Hyundai to Change Preferred Lithium Ion Cell Supplier from LG Chem to SK Innovation?

Hyundai plans to change its preferred supplier of lithium-ion cells from LG Chem to SK Innovation, according to South Korean news agency The Elec. This is due to recent battery issues that have led to Kony Electric's recall campaign in South Korea.

LG Chem and Hyundai. Twenty years of cooperation and a change of priorities?

Hyundai-Kia currently uses a variety of battery suppliers. Hyundai vehicles, including the Kony Electric, are equipped with parts produced mainly by LG Chem (to a lesser extent: SK Innovation and CATL). Kia, in turn, mainly uses SK Innovation products.

In early October 2020, it became known that Hyundai plans to call 26 copies of the electric Kona for service in South Korea. It quickly became clear that the problem could affect up to 77 vehicles worldwide.

The reason for the action was about a dozen - 13 or 16, different sources give different values ​​\uXNUMXb\uXNUMXb- spontaneous ignitions of electricians. Unofficially it has been said that this is an issue with the purity of the materials used in LG Chem's cells. The manufacturer denied these revelations, but the share price of the chemical company reacted rather nervously to them.

The garage where the Hyundai Kony Electric caught fire and exploded

If the reports provided by Elec are confirmed, it would benefit the most from the changes to SK Innovation, which hasn't had a single cell issue so far and is closely monitored by LG Chem. In turn, for LG Chem, this could be the beginning of the end of the bull market: shortly after Hyundai's troubles, the world heard about General Motors' battery problems.

The American manufacturer has just called in service for 68 bolts produced in 2017-2019. Their batteries are also based on LG Chem cells and, as it turns out, there is a potential fire hazard in their case.

Note from the editors www.elektrowoz.pl: This is news to us that SK Innovation has produced the elements for 30 percent of the Hyundai Kona Electric. Until now, we thought that there is one supplier, but it turned out that there are several suppliers, but one main (main, preferred, ...)

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