The battle for electric vehicle batteries is fierce in the global market.


Of course, the spread of electric vehicles is likely to be delayed more than expected due to the electric vehicle chasm, which is causing a temporary delay in the spread of electric vehicles, and the negative views on electric vehicles and batteries resulting from President Trump's second term in office.

Of course, it can be said that it is a burden due to the delay of several years, but since the spread of electric vehicles is inevitable, it can be said that it is only a small difference in time. In this situation, the battle for dominance in batteries, which account for about 40% of the price of electric vehicles, is fierce.

China, which was about 10 years ahead of the global market in developing and distributing electric vehicles, has now established itself as the world's largest country.

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are making full-scale inroads into global markets such as Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, as well as the Chinese market, which accounts for about 50% of global electric vehicle sales, making global competition even fiercer.

In this situation, China has mainly supplied LFP batteries, which are lithium iron phosphate batteries, for electric vehicles, while Western countries such as Korea and Japan have mainly supplied NCM batteries, which are lithium-ion batteries.

LFP batteries are heavier and have about 30% lower energy density than NCM batteries, but they are cheaper and have high fire resistance, making them popular in inexpensive electric vehicles.

China has mainly supplied LFP batteries from the beginning, but recently, it has also started to supply NCM batteries centered around CATL and is strengthening its supply centered around the West.

Currently, the distribution ratio of LFP batteries and NCM batteries in China is about 8:2.

Of course, there is an attempt to expand the market by popularizing LFP batteries that maximize space and increase energy density through the cell-to-pack or cell-to-body concept by widely distributing the weaknesses of LFP batteries.

The price is low, and with electric vehicle fires becoming a hot topic recently, the popularity of fire-resistant LFP batteries is increasing significantly.

Recently, a large-scale electric vehicle fire occurred in Korea, and although the damage was severe, the cause was unknown, and negative views on electric vehicles are spreading. Therefore, LFP batteries, which are highly fire-resistant and resistant to electric vehicle fires, are being used.It seems that Riga is becoming the center of attention.

Last year, the domestic market monopolized approvals with over 30,000 units sold, mainly driven by low-cost Chinese models such as the Tesla Model Y manufactured at the Shanghai factory. Earlier this year, sales of electric vehicles from China's BYD, which has proven itself in the global market, also began, expanding into a fiercely competitive market dominance.

All models are equipped with Chinese-made LFP batteries.

In other words, while Chinese battery manufacturers are in the process of mass producing two models of batteries, Korea's three battery companies, including LG Energy Solution, are still only producing NCM batteries, which means they are lagging in terms of competitiveness.

Domestic battery companies are also expected to be able to produce batteries only next year, so their competitiveness is still lower than that of China.

Recently, there has been a lot of promotion of fire-resistant LFP batteries, and Chinese LFP batteries are spreading, especially in popular, low-cost electric vehicles.

Accordingly, there are increasing comparisons of competitiveness. The focus of the attention is on the environment.

Some say that there is a problem with LFP batteries, which are considered to be disadvantageous in terms of environmental friendliness, because there are very few battery raw materials that can be used when recycling waste batteries compared to NCM batteries.

In other words, although it is disadvantageous to secure raw materials through recycling, it is also mentioned that LFP batteries are not so bad in the initial production stage because NCM batteries emit a lot of pollutants while mining various materials such as nickel and cobalt and using them as final raw materials.

Therefore, it is mentioned that improvements are needed in areas where electric vehicles equipped with LFP batteries are at a significant disadvantage in terms of domestic subsidy payments.

However, even considering these initial issues, it is clear that LFP batteries are environmentally friendly and that even with the best technology, only about 15% of the raw materials can be obtained with a 100% investment.

Of course, the key issue could be how much the price of lithium obtained from LFP batteries will rise in the future, and the same can be said of iron phosphate, which is currently worthless.

In particular, the rise in lithium prices is the biggest factor, but lithium prices have recently fallen to their lowest levels, and even if prices rise, the proportion of lithium that can be utilized is very small.

At present, NCM batteries are becoming a raw material that can be recycled up to 95% when 100% invested.

Even considering the sources of contamination during the initial manufacturing process mentioned above, LFP batteries are still in a very poor state compared to NCM batteries.

Of course, as time goes by, the situation may change, so it is necessary to have policies in place to prepare for this in advance.

Some LFP batteries It will be necessary to at least prepare for the future, starting with storage centers that collect and store minimal quantities, as well as developing recycling technologies and methods for recovering battery raw materials.

For now, the most important thing is to activate the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system to be able to process the increasing number of LFP batteries in the domestic market.

This is a method in which the manufacturer of the electric vehicle or battery is obligated to take responsibility and collect it when the vehicle is scrapped.

If recovery is not possible, there is also a way to use some of the additional cost when selling new electric vehicles as an environmental improvement fee.

In the domestic market, many buses, trucks, and passenger cars equipped with LFP batteries are already being sold.

In the case of Tesla alone, more than 30,000 LFP battery-powered electric vehicles manufactured at the Shanghai plant in China were sold in the domestic market last year alone.

Currently, LFP batteries weighing approximately 500 kg per unit are being treated as waste.

This means that no one will take responsibility and that citizens' taxes will have to be invested in recycling in order to ensure environmentally friendly disposal.

It would be irresponsible to say that one battery is superior to another, as any battery can be used with the responsible methods mentioned above.

Who will take responsibility for and collect the tens of thousands of LFP batteries that have already been used? If the value of the aforementioned batteries is large, they can be utilized.

Some say that China is also implementing a producer responsibility recycling system, but it is only superficial and in reality, it is burying waste in the mountains.

This is because a large number of LFP batteries are already being discarded, as they have been in use for more than 10 years compared to other countries. It would be completely impossible for us.

In the future, it will be most appropriate to evaluate the environmental friendliness of batteries from the time they are produced and calculate the cost through a comprehensive evaluation until they are disposed of.

In Europe, all products are becoming more environmentally friendly, to the point where the CBMA system, which includes documentation that can prove carbon dioxide emissions during initial production, has been established.

For now, the priority is environmental friendliness through recycling after use.

The Ministry of Environment should move quickly and not just think about it for years.

Now, more than 50,000 LFP battery units are being released into the domestic market every year.

Who will take responsibility in the future?

As the three domestic battery companies are expected to produce LFP batteries for electric vehicles in the latter half of next year at the earliest, it is essential to prepare with sufficient consideration for future eco-friendliness.

There are no exceptions to the environmentally friendly mandate when disposing of waste.