SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Battery maker LG Energy Solution's second-quarter profit dropped 58% year-on-year to 195.3 billion won ($141m), the company said on Monday (8 July), as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) slows:
The South Korean-based battery company also saw its revenue drop 30% to 6.2 trillion won ($4.4bn).
The company also faces increased competition from its Chinese rivals, which has weakened its share of the market.
Car manufacturers have been calling for battery companies to create cheaper cells to lower EV prices, which has applied pressure to companies like LG Energy.
This led to LG Energy's chief technology officer, Kim Je-Young, stating that the company would commercialise dry-coating technology by 2028, a technology which makes battery manufacturing cheaper and more efficient.
Battery maker SK On declares 'emergency' as EV sales disappoint. Supplier to Ford and Volkswagen may have to be rescued by its South Korean parent as losses mount:
A leading South Korean producer of electric vehicle batteries has declared itself in crisis as its customers struggle with disappointing EV sales in Europe and the US.
SK On, the world's fourth-largest EV battery maker behind Chinese giants CATL and BYD and South Korean rival LG Energy Solution, has recorded losses for 10 consecutive quarters since being spun off by its parent company in 2021. Its net debt has increased more than fivefold, from Won2.9tn ($2.1bn) to Won15.6tn over the same period, as western EV sales have fallen far short of its expectations.
With losses snowballing, chief executive Lee Seok-hee announced a series of cost-cutting and working practice measures last Monday, describing them as a state of "emergency management".
[...] SK On has made a series of aggressive investments in the US and Europe in recent years, betting on a widely predicted boom in demand for EVs. However, it has since announced extended lay-offs for workers at its plant in the US state of Georgia and delayed launching a second plant in Kentucky, a joint venture with its principal US customer Ford.
Previously:
- LG Energy Solution to Spend $3 Billion to Expand EV Battery Production in South Korea
- Honda and LG are Investing $3.5 Billion in New Ohio Battery Factory
- Ford Motor Company is Planning a Big EV Future
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 10 2024, @08:29PM (3 children)
You're not selling batteries to EV makers? So, just repackage the batteries for sale to solar power people who need to store some energy. The energy that will move a two ton EV 300 miles will probably keep an energy efficient home running for a week or so. Disasters that knock out power for more than a week are relatively rare. Hey, I'd love having an uninterruptible power supply that lasts a week!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Informative) by fliptop on Saturday August 10 2024, @10:09PM (1 child)
The best reason for using deep-cycle lead-acid vs. lithium seems to be initial cost [solartechadvisor.com]. Lithium wins in all other categories. The linked article mentions
Although the battery chemistry is considered quite safe care must be taken to ensure they're never [youtube.com] ever [youtube.com] damaged [youtube.com]. Of course, there's [youtube.com] always [youtube.com] a risk [youtube.com] involved.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by drussell on Sunday August 11 2024, @12:12AM
The inability to charge at low temperatures is also a show-stopper for Li-ion in some applications.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2024, @02:45AM
> The energy that will move a two ton EV 300 miles will probably keep an energy efficient home running for a week or so.
Let's run some numbers:
Typical BEV batteries are between 50 KWh and 100 KWh. https://www.ev.guide/lesson-articles/ev-battery-capacity-and-estimating-range [www.ev.guide]
If your house averages 1Kw (perhaps on the high side, unless you are running AC and/or heating with a heat pump) then a car battery will last for 50 - 100 hours (minus the inefficiency of the inverter to convert from DC to 115VAC) so say 2-4 days of cloudy weather when the solar isn't producing.
Cost of that battery ranges from $7000 to $12,000. I left out the batteries larger than 100 KWH shown on https://www.ev.guide/lesson-articles/ev-battery-capacity-and-estimating-range [www.ev.guide] and I've ignored the cost of the battery management system built into the car (monitoring charge of each cell)--I think that article is just the replacement cost of the cells?
For another LI-Ion data point, consider an integrated backup system, Tesla Powerwall: about $10,000 (more with installation) for 13.5 kWh capacity (much less than any BEV). https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/solar/tesla-powerwall-cost/ [marketwatch.com] this page mentions that most solar house backups use 2 or more Powerwalls.
Compare to my homebrew backup which runs my gas boiler and circulator pump, plus the fridge, a few LED lights, and computers. We're in an area that had ice storms and often have power out in the winter for a day or two. I have a 2500W (continuous) 12V to 115VAC inverter (less than $200 at Harbor Freight) that runs off the car I already have. The inverter loafs along until time to start the pump or fridge, then may approach the 5000W surge rating for about a second. At idle (enough to keep the 12V lead-acid car battery charged) the car burns perhaps 4 gallons of gasoline per day, about $15 at current prices.
I won't be buying BEV batteries or Powerwalls for backup any time soon. I'm just not that into virtue signaling.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday August 10 2024, @09:36PM (2 children)
There is a continuing increase in demand for batteries.
The rate of increase has slowed.
EVs are one type of battery, so is the issue packaging of cells, or chemistry of the batteries being made in S Korea? I doubt every South Korean factory is making the same type of battery, anyway.
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/trends-in-electric-vehicle-batteries [iea.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2024, @01:55AM (1 child)
The story is another deliberately misleading one trying to push the agenda that EVs are no good and therefore we should all keep using ICEs.
FFS even mid-range commercial planes are being developed to run on batteries [youtube.com].
Any way that a story can be put that something is wrong with a technology that threatens fossil fuels is pushed hard. I wonder who is paying for these "story"s?
(Score: 2) by DadaDoofy on Sunday August 11 2024, @06:09PM
Ok. Let's just say for argument's sake these batteries can be produced at scale for the same or less than it costs to produce the current EV batteries. Just 1% of the vehicle's in the US are electric. Already some states have to beg EV drivers not to charge in times of high demand, proof that the system is inadequate for even the current demand.
Even if we completely stopped production of EVs, the retrofitting of batteries with higher energy density to EVs currently on the road would increase demand on our power infrastructure beyond what it can produce. This drives up the cost of electricity. Of course, EV advocates say we'll just build more power plants, completely dismissing how difficult, time consuming and expensive it is to do so.
The other dirty little secret is, while EVs are marketed as "clean and green" and virtue signaled as such, 61% of electricity generated in the US comes from fossil fuel. If we increase power generation capability by the 80% experts say it would take to power all vehicles with electricity, we would burn nearly 50% more fossil fuel than we do now, just generating the electricity.