Korean, Chinese battery makers in race to develop cell-to-pack battery design

Electric vehicle battery rivalry between South Korea and China has moved beyond battery types such as all-solid-state or lithium-sulfur batteries as battery makers are going all-out to improve battery efficiency and lower manufacturing costs with more innovative battery pack design such as cell-to-pack design.

According to the industry on Sunday, LG Energy Solution plans to apply the cell-to-pack technology to its battery production starting in 2025 to reduce cost and improve battery energy efficiency.

Conventional battery packs are designed in three-stage packaging from cells to modules to packs, and each pack needs more than 30 modules. However, the new cell-to-pack technology removes modules to give more space for battery packs, resulting in high energy efficiency and mileage. Tesla topped the market by using the technology.

China’s battery firms, CATL and BYD Company, are currently ahead of their Korean peers in cell-to-pack technology. CATL already uses the cell-to-pack technology in its lithium-sulfur batteries (LFB) production. It plans to mass-produce new batteries in cell-to-pack design that enables an electric vehicle to drive 1,000 kilometers (km) per single charge, it claims.

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

Its new battery pack has a higher energy density than the 4680 battery pack that are currently under development by LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI, according to the Chinese firm. BYD also uses cell-to-pack technology to produce new battery packs with space efficiency 50 percent higher than its former models.

To compete against their Chinese rivals, Korean battery makers are speeding up their endeavors for innovation in battery designs. SK on unveiled the so-called S-Pack using the cell-to-pack technology, while Samsung SDI also introduced its new battery pack without modules in 2015. The latter plans to complete the development of its cell-to-pack technology by 2025 and move to more innovative cell-to-chassis technology, which integrates the battery cell with the vehicle body.

“Battery makers need to focus on cost efficiency through innovating battery pack design, like in the case of the cell to pack," said an official in the battery industry.

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