Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said on May 7 that it has succeeded in developing a next-generation secondary battery, which is safer than lithium-ion batteries but is priced at half the price.
Lithium-ion batteries emit less harmful substances than lead storage batteries, and as charging and discharge is repeated, battery capacity does not decrease, and energy density is high.
Despite these advantages, electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries use flammable organic materials that are prone to catch fire and other safety concerns.
In addition, lithium, a key material for lithium-ion batteries, exists only in parts of South America such as Bolivia and Chile, and unstable supply and demand of raw materials and rising prices increase the initial installation cost of ESS (Energy Storage System).
KEPCO has been conducting research for three years from 2017 to solve the safety and high cost problems of lithium-ion batteries, and succeeded in developing 20Ah-class next-generation secondary batteries using Mn instead of lithium for the first time in Korea in May 2020.
The secondary battery developed this time lowered the cost by replacing the anode material of lithium-ion batteries with manganese, the 12th most abundant element on Earth, and the electrolyte has enhanced safety by using a non-flammable solution.
KEPCO's next-generation secondary battery is expected to provide safe and affordable secondary batteries to Korean companies that are suffering from expensive lithium-ion batteries due to its high safety and only half of the price of existing lithium-ion batteries.
KEPCO expects to save a total of 250 billion won ($205 million) if it replaces lithium-ion batteries currently operating for ESS in Korea with next-generation secondary batteries.
