If you’ve seen Samsung SDI in the news recently, that’s because the Samsung subsidiary was initially fingered as the company that made faulty Galaxy Note 7 batteries that overheated and exploded. But soon after the first Galaxy Note 7 recall, it was discovered that “safe” units sporting batteries from a different supplier behaved similarly. Samsung SDI won’t be entirely exonerated until Samsung actually tells us what went wrong with the Galaxy Note 7. But the battery maker is now back in the news, and this time it’s got some exciting things to announce.
Samsung SDI developed a brand new battery pack for electric cars that not only charges faster than competing products, but it also has better range. That’s the kind of news that electric car makers should be happy to hear considering every major brand is now working on electric vehicles.
According to Business Korea, Samsung SDI unveiled a new battery cell that will offer cars a range of up to 600 kilometers with fast charging. The new battery was just unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and Samsung SDI says it can recharge to 80% capacity in just 20 minutes, which should be good for 500 kilometers. These new battery cells will be mass-produced in 2021.
The battery pack is also 10% lighter and needs 10% fewer component units than competing batteries that are already being produced. Samsung’s integrated battery module has more than 24 cells with a capacity of 6 to 8kWh. Comparatively, a typical EV battery module has 12 cells and a capacity of 2 to 3kWh.
“When the integrated battery module is applied to an EV, it is expected to bring benefit to both battery industry and automakers as it will be lighter with fewer components,” an unnamed Samsung SDI official said. “Since we are increasingly witnessing a change in many automakers’ sourcing strategy from battery cells to modules in the EV sector, Samsung SDI is expecting a rising customers’ demand in the integrated battery modules.”
Samsung SDI is also making batteries for the Galaxy S8, a recent report claimed.
