Grinergy CEO: The biggest obstacle in the electric vehicle era is the battery!
Translated by Don Southerton August 25, 2021
— Lithium-ion batteries perform poorly in cold weather. Lead-acid batteries are not environmentally friendly.
— alternative, lithium-titanium compound, minus 30 degrees, withstand fast charging,
— buses, ships, heavy-duty ‘multiplier’ market can coexist with lithium ion
“There are several problems with batteries used in today’s vehicles. Lead-acid batteries are safe, but they pollute the environment and are heavy. Lithium-ion batteries lose their performance significantly when the temperature drops. I think there are batteries that solve these problems. I think the era will come when the existing battery market and new batteries coexist.” Sungpang (Scott) Bang
This is a startup that began with the idea that battery technology is a key issue
in the era of electric mobility. In Silicon Valley, Sungpang ( Scott) Bang (47, photo)who worked at Tesla, Apple, Byton, and Hyundai, etc., and Samsung Electronics’ former COO Byung-hoon Jeong, co-founded Grinergy in 2017, are the main characters.
They witnessed early on that the automobile industry was slowly shifting from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, but they realized that current battery technology could not match the tasks that internal combustion engines are doing.
For example, there are problems in that the existing batteries under perform the internal combustion engine in heavy trucks that require strong output or in areas where more than half of the year temperatures falls below -10 degrees Celsius except in the summer.
For this reason, for several years since its establishment in 2017 Grinergy has
developed a secondary battery using Lithium Titanium compound (LTO).
Currently, 5 patents related to LTO batteries have been registered and 6
applications have been filed. Grinergy co-CEO Bang met with reporters in
San Jose, California, USA and said, “LTO batteries are lead-free, so
they are more environmentally friendly and work at -30 degrees.”
The typical case use is in electric vehicles and low temperatures. This is because Lithium-ion batteries that power vehicles instead of internal combustion engines perform poorly in low temperatures.
This lithium-ion battery operates normally at 10–50 degrees Celsius, and its
efficiency drops significantly when the temperature is higher or lower.
More so, in order to upgrade energy sources from internal combustion engines to electricity for transportation means that cars, trucks, heavy equipment, railways, and yachts operating in cold regions have no choice but to look for other alternatives due to the limitations of the existing Lithium-ion batteries.
On the other hand, LTO batteries are resistant to temperature, so they can be
charged at -30 degrees Celsius. “We are conducting due diligence evaluations of batteries with a [Korean] military base through a defense venture project,” said CEO Bang. The goal is to prove how much Grinergy’s LTO battery can perform even in cold weather.
In addition, Grinergy is providing products for Korea’s outdoor smart signs. The current batteries powering the smart signs freeze in cold weather and do not work properly.
Grinergy is also paying attention to medium-to-large transportation such as buses, ships, trains, and heavy equipment, markets that are urgently required to be electrified due to the soot and the pollution problems that pose.
In the case of transportation, it is important to increase the mileage by
compressing the size and weight of the battery, but it is also more important to increase the output of energy in a short time. CEO Bang said, “Grinergy’s batteries have better performance for these special industries.”
There is a growing possibility that LTO batteries will replace lead-acid batteries used for starting in existing vehicles. Lead-acid batteries are widely used in automobiles because they are very safe. Even electric vehicles such as Tesla contain lead-acid batteries and are used for starting.
Lead-acid batteries are widely used in automobiles because they are very safe.
Even electric vehicles such as Tesla contain lead-acid batteries and are used for starting the vehicle.
However, since the recycling of lead-acid batteries is often done in underdeveloped countries — breaking down of the battery into its raw materials — it causes not only environmental pollution issues but also poses health problems. CEO Bang notes he saw the environmental pollution problem of recycling this lead acid battery and thought about how to solve it.
Of course, LTO batteries are not without their drawbacks. CEO Bang said, “LTO batteries have 10~15% less capacity to the same volume compared to general lithium batteries. In particular, he predicted that lithium-ion batteries and LTO batteries would coexist in the future. CEO Bang explained, “The global battery market is worth close to $1 trillion, but half of the battery market is lithium-ion and the rest is lead-acid batteries.” He added, “LTO batteries can be charged at -30 degrees Celsius, can be charged more than 10 times faster than lithium-ion, and are eco-friendly, so there is a good chance of winning.”
[Silicon Valley = Reporter Shin Hyeon-gyu / Reporter Lee Sang-deok]
[ⓒ Maeil Business & mk.co.kr,]
