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| SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks at SK Innovation's electric vehicle plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, Friday. Courtesy of SK Innovation |
By Nam Hyun-woo
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has pledged to nurture its chemicals unit SK Innovation as "one of the world's major energy companies," underscoring the importance of the firm's battery business, according to the group, Sunday.
During his visit to SK Innovation's plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, Chey said, "The battery business is creating not only industrial but also environmental values that will benefit the whole of society.
"With the company's battery business showing sharp growth, everyone involved should be proud of it and the firm will become one of the world's major energy companies."
The Seosan base has been producing rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) since 2012 and is now the main base of the firm's battery business.
With the completion of the second Seosan plant last year, the base can produce batteries with a combined capacity of 4.7 gigawatt hours, which can power more than 80,000 EVs. The second plant produces so-called "third generation EV batteries," which can cover more than 400 kilometers on a charge.
As Chey said, the group is betting high on SK Innovation's EV battery business.
SK Innovation plans to expand its manufacturing output to 60 gigawatt hours of batteries by 2022 after making multiple investments in strategic countries including the United States, China and Hungary.
Last month, the company broke ground for its U.S. plant in Georgia, with a plan to begin mass production by 2022. By 2025 the firm will have invested 1.9 trillion won ($1.67 billion) in the plant, capable of producing 9.8 gigawatt hours of batteries a year.
The company plans to supply batteries produced at the Georgia plant to Volkswagen. BMW and Ford are also reportedly showing interest in the EV batteries.
In China, the firm has partnered Chinese firms to set up an EV battery firm and to build a 7.5 gigawatt hours plant in Jiangsu Province. The plant is expected to mass produce batteries in the first half of next year.
SK Innovation's battery backlog as of March stood at 430 gigawatt hours, which is 13 times greater than in December 2016, following deals with car makers in the U.S., China and Europe.
