Gwangju TP, Full-Scale Start of Local Battery Industry

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Gwangju Technopark (Gwangju TP) announced on the 13th that it has been finally selected for the 'Battery Module and Pack System Testing and Evaluation Center Construction Project for Electric Vehicles' by forming a consortium with Gwangju Metropolitan City, Korea Battery Industry Association, and Honam University in the 'Industrial Innovation Infrastructure Construction Project' announced by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

With this selection, Gwangju Technopark will secure 5 billion KRW in national funds and invest 7.5 billion KRW in local funds over five years until 2026 to establish a testing and evaluation center aimed at strengthening the core technology competitiveness of secondary battery packs and modules for regional energy companies.

The testing and evaluation center will be built on a 9,256㎡ site in the Nam-gu Urban High-tech Industrial Complex, with a two-story building housing pack test charge/discharge devices, chambers, high-power module performance evaluation equipment, and more. It will establish a comprehensive support platform for electric vehicle battery pack and module design, product development, technical guidance, certification support, and workforce training to maximize the activation of the next-generation battery industry.

The Nam-gu Urban High-tech Industrial Complex in Gwangju has expressed its intention during the 8th local government term to develop into a 'Mecca of Next-Generation Battery Industry' linked with the world's top energy company KEPCO, the Electric Power Research Institute's Secondary Battery Certification Center, Korea Electric Power Corporation University (KEPCO University), and energy companies.

Local small and medium-sized enterprises expect that the certification period for electric vehicle battery packs, which typically took more than a year for commercialization, will be significantly reduced in terms of time and cost through the establishment of the testing and evaluation center.

It is also expected to play a catalytic role in the transition of the eco-friendly electric vehicle industrial ecosystem for automobile parts companies and energy companies.

The testing and evaluation center will establish a testing and evaluation environment that meets the strengthened safety and reliability requirements following recent electric vehicle fire accidents. Additionally, it plans to secure battery module pack system performance inspection data and used battery performance data recovered from electric vehicles, provide public-purpose data linked with the Gwangju AI Data Center, and support R&D utilization and new business model discovery for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Director Kim Sun-min said, “The electric vehicle battery testing and evaluation center is expected to serve as a hub connecting industry, academia, and research in the Gwangju region’s battery industry and create synergy effects with the energy industry.” He added, “We will actively respond to the increasing demand for battery performance evaluation from new companies following the Gwangju-type job Season 2 and the attraction of eco-friendly automobile companies to the Bitgreen Industrial Complex.”

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