▲Kim Je-young, LG Energy Solutions Managing Director

Failure to popularize electric vehicles in the 1910s: Reasons include price, charging infrastructure, and driving range
LG Ensol, "We will solve the difficulty of simultaneously satisfying driving distance and charging speed"

100 years ago, electric vehicles emerged as the main characters on the roads of New York, USA, and seemed to be gaining popularity, but they quickly declined. Research is actively being conducted to avoid repeating this failure.

Kim Je-young, executive director of LG Energy Solution, gave a presentation on the topic of 'Charging Energy, Changing Life' at the NextRise 2023 event held at COEX on the 2nd, and said that the popularization of electric vehicles is facing difficulties for the same reasons as 100 years ago.

Mr. Kim Sang-moo introduced the history of electric vehicles in New York, USA in 1917 when the market share of electric vehicles was 38%, and said that even at that time, the advantages of electric vehicles were clear.

100 years ago, when electric cars were becoming popular, inventor Thomas Edison advertised electric cars as “No dangerous, evil-smelling gasoline and no noise.” He took over the roads by emphasizing the special features of electric cars, which offset the disadvantages of gasoline’s unique smell and frequent breakdowns, and its low noise level.

Electric vehicles, which had been on a roll, completely disappeared in the 1920s.

goThe reasons for the industry's decline include the lack of charging infrastructure and driving range, which are the same reasons why electric vehicles are currently struggling to become popular.

A hundred years ago, electric cars were priced at $3,000, while Ford's internal combustion engine vehicles were priced at $260, which was about 12 times higher, and the limitations of electric cars, such as their short driving range and difficulty in charging in the vast territory of the United States, were revealed.

At the time, Fritchle Electric advertised a 100-mile range for its electric car, which was likely impossible.

Kim Je-young, executive director, said that solving the three problems mentioned above is very important in order to increase demand for electric vehicles compared to the past.

While it is important to lower the price of electric vehicles, research into reducing charging times is also very important, said Executive Director Kim.

Currently, fast charging takes about 20 minutes to charge 80%.

Current electric vehicle buyers are accepting them out of pride in contributing to the environment, but if they become popular, they could cause inconvenience, so research and development related to charging are urgently needed.

He added that while it is theoretically difficult to simultaneously satisfy both driving range and charging speed, it is our job to research and optimize both.

He then explained about battery materials, saying that the positive electrode is being developed mainly with oxide positive electrode materials, the negative electrode is being developed mainly with carbon-based graphite materials, and silicon materials are also being used little by little.

Lithium metal also studied It is believed that further research on the risks and complications is needed.

The separator uses materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene, and adds a ceramic coating to the surface using SRS (Safety Reinforced Seperator), a solution developed by LG Chem.

The next-generation batteries that have recently been attracting attention are Li-S (lithium sulfur) batteries and all-solid-state batteries.

Li-S batteries use lithium for the cathode and sulfur for the anode, and because lithium and sulfur are very light materials, their energy density per weight is very high.

This is receiving worldwide attention as a research result showing that it is suitable for aircraft such as UAM and drones that are currently being actively developed.

The biggest feature of an all-solid-state battery is that the electrolyte is solid.

According to Executive Director Kim, solid-state batteries still have a long way to go before they can be applied to electric vehicles.

Mr. Kim said that through extensive research, a material capable of rapidly moving lithium within a solid-state electrolyte has been found, but much research is needed to reduce the resistance between the interfaces that occur when lithium moves between the positive electrode, solid electrolyte, and different solids.

Meanwhile, Executive Director Kim Je-young also introduced LG Energy Solution’s open innovation case.

LG Energy Solution is continuing its research with the US, Germany, and other countries at the 'FRL (Frontier Research Lab),' a joint research center established with domestic and international universities and institutions for next-generation battery research and development projects. I'm going out.

Additionally, we discover startups with technological prowess and business models in the battery field through the Battery Challenge event held every year.