South Korean government plans to invest 35 billion US dollars to develop electric vehicle battery industry

On Thursday, local time, the South Korean government announced a development plan to spend $35 billion on developing the country's electric car battery industry by 2030 to ensure it has a place in the field and compete with Chinese and Japanese companies that already dominate.

, LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation and Samsung SDI will be key participants in the program, jointly promoting investment in battery research and production, the South Korean government said in a statement. At the same time, it also mentioned that the program aims to ensure that companies provide incentives for investment and research and development to help them become global leaders in the battery market. The government will do its utmost to support and develop the battery industry, which will be an important part of the country's future economy.

To this day, South Korea has three of the world's top electric car battery manufacturers, accounting for 1/3 of the global market share in the first five months of this year. In addition, South Korean companies are expanding and adding factories overseas to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles.

According to data released by the South Korean government, the production capacity of these electric car battery makers almost tripled in 2020, from 59GWh in 2016 to 217GWh.

This year, LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation and Samsung SDI, known as South Korea's battery giants, all said they would expand the capacity of their battery factories. For example, in June this year, LG Energy Solution submitted a listing application to the Korean Stock Exchange, raising funds to expand the capacity of battery factories.

As of May, Ningde Times accounted for 31 per cent of global battery sales, according to SNE Research, a South Korean market research company. The agency expects the global battery market to grow from $46 billion in 2020 to about $352 billion by 2030.

'it 's absolutely important for the government to provide additional investment and support in the electric vehicle battery sector at this time, because we expect the market to enter a long-term growth period, 'said Yoon Joon-won, a fund manager at DS Asset Management in South Korea.

The South Korean government, financial institutions and the three major battery manufacturers will jointly set up a fund with an investment of about $69.87 million. The fund will help small and medium-sized companies in the country strengthen their R & D and manufacturing capabilities.

AliIzadi-Najafabadi, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy, said that if the South Korean government wants to have a place in battery manufacturing, it needs to speed up the decarbonization of the power industry and the popularity of electric vehicles in the country.