EV Korea continues to appeal to domestic and foreign buyers. Although the primary needs in Korea are demonstrative bus systems and demonstrative power reserve systems, Korea’s internal parts are greatly helped to connect with the international market. While Korea’s largest battery enterprises Samsung and LG were absent, Korea’s potential in the industry chain of battery module and electricity integration was clearly seen. A further analysis into battery industry and power reserve system by EnergyTrend is provided as follows.
Battery system
Korea’s main battery plants are Samsung and LG at present. Limited by the contracts with other car plants, Samsung’s and LG’s products became less seen in the exhibition. Instead, the battery assembly plants such as Revo and Kokamare (Diagram 2) became the dominant participants. Except for Kokam, which uses ternary materials, the assembly plants use lithium iron phosphate as cathode materials for it is safe and durable. Besides, the plants tend to choose battery cells from China.
Revo uses 3.2V 20Ah batteries in the shape of rectangle as the basic units of battery cells. The cells are serialized in the assembly end and can be applied to small vehicles such as light electric vehicles (LEVs) using 24V10Ah batteries, medium vehicles such as automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) or large vehicles such as golf carts using 72V 60Ah batteries(Picture 2). In addition, 3kw Solar P.V. systems, 7kW Standby Generator System and the like were displayed.
Yongin-Songdam College showcased its car battery packs. Their selling points focused on the modularized frames of battery cells, which include the patented assembly programs that can greatly reduce the danger of electric shock while battery cells are being assembled. Meanwhile the battery packs can be more spontaneous and thus improve the productivity.
Power Reserve Systems
Being a critical part of the smart electric grid, the price of power reserve system is affected due to the technical difficulties, which further leads to its low popularity. The exhibition covers domestic and industrial power reserve systems. These systems can considerably help to relive electricity use during peak hours as well as improve the efficiency of electricity use. An further analysis into the exhibited power reserve products will be provided as followed (Diagram 2).
Kokam only showcased its multi-applicable battery systems in a range from battery cells to battery systems. In view of application category, the power reserve systems are dominant in the exhibition. The most appealing characteristic is the large volume of the battery module, which can satisfy whether personal or household needs, and even can be used for industrial purposes (1kWh~1MWh) (Picture 4). The basic battery modular unit is about 24V~60V, which can be serialized to form a single household power reserve system, and can be combined with photovoltaic systems. The battery capacity ranges from 1 kWh to 10 kWh, and its power ranges from 0.5kW to 4kW. When the power reserve rank is raised above the household rank, the RS-ESS system will provide small areas like small wise electric grids to regulate the electricity use during peak hours. 450 V to 750 V will be provided and the total battery capacity will be raised to 25 kWh to 100kWh. Also the battery modular unit can be combined with renewable energy.
MAXCOM itself is a long established company in Korea’s electric power industry. It also took advantage of this exhibition and displayed its three power reserve products installed with IGBT: Smart BESS, Solanger series PCS and NGEN series UPS (Picture 5), all of which can be used in the unidirectional or bidirectional electricity transmission designs. MAXCOM received Korea’s NEP certificate for its products, making it a signature brand in Korea. Its systems can be compatible with any battery systems, thus are more suitable choices for clients like battery plants, electric system integration plants, or even the application client terminals.
