s key and emerging
customers in the EV market, and its modular electric toolkit (known as the “MEB”)6 platform for
electric vehicles…

 

[JejuSoul]

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There is no actual link from Kia yet that shows the new 2020 Soul EV is using the same SK Innovation battery as the N iro EV.
But I think it is a fairly safe assumption to make.
I am fairly sure now that the new 2020 Soul EV does not use pure NCM811 chemistry.
Instead by mixing NCM811 and NCM111 it creates a NCM622 equivalent mix.

There is an article here - Report: SK Innovation to begin making NMC 811 cells in Q3 2019

and a Korean article here - 배터리 소송 본격화, NCM811 내세운 'SK' 기술우위 강조

In these 2 articles we hear that the first EV to use a pure NCM811 chemistry will be available in the 3rd quarter, and that the Hungarian battery plant will be the one to make only NCM811. Clearly it will be the Mercedes EQC that gets the new battery.

According to this article - http://www.greened.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=102798
The battery cost of a 64kWh Kia Soul EV is 1477만원 or about 12,500 USD.

 

[JejuSoul]

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SK has just bought one of the leading manufacturers of copper foil. - SKC Acquires Leading Electric Vehicle Battery Parts Maker KCFT

This is interesting because it is frequently stated that specialist copper foil for EV batteries will be a major bottleneck for mass production of batteries.
The companies buying foil from KCFT are all the big players, Panasonic, LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK innovation.

Also see - LS Mtron to Supply Copper Foil for EV Batteries to Mount on Tesla Cars
KCFT is the new name for LS Mtron.

 

[JejuSoul]

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Am looking at the sales figures for the Soul EV over the last 18 months.
Interesting to see that the proportion going to Norway has greatly increased.
At present almost 42% of all Soul EVs ever produced are in Norway.

There has been plenty of accusations made against the sales of the Kia Soul EV in Norway.
It has often been stated that Kia is doing an 'emissions scam'.
But as of January 2019 this 'loophole ceased to exist.

...from January 2019, sales of new cars in Norway are included in a broader EU calculation of the greenness of each manufacturer’s European-wide car fleets, a target the carmaker must meet to avoid large penalties...

see - From California to Oslo: foreign subsidies fuel Norway's e-car boom, for now

Those who believed in the 'emissions scam' story need to answer: Why is Norway continuing to import so many Kia Soul EVs from the rest of Europe. ?
See the latest stats for this here - https://elbilstatistikk.no/

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Here's my count of the original Soul EV sales. The new eSoul has a different VIN and I'll count separately.

The figures are ( Year :- Overseas + Domestic = Total )

2014 :-  1,017 + 414 = 1,431
2015 :-  7,286 + 1,116 = 8,402
2016 :-  7,123 + 729 = 7,852
2017 :-  8,666 + 2,511 = 11,177
2018 :-  8,645 + 1,746 = 10,391
2019:-  759 + 0 = 759
Final total = 40,012

Sales of the original Soul EV stopped in September 2018 in both South Korea and the USA. The new eSoul began selling in Korea in March 2019, it has yet to appear in the USA. The new eSoul is selling about 500 cars a month globally. The eN iro s selling about 1,500 cars a month globally.

....
SK Innovation now has 4.7 GWh capacity in South Korea.
I estimate that Kia will be able to build about 50,000 EV's a year, if most are the 64kWh option.
...

The above quote is a guess I made in April.
At the moment Kia is producing about 50% of what I had guessed, based on the stated availability of the batteries..

 

[JejuSoul]

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Here's my count of the original Soul EV sales. I can't distinguish between the gen1 27kWh and gen2 30kWh versions.
Except that the 30kWh version started in mid 2017.

The figures are ( Year :- Overseas + Domestic = Total )

2014 :-  1,017 + 414 = 1,431
2015 :-  7,286 + 1,116 = 8,402
2016 :-  7,123 + 729 = 7,852
2017 :-  8,666 + 2,511 = 11,177
2018 :-  8,645 + 1,746 = 10,391
2019:-  759 + 0 = 759
Final total = 40,012

Sales of the original Soul EV stopped in September 2018 in both South Korea and the USA. The new eSoul began selling in Korea in March 2019, it has yet to appear in the USA.

Here's my count of the new eSoul sales. I can't distinguish between the 2 battery versions available 64kWh and 38kWh.
Anecdotally almost everyone is getting the 64kWh .

The figures are ( Year :- Overseas + Domestic = Total )

2019:-  3,951 + 1,571 = 5,522

The new eSoul is selling about 600 cars a month globally. The eN iro is selling about 1,600 cars a month globally.
The original Soul EV sold an average of 700 cars a month during its 5 years of production.


Interestingly Canada is now on par with Norway as the top sales destination for the Soul EV.
Whereas the US has none at all.

see - MY2020 Soul EV. 64kWh.

I do not believe battery shortage is the reason for the low volume of Kia EVs in 2019.
At the moment Kia is producing about 50% of what I had guessed, based on the stated availability of the batteries.
Also see New evidence: Carmaker holding back EV sales to maximise SUV-fueled profits

 

[JejuSoul]

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Ford has decided to use SK Innovation’s NCM 9½½ battery for its F-150 electric pickup truck that is scheduled to be released in 2023.

SK Innovation Commercializes World’s First NCM Electric Vehicle Battery with 90% Nickel Content

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Cumulative Sales figures for the 64kWh Soul EV up to end of July 2020
( I can't distinguish between the 2 battery versions available 64kWh and 38kWh, but anecdotally almost everyone is getting the 64kWh .)

For all cars exported out of Korea ( now about 95%) see - : Kia: Investor Relations - Monthly Sales Results
You need to download the Overseas Retail Sales spreadsheet.

The figures are ( Year :- Overseas + Domestic = Total )

2019:-  3,951 + 1,571 = 5,522
2020:-  4,297 + 287 = 4,584

Most exports go to Europe, only 10% to Canada, and only 1 car to the US.
Norway is 40% of the total. Still the biggest market for this car.

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[JejuSoul]

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SK Innovation has begun producing batteries in Hungary, Europe.
Factory #1 opened in January 2020 and produces 7.5GWh.
Some of these batteries have been going to Hyundai's car plant in Czech for Hyundai Konas.

SK Innovation is thought to have supplied batteries for 12,000 Kona Electric vehicles built at Hyundai Motor's plant in the Czech Republic. According to sources, in supplying batteries for the Kona Electric, SK Innovation mixed its NCM811 and NCM523 chemistries and that played a significant role in improving stability.

Factory #2 will open in 2022 and produce 9.8GWh

Factory #3 is being planned.

SK Innovation’s success is also the key to Komarom’s success!

SK Innovation pushes for 3rd EV battery plant in Hungary

Hyundai starts producing Kona Electric at Czech plant, helping triple its EVs for Europe

[조재환의 EV세상] 코나 전기차 일부 SK 배터리 탑재?...소비자 혼란

SK Innovation promotes battery safety as EV fires continue

Some nice graphics from Bloomberg.

 

[MassDeduction]

[...]Most exports go to Europe, only 10% to Canada, and only 1 car to the US.
Norway is 40% of the total. Still the biggest market for this car.

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"Only" 10% go to Canada? Europe has 743 million people, Canada has 37 million. So Europe has 20x the population but only sells 9x as many units of the Soul EV? That's means that this car sells better in Canada (on a per capita basis) than it does in Europe.

Though not better than it does in Norway, apparently!

 

[IanL]

That only works if supply matches demand. I have an idea they could sell more if they could make more.