LG Energy Solution Overcomes Electric Vehicle Chasm with 'Material and Manufacturing Innovation'

Jung Kyunghwan, Executive Director of Business Strategy at LG Energy Solution
Lecture at 'Battery Conference'
"Devoting Efforts to Designing Cost Competitiveness"

Jung Kyung-hwan, Executive Director of Business Strategy at LG Energy Solution, identified material and manufacturing innovation as key measures to overcome the chasm (temporary demand stagnation) in the electric vehicle market.

On the 5th, Jung Kyung-hwan, Executive Director of Business Strategy at LG Energy Solution, is giving a presentation at 'The Battery Conference' held in the ASEM Ballroom at COEX, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by LG Energy Solution

On the 5th, Jung delivered a presentation titled "Business Strategy to Overcome the Electric Vehicle Market Chasm" at the ASEM Ballroom in COEX, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, emphasizing, "It is most important that cost-competitive materials go into the battery." He forecasted, "The next 3 to 5 years will be the 'golden time' for securing product competitiveness, cost innovation, and building a flexible product portfolio." He added, "Especially with oversupply from China intensifying price competition in the global market, and customer demands becoming more segmented, there are many challenges to address. Success depends on how flexibly we can adapt to the business environment and secure cost competitiveness."

As a strategy to strengthen product competitiveness, Jung stated, "The core of our product portfolio is to build a portfolio that can respond to all three form factors by upgrading manufacturing methods beyond traditional processes, increasing capacity of cost-effective products such as mid-nickel and lithium iron phosphate (LFP)-based solutions." He also explained, "We are expanding the market not only for electric vehicles (EVs) but also for new applications such as energy storage systems (ESS), urban air mobility (UAM), and robots. We are actively developing not only hardware but also software businesses based on battery management system (BMS) safety and degradation diagnostics."

Regarding approaches to cost innovation and competitiveness enhancement, Jung explained material cost reduction, manufacturing innovation, and value chain optimization, stating, "It is important to design an optimized cost structure across the entire supply chain and expand strategic cooperation with key suppliers to secure competitiveness." He added, "We are also simultaneously establishing regional recycling systems and improving quality uniformity and production efficiency through smart factory technologies."

On future preparation strategies, Jung said, "We are focusing mainly on next-generation batteries and new service business construction, striving to secure mass production technology for all-solid-state batteries, develop next-generation batteries using dry electrode technology, and expand battery data-based financial and power service businesses." He remarked, "It would be a lie to say there is no fear of the chasm, but strategically, we just need to clearly recognize the current crisis and find a breakthrough. I believe the chasm will not last that long."