Industry sources said LG New Energy is developing a prototype electric vehicle based on pure silicon cells and began full performance evaluation tests on it in August. I know they have developed pure silicon technology that doesn’t need to be improved,” said another person familiar with the matter. The company plans to continue evaluating the prototype”

100% pure silicon refers to the battery cathode material made of pure silicon, which can store 10 times more energy compared to the current widely used graphite material, so major companies are trying to use silicon instead of carbon. Tesla, for example, drew market attention by proposing the use of pure silicon at Battery Day 2020, while Shin Hak-chul, vice chairman of LG Chem, LG New Energy’s parent company, highlighted the development of pure silicon batteries as a priority in a growth strategy announcement last February.

However, this material has an obvious drawback, as silicon contains more lithium ions than graphite, making it much larger. Therefore, even if silicon could be successfully used as an electrode material, its usage would be very limited. That is why LG New Energy’s development and planned testing of a pure silicon prototype is seen by the industry as a major technological breakthrough achieved by the company.

According to reports, LG New Energy successfully reduced the size of silicon to the smallest size currently achievable – 5 microns. It is estimated that it will not only help improve performance but also help to reduce the size of the battery. When it is finally successfully commercialized, it can greatly improve the battery life and charging performance of electric vehicles and has a certain price competitiveness. After all, silicon per unit capacity is cheaper than graphite.

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