SK On Develops Evaluation System with KTL to Accelerate Battery 'Reuse Era'

MOU Signed to Establish Battery Performance Evaluation System After 8 Days of Use

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK On announced on the 8th that it has signed an agreement with the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL), the only public comprehensive testing and certification institution under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, to establish methods and systems for inspecting the performance of 'used batteries.'

Both parties agreed on the need for accurate and efficient methods to evaluate battery performance and safety in order to reuse batteries from scrapped electric vehicles. They plan to cooperate especially to develop a pack-level evaluation method that overcomes the limitations of evaluating batteries at the module level.

Batteries are installed in electric vehicles in the form of a single pack. A pack consists of a dozen or so modules. Each module is composed of dozens of battery cells. Therefore, in terms of inspection time and cost, it is most efficient and advantageous for business feasibility to inspect the pack directly without disassembling it into modules.

Both parties expect that by devising and standardizing a pack-level battery evaluation method, they can accelerate the activation of a vast market ecosystem that utilizes used batteries in energy storage systems (ESS), small electric mobility devices, and more. Furthermore, they believe this will lay the foundation for domestic companies engaged in related businesses to secure business feasibility and gain a competitive edge in the global market.

To this end, KTL plans to devote its capabilities to developing inspection methods based on the technology and experience it has built in the field of battery testing and evaluation. SK On will support the verification and improvement of evaluation models with its unique safety technology and know-how established in battery manufacturing and quality inspection.

In 2018, KTL opened a medium- and large-sized secondary battery testing and certification center in Cheonan, Chungnam Province, equipped with over 100 advanced devices, the largest scale in Korea. Based on its secondary battery testing and evaluation expertise, it ensures secondary battery safety and supports the export activation of domestic companies.

SK On is striving to utilize used batteries as part of its BaaS (Battery as a Service) business. Recently, it developed an ESS using used batteries and applied for a regulatory sandbox demonstration exemption to enable its use at construction sites. Additionally, it is collaborating with organizations such as the Korea Battery Industry Association to introduce battery rental services for ESS made from electric vehicle batteries and used batteries. SK On is leading the establishment of a resource circulation system that recycles batteries and activates the ESS market through various BaaS models.

Song Tae-seung, head of KTL, stated, "Through this business agreement, we will actively utilize the capabilities of SK On, a leading domestic battery manufacturer, and KTL, a specialized secondary battery testing and certification institution, to contribute to improving the quality of secondary batteries and used batteries, which are future core industries, and actively cooperate for mutual growth of companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.