[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] ENPlus, which is establishing mass production facilities for graphene-based secondary battery conductive materials and electrodes, has succeeded in developing a ‘graphene supercapacitor’ with an energy density equivalent to that of lithium-ion batteries.
The newly developed graphene supercapacitor has an energy density of 280Wh/Kg, which is on par with currently commercialized lithium-ion batteries. This enables faster charging and discharging compared to conventional batteries, as well as longer lifespan and extended driving range.
ENPlus announced on the 28th that it has succeeded in developing graphene-based electric vehicle (EV) supercapacitors (accumulators) in collaboration with UC Technology, a research and development (R&D) and manufacturing subsidiary of UC Energy, a next-generation energy storage device company specializing in capacitor-based technology, and is currently conducting tests on 72V electric vehicles.
Earlier this month, ENPlus supplied and installed 64 standalone solar street lamps equipped with graphene-applied supercapacitors in Gimcheon City and participated in the lighting ceremony hosted by Gimcheon City.
Additionally, through technical support from an Indonesian state-owned enterprise, ENPlus is on the verge of signing an export contract worth approximately 10 billion KRW for more than 30,000 supercapacitors annually. The company has already signed a contract and is delivering the first batch of 50 units.
Supercapacitors are a type of secondary battery that significantly enhance the capacitance performance of conventional capacitors, which have been used in various electrical products for a long time. Unlike batteries that store electricity through chemical energy reactions of ions, capacitors store electricity directly, giving them advantages in output, temperature tolerance, and storage speed compared to other secondary batteries.
In the current electric vehicle market, which demands rapid charging, lithium-based batteries require about 3,000 charge-discharge cycles and considerable time for full charging, whereas supercapacitors can endure at least 20,000 charge-discharge cycles and enable fast charging. Moreover, supercapacitors have favorable temperature characteristics, reducing the risk of cell explosions.
An ENPlus official stated, “By combining UC Technology’s core IC circuit technology with ENPlus’s graphene and battery technologies, we have succeeded in developing a next-generation storage device with performance superior to conventional ion batteries. The supercapacitor we developed this time dramatically increases energy density, and when applied as a battery for electric vehicles, it offers long driving range and can be fully charged within 10 minutes in rapid charging mode using a dedicated charger.”
He added, “While lithium-ion secondary batteries experience a sharp drop in energy efficiency during winter, ENPlus’s supercapacitors maintain efficiency without significant reduction even at low temperatures. They can be applied not only to electric vehicles but also to most secondary battery applications using lithium-ion batteries, such as drones and various home appliances.”
Kang Taekyung, Vice President of ENPlus, said, “Supercapacitors can be applied not only to electric vehicles but also to fields such as solar-powered EV charging stations and self ESS (Energy Storage System) facilities using wind and solar power in remote mountainous and island areas where electrical installation is difficult. Our goal is to launch various commercial products in the first half of next year, including drone batteries capable of flying for at least 40 minutes to an hour, rapid auxiliary batteries that can be charged within 10 minutes, and UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems.”
In June last year, ENPlus developed graphene powder with excellent electrical conductivity into liquid graphene and established a research institute and recruited experts to apply it to secondary battery materials, resulting in successful production of conductive material electrodes for secondary batteries.
Based on this, the company achieved monthly sales of 350 million KRW in December. To prepare for a significant increase in sales, ENPlus recently decided to invest approximately 15 billion KRW in mass production facilities. Through this, ENPlus plans to accelerate mass production of conductive materials, electrodes, and supercapacitors applying graphene.
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