[Complete Battery Mastery](28) "Where K-Batteries Are Born"... A Report on the Ochang Secondary Battery Special Zone

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On the 13th, we visited the Battery Manufacturing and Verification Support Center located in Ochang, Cheongju, Chungbuk. Next to the main building of the center, which held its opening ceremony on the 5th of last month, construction was underway for annex buildings such as the Secondary Battery Performance Evaluation Building and the MV (Micro Vehicle) Safety Evaluation Building.

The Battery Manufacturing and Verification Support Center in Ochang, Chungbuk, will transform into the largest secondary battery support facility in Korea supporting full-cycle R&D of secondary battery materials, cells, modules, and packs by the end of this year, with the addition of an explosion-proof test building and an advanced secondary battery analysis building.

On the 13th, construction of an auxiliary building for secondary battery material and component testing and evaluation is underway on the site of the Battery Manufacturing Verification Support Center in Ochang, Chungbuk. Photo by Kang Hee-jong

Fully Equipped 50Ah-Class Pouch Cell Manufacturing Line... "World's First in Public Sector"

On the first floor of the center's main building, which opened first, there is a secondary battery materials and components testing and evaluation center capable of directly manufacturing medium-to-large pouch cells with a capacity of 50 ampere-hours (Ah). A 50Ah capacity is suitable for use in automobiles or energy storage systems (ESS).

This facility is fully equipped with all the equipment needed to manufacture pouch-type batteries, from electrode processes that can directly produce cathodes and anodes, assembly processes that insert electrodes into pouches and inject electrolytes, to formation processes that remove gas from assembled pouches and perform repeated charging and discharging.

After passing through an air washer and entering a dry room (a space maintaining humidity below a certain level), the latest binder, mixing, coating, drying, and slitting equipment were observed in trial operation on the electrode manufacturing line, where cathodes and anodes are separated. New equipment such as notching and stacking was being prepared for operation in the assembly process. In the formation process, equipment for charging and discharging batteries and degassing devices were installed. It is said that about 8 billion KRW was spent on purchasing the equipment alone.

Binder manufacturing and mixing equipment installed inside the Ochang Battery Manufacturing Verification Support Center. Photo by Kang Hee-jong

Building such a medium-to-large battery cell manufacturing line in the public sector is the first in Korea and is rare even globally. LG Energy Solution provided consulting to establish the manufacturing line, as battery cell manufacturing processes incorporate corporate know-how.

The medium-to-large pouch cell manufacturing equipment is expected to be useful for startups and small and medium-sized venture companies that have developed secondary battery materials but found it difficult to conduct performance evaluations. It will also be open to large material companies or battery cell companies that have not yet established pilot lines.

Park Hae-cheol, a senior researcher at Chungbuk Technopark who guided the center, explained, "We have a production capacity to manufacture 200 to 250 pouch cells per day," and added, "We plan to start actual operation by April." Inquiries from battery cell and material companies are already coming in.

Stacking equipment installed inside the Ochang Battery Manufacturing Verification Support Center. Photo by Kang Hee-jong

The upcoming Secondary Battery Performance Evaluation Building will be equipped with infrastructure to analyze and evaluate materials and components for medium-to-large secondary batteries throughout the entire cycle. The MV Safety Evaluation Building will enable environmental and safety evaluations of small batteries ranging from 0.5 to 10 kilowatt-hours (kWh). The explosion-proof test building is a facility that can simulate and analyze battery fire situations such as fires or thermal runaway.

The Battery Manufacturing and Verification Support Center plans to name these annex facilities the Battery Safety Zone (BST). The secondary battery industry specialized complex in Ochang, Chungbuk, houses nine infrastructures to support secondary battery companies, including the Battery Manufacturing and Verification Support Center.

The reason such a large-scale battery support facility is established in Ochang, Chungbuk, is due to the concentration of secondary battery companies in the area. Since LG Chem (now LG Energy Solution) built a secondary battery factory in Ochang in 2002, about 40 battery-related companies have settled there. Across Chungbuk, over 130 battery-related companies are based.

"New Technologies First"... LG Ochang Energy Plant is the 'Mother Factory'

Above all, LG Energy Solution's influence is overwhelmingly significant in establishing Ochang, Chungbuk, as a secondary battery city. LG Energy Solution operates two secondary battery factories in Ochang. In March last year, LG Energy Solution renamed the Ochang factory to Ochang Energy Plant.

From the outside, LG Energy Plant looks much like a typical office building. The first established Energy Plant 1 (Factory 1) produces cylindrical and pouch-type batteries in five buildings on a site of 330,309 square meters (about 99,918 pyeong). Buildings OC1 to OC3 manufacture 2170 cylindrical batteries used in power tools and IT devices, while OC4 and OC5 produce pouch-type batteries installed in automobiles. Buildings OC6 to OC8 are leased and used by LG Chem.

Upon entering the first floor of the main building, the 'Central Park' employee rest area immediately caught the eye. Occasionally, performances or concerts are held by inviting outsiders. The second floor of the main building has game consoles, karaoke, darts, and a caf? freely accessible to employees. Earlier this month, a new four-story welfare center was built right next to the main building, equipped with a convenience store, food court, exercise facilities, and lecture rooms. Since the factory operates 24 hours in three shifts, many employees use the facilities outside of lunch hours as well.

About 6 km away from here is LG Energy Plant 2, which began development in 2010. It covers 356,201 square meters (about 107,510 pyeong), larger than Factory 1. Combined, LG Energy Solution's Ochang factories cover 207,669 pyeong.

LG Energy Solution Ochang Energy Plant 2 exterior. Photo by Kang Hee-jong

Ochang Energy Plant 2 includes building OC9, which produces next-generation cylindrical batteries. The 4680 cylindrical batteries used in Tesla vehicles are manufactured here, with mass production scheduled for August. Building OC10 is also currently under construction right behind it.

Ochang Energy Plant is the only production facility operated by LG Energy Solution in Korea. When introducing new battery technologies or equipment, they are first applied and verified at the Ochang factory before being transferred overseas. It serves as a kind of testbed. The 4680 cylindrical battery will also undergo stabilization here before large-scale mass production at the U.S. factory.

In this sense, LG Energy Solution calls the Ochang factory the 'Mother Factory.' It can communicate and control overseas production facilities in the U.S., China, Poland, and elsewhere remotely from here. Since new technologies and processes are first applied at the Ochang factory, major meetings with clients also take place here. On the day the reporter visited, several overseas buyers were observed.

The production scale of the Ochang factory is also considerable. The production value of Ochang Energy Plant increased significantly each year from 8.3875 trillion KRW in 2021 to 10.5818 trillion KRW in 2022, and 12.2884 trillion KRW in 2023. About half of this came from automotive batteries.

"Silicon Valley in the U.S., Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan... Ochang in Korea"

The headquarters of Ecopro and Ecopro BM's cathode material manufacturing plant are also located right in front of LG Energy Plant. Ecopro BM plans to invest 300 billion KRW to build an R&D center in Ochang. The headquarters of Ecopro Innovation, a lithium hydroxide processing company, and Ecopro HN, an environmental company that was the group's origin, are also in Ochang.

Additionally, companies such as W-Scope Korea (separator), Power Logics (pack/module), Woojin Industrial Systems (finished products), Mirae Nanotech (cathode material), SNP Lab (anode material), CSIEM (electrolyte material), Wonik E&E (process equipment), and Daeyeon ST (cell components) form a cluster in the complex.

Recognizing these strengths, Ochang, Chungbuk, was designated as a specialized complex for secondary battery materials, components, and equipment in 2021, and on July 20 last year, it was designated as a national advanced strategic industry specialized complex.

The advanced strategic industry specialized complex consists of four industrial complexes: Ochang Science Industrial Complex, Ochang 2nd Science Industrial Complex, Ochang Technopolis General Industrial Complex, and Ochang Nanotech Industrial Complex. The total area reaches 14,609,355 square meters (about 4.42 million pyeong). Among these, the Technopolis General Industrial Complex and Ochang Nanotech Industrial Complex are currently under development.

Investment by secondary battery-related companies in Ochang is expected to continue. LG Energy Solution invested 2.3 trillion KRW in the Ochang area from 2013 to 2021 and plans to invest an additional 3.9 trillion KRW over four years from 2023 to 2026 to build the Mother Factory and R&D pilot lines.

According to Chungbuk Province, since the designation of the specialized complex, five companies including Inox Advanced Materials have decided on new or expansion investments totaling 800 billion KRW.

Chungbuk is pursuing three major strategies: strengthening core capabilities as a super-gap technology leader, creating a global R&D cluster, and enhancing an innovation ecosystem. It expects to achieve a secondary battery production value of 196 trillion KRW, added value of 51 trillion KRW, employment of 145,000 people, and exports of 8.9 billion USD by 2030. Kim Sang-pil, head of the secondary battery industry team at Chungbuk Provincial Government, said, "Our goal is to become a world-class secondary battery cluster like Silicon Valley (IT) in the U.S. and Hsinchu Chemical Industrial Complex (semiconductors) in Taiwan."

[Interview] "50% Annual Growth through Electrode Exports... Choi Bong-gyu, CEO of E2Tech"

Choi Bong-gyu, CEO of E2Tech

There is a company that has been exporting electrodes since 2013, before the domestic secondary battery industry gained attention. It is E2Tech, located in the Ochang Science Industrial Complex, Chungbuk. Although not well known to the general public in Korea, it is a strong small and medium-sized enterprise that earns most of its revenue from electrode exports. In 2022, it received a 3 million USD export tower award from the government.

At E2Tech's headquarters in Ochang on the 13th, CEO Choi Bong-gyu stated, "Last year, we recorded sales of 7.3 billion KRW, and this year we aim to increase sales by more than 50% to 15 billion KRW."

Founded in 2013, E2Tech produces cathode and anode electrodes used in high-performance, high-output, and special-purpose batteries. It mainly exports battery electrodes to Israel's Taridan and the U.S.'s Saft. Both are traditional battery cell companies primarily producing industrial and defense batteries. E2Tech also supplies electrodes to domestic battery cell companies.

Industrial and defense batteries must operate in extreme environments compared to general-purpose batteries, so suppliers must meet stringent conditions. For example, Israel's Taridan emphasizes that their batteries have four times the lifespan of general batteries.

Anodes are being produced at E2Tech in Ochang, Chungbuk. Photo by Kang Hee-jong

E2Tech aims to be more than just a simple subcontractor. When a client proposes specifications, E2Tech combines materials capable of realizing them and makes counter-proposals. This requires proprietary technology. They operate a corporate research institute staffed by a renowned engineering Ph.D. who was formerly a university professor. CEO Choi explained, "We also possess anode technology that does not swell even when the silicon anode content is expanded to 80%."

E2Tech owns mixing, coating, and pressing equipment and has the capacity to produce electrodes with an annual capacity of 500 megawatt-hours (MWh), totaling 1 million meters in length. This year, they plan to invest 1 billion KRW to expand the electrode manufacturing line and add dry room facilities to increase production capacity.

They are actively responding to environmental issues as well. To minimize the use of hazardous materials problematic in recycling, some electrodes are manufactured using distilled water while maintaining electrode characteristics, realizing manufacturing innovation.

E2Tech also provides sample production services for secondary battery startups that lack production facilities, a kind of support business. CEO Choi Bong-gyu said, "Electrode manufacturing for startups is a business where profitability is hard to expect," and added, "It would be good if the government provided tax credits or financial support for such areas."

CEO Choi Bong-gyu, formerly of Samsung Group's Secretariat, has been managing this company since 2016.