[2020 Green Mobility Awards] Mobility Innovation Award - SK Innovation

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Soyeon] SK Innovation was highly praised for its achievements in leading future green energy through electric vehicle batteries and received the Mobility Innovation Award, an award from the Minister of Environment.

SK Innovation officially began its green energy business in 2005 by starting the development of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles. Since beginning production in 2006, as orders from domestic and international automakers increased, SK Innovation announced the expansion of Facility No. 7 at its Seosan Plant 2 in November 2017.

SK Innovation's Seosan battery plant, which began full-scale mass production in the second half of last year, now has a total production capacity of 4.7GWh. The batteries produced at the new production facility in the Seosan plant are '3rd generation electric vehicle batteries' that can provide a driving range of 500 km on a single charge for electric vehicles or over 60 km for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

SK Innovation has set its future direction as 'Deep Change 2.0' and is accelerating the growth and expansion of its electric vehicle battery business to enter new industries that traditional oil refiners have not ventured into.

The company is also actively targeting overseas markets. SK Innovation is sequentially increasing its global production facilities in China, Europe, and the United States. It plans to increase orders from global automakers and become a key player in the electric vehicle battery industry.

Recently, SK Innovation completed plants with a capacity of 7.5GWh each in Kom?rom, Hungary, and Changzhou, China, achieving a total production capacity of 19.7GWh, enough to supply 400,000 electric vehicles.

SK Innovation plans to build an additional plant with a production capacity of about 20GWh in Yancheng, China, by the end of this year, and complete a 9.8GWh battery plant under construction in Georgia, USA, by the end of next year, expanding total production capacity to 50GWh.

Additionally, SK Innovation aims to establish a BaaS (Battery as a Service) system with business partners based on the 5R (Repair, Rental, Recharge, Reuse, Recycling) strategic platform, which can complete the forward and backward value chain related to the electric vehicle battery business.