Korean Supplier Opens EV Battery Separator Plant in China
South Korea’s SK Innovation Co. is spending 400 billion won ($354 million) to build a lithium-ion battery separator plant in Changzhou, China.
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South Korea’s SK Innovation Co. is spending 400 billion won ($354 million) to build a lithium-ion battery separator plant in Changzhou, China.
The plant, which is due to open in the second half of 2020, will boost SK’s global capacity for lithium-ion battery separators to 850 million sq m (9.1 billion sq ft) per year. This will make SK the largest producer of wet separators in the world, according to the company.
SK says it is developing lithium-ion separators with improved properties using new polymers that result in thinner films. This includes ceramic-coated separators, which the company says are less prone to high-temperature shrinkage than are current polymer film separators.
Formed in 2005, SK is Korea’s largest oil refiner. The company launched its battery business in 2008 and currently supplies systems to Hyundai Motor Co. and its Kia Motors Corp. affiliate.
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