Rivian tests in-house batteries in Korea

[kanundrum]

https://www-thelec-kr.translate.goo...l=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Rivia...ieve-EV-production-target-early.600832.0.html


Rivian, a new American electric vehicle maker listed on the New York Stock Exchange in November last year, will set up a pilot production line for battery R&D in Korea. It was confirmed on the 17th that high-ranking officials from Rivian recently visited Korea and toured the site of the factory to prepare the pilot line. Various tests for the establishment of its own battery production line to be carried out in the United States will be carried out here.

The area where the pilot line will be prepared has not yet been determined. Areas that can easily procure relevant manpower, battery equipment, and facilities are expected to be considered as top priority. You can also refer to the opinions of companies that have contracted to supply equipment to Rivian.

In the meantime, major executives such as Johnson Mark, senior engineer in charge of production, Victor Prajapati, cell engineer director, and Park Ki-tae, senior engineer have visited Korea frequently to lay the foundation for equipment and facilities necessary for battery production. By 2030, the construction of a 100 gigawatt hour (GWh) battery plant is underway. If it goes ahead as planned, a trickle-down effect is expected for the domestic battery industry.

An industry official said, "Rivian plans to make a prismatic battery using a ternary cathode material in the United States." "We have been continuously discussing battery design and production with our partners, and it is advantageous for battery production to increase the synergy effect with the Korean rear industry. It seems to have decided that,” he explained.

Rivian was established in 2009. It has received an investment of 8 billion dollars (about 9.2 trillion won) from Amazon and Ford. At one time, it overtook Volkswagen and ranked third in the global auto industry based on market capitalization, but its stock price has plunged and surged again this year, causing ups and downs. It is interpreted as a strategy to speed up its own battery production by preparing a domestic pilot line and to achieve the electric vehicle production target early.

Not only Rivian, but also emerging battery makers such as Northvolt, Automotive Cell Company (ACC), Freyr, British Volt, Vercore, and Vinfast are discovering partners while visiting Korea. This is a result reflecting the expectation that if Korean companies build production lines mainly, they will be able to advance the battery mass production plan. It seems that he highly appreciated the experience of working with three domestic battery companies: LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation (SK On), and Samsung SDI.

In reality, it was also considered that it would be difficult to link with companies from other countries. Europe also has a battery industry behind it, but the production is low and the price is high. China does not have the capacity to respond to domestic companies such as CATL, BYD, and Guo Xuan, and its skills are not as good as that of Korea. Northvolt had a hard time using battery equipment of China's leading intelligence. In Japan, the number of companies interested in overseas expansion is limited.

Another industry official said, "The number of domestic partners entering overseas markets to respond to local battery and finished car makers such as the US and Europe will increase in the future."

출처 : 전자부품 전문 미디어 디일렉(http://www.thelec.kr)

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[electruck]

Interesting mention of a future shift to prismatic batteries.

 

[E.S.]

Curious, has LG figured out the issue with the set of batteries that were catching on fire (aka the ones on certain Chevy Bolts)?

 

[Autolycus]

Interesting mention of a future shift to prismatic batteries.

Yes, very interesting, indeed. There are some definite advantages to prismatic batteries, along with the known disadvantages. One of the biggest advantages of cylindrical cells is that they're commodities (to some extent, anyway). But if you have your own manufacturing capacity, there is less need for that feature.

BYD developed a "Blade Battery" prismatic cell that appears to have a lot of benefits. They're long, thin cells that are robust enough to be installed directly into a pack, rather than having to be assembled into modules first. Because of their shape, they also present plenty of cooling capacity while being more space efficient than cylinders.

Cylinders are great in a lot of ways, but their volumetric capacity (at the pack level) is really limited by the shape. That's why you see Tesla moving toward a gigantic cylinder with its 4680 cell concept. But at that larger size cylinder, you start to lose some of the heat dissipation advantages of cylinder cells vs. prismatic ones.

 

[Max]

Curious, has LG figured out the issue with the set of batteries that were catching on fire (aka the ones on certain Chevy Bolts)?

Chrysler using LG batteries just had a recall due to fire.

 

[zefram47]

Oh joy, more battery BS news from an unknown source. Sounds like bad news if they actually do go down the route of prismatic cells. A quick search shows the energy density of prismatic cells is much lower than cylindrical cells and they have a harder time keeping them in their happy place temperature wise than cylindrical. That would suggest even more issues with trying to get fast charging rates. Prismatic cells also tend to swell over time / charge cycles, made worse if you get them too hot (fast charging, towing heavy loads, etc). Prismatic cells also mean issues with cell balancing and preventing over charging, at least says the source I'd read.

 

[Craigins]

Oh joy, more battery BS news from an unknown source. Sounds like bad news if they actually do go down the route of prismatic cells. A quick search shows the energy density of prismatic cells is much lower than cylindrical cells and they have a harder time keeping them in their happy place temperature wise than cylindrical. That would suggest even more issues with trying to get fast charging rates. Prismatic cells also tend to swell over time / charge cycles, made worse if you get them too hot (fast charging, towing heavy loads, etc). Prismatic cells also mean issues with cell balancing and preventing over charging, at least says the source I'd read.

Phew, we can put that to rest. Why don't the Rivian engineers simply do a quick google search to figure out what to research and develop in the future.

 

[jjwolf120]

A quick search shows the energy density of prismatic cells is much lower than cylindrical cells

I don't think this is the case. As I recall prismatic cells have, at least theoretically, the highest energy density (If I remember correctly this was stated by Robert Gaylen in an interview, but I can't remember exactly where. Could have been Munroe Live, Grid connections or Autoline). Most of the prismatic cells that are made are using lower energy density chemistry.

 

[zefram47]

I don't think this is the case. As I recall prismatic cells have, at least theoretically, the highest energy density (If I remember correctly this was stated by Robert Gaylen in an interview, but I can't remember exactly where. Could have been Munroe Live, Grid connections or Autoline). Most of the prismatic cells that are made are using lower energy density chemistry.

I think the source I was looking at was confusing density by volume vs weight. Many of the other points apply though. Prismatic/pouch type cells do have a big problem with swelling and if they rupture it's bad news.

 

[electruck]

Rivian is no doubt looking at next-gen battery technology so don't assume current-gen problems will still be problems.

Also, we don't really know the intended application. Perhaps their future, lower priced, higher volume models will leverage prismatic LiFePO4 batteries? Or perhaps this is some future solid state development since we also know they've been pursuing that (although these 2 things may not be part of the same effort). Point is, there is a lot we don't know.

 

[E.S.]

Chrysler using LG batteries just had a recall due to fire.

Yep! I'm still wary about LG. So much so that I replaced the storage batteries in my home's solar from LG chems to Samsungs last year. I really do hope LG fixes that issue with the quickness. It's done a lot of harm towards adopting into EVs.

 

[lostpacket]

Interesting read! Despite being from the same source that posted the earlier disputed story about Samsung SDI and Rivian, this was still kinda interesting.

I think some parts are getting lost in translation though, or I am even more dense than the planned batteries (entirely possible).

Also some headscratchers like this:

China does not have the capacity to respond to domestic companies such as CATL, BYD, and Guo Xuan, and its skills are not as good as that of Korea.

Isnt CATL the largest EV battery maker by a lot?

Also are prismatic batteries harder or easier to cool? Edit @Autolycus answered this above. ?

 

[Autolycus]

Interesting read! Despite being from the same source that posted the earlier disputed story about Samsung SDI and Rivian, this was still kinda interesting.

I think some parts are getting lost in translation though, or I am even more dense than the planned batteries (entirely possible).

Also some headscratchers like this:



Isnt CATL the largest EV battery maker by a lot?

Also are prismatic batteries harder or easier to cool? Edit @Autolycus answered this above. ?

yep, prismatic cells cannot dissipate heat as well as cylinders. A circle has the highest ratio of surface area/volume of any shape. More surface area = more heat dissipation.

The two biggest downsides of cylinders are that they’re harder to manufacture and they don’t fit efficiently in a pack. There ends up being lots of dead space. Rivian, Tesla and others have done pretty well to maximize the density, but there are still hard physical limits.

 

[Rob Stark]

Curious, has LG figured out the issue with the set of batteries that were catching on fire (aka the ones on certain Chevy Bolts)?

No, GM/LG are replacing the recalled batteries with new LG batteries without having figured the two defects that caused the problem. Same with GM restarting production of Bolt. They are just hoping for the best.

 

[SANZC02]

No, GM/LG are replacing the recalled batteries with new LG batteries without having figured the two defects that caused the problem. Same with GM restarting production of Bolt. They are just hoping for the best.

Can you provide your source for this?

My understanding is they did determine the root cause being a torn anode tab and bent separator caused in the manufacturing process and are recovering 1.9 million from LG to cover some of the cost.

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