Samsung, Hyundai Be a part of Hands to build up Electric-Car Batteries
14 May, 2020
Hyundai chief Chung Eui-sun met with Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong on Wednesday to go over cooperation in growing rechargeable batteries for electrical cars.
The lunch meeting by the heads of Korea's biggest conglomerates, which are traditionally bitter enemies, shows the urgency of tackling a rapidly changing economy exacerbated by the coronavirus epidemic.
Both tycoons discussed the future of solid-state battery packs, which are being touted as the key power way to obtain vehicles later on. Solid-state batteries replace the liquid electrolytes of lithium-ion batteries with solid matter to permit smaller dimensions and could even be bent.
Cho Jae-phil at the Ulsan National Institute of Research and Technology said, "We will be in a position to commercialize solid-state battery packs five years from today, which means a major leap forward in electric vehicle utilization because their prices could possibly be slashed and travel distances extended."
Both were apparently trying to sniff out what lengths each has gotten within their development.
Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong (still left) and Hyundai chief Chung Eui-sun shake hands at a meeting in Seoul in Jan. 2, 2019. /Yonhap
Samsung and Hyundai used to be archrivals in a business scenery where conglomerates traditionally possess a finger in every pie and contend with one another at all levels. But things altered when Chung and Lee got over supervision from their old-fashioned patriarchal fathers.
One industry source said, "It seemed essential to keep different rivals in check back many years ago of quantitative growth, however the new technology of corporate chiefs have realized that domestic rivalries have become meaningless in an period of global competition."
Rechargeable batteries and self-driving cars cannot be independently developed by 1 company and require cooperation. Korea has world-leading technology in those areas and professionals possess pointed out for quite a while the necessity for synergy.
Koh Tae-bong at HI Investment and Securities said, "Hyundai aims to roll away 44 different eco-friendly cars by 2025 and build a power city weather carrier by 2028, so it is in urgent want of solid-state batteries."
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