[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] SK On, a secondary battery company, will invest 1.5 trillion won to expand its Seosan plant in South Chungcheong Province.

It is trying to increase production by 100 times in 11 years as demand for batteries for electric vehicles increases.

SK ON announced on the 16th that it has signed an investment agreement with Chungnam-do and Seosan-si. Chungnam Governor Kim Tae-heum, Seosan Mayor Lee Wan-seop, and SK ON CEO Ji Dong-seop attended the signing ceremony held at the Chungnam Provincial Office.

Accordingly, SK ON will expand its third plant on the 44,125㎡ (about 13,348 pyeong) site in Seosan Auto Valley Industrial Complex. The investment of 1.5 trillion won is the largest domestic investment of SK ON. The expansion of the third plant will be completed in 2025. Afterwards, facility replacement and process improvement work will be carried out.

SK ON expects to increase production capacity sequentially and produce up to 14 GWh (Gigawatt hour) by 2028. If SK On achieves its goal of 2028, the electric vehicle battery that SK On can make in Korea will be about 20GWh. 20GWh can be mounted on 280,000 electric vehicles.

SK ON has a 0.2GWh production line at its first plant in Seosan in 2012. Since then, the company has expanded its production to 5GWh by 2018. The investment plan of 20GWh is 100 times the size of the initial production. It has announced a production plan that is 100 times larger in 11 years. Chungnam-do and Seosan-si are in charge of administrative support such as licensing.

 

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