This is hardly a surprise, but maybe that is just testament to the daily diet of growth stories we see in the energy storage sector. Of course this article refers to Sony joining the EV battery race, but as we've seen this week in the BNEF report, second life EV batteries will have an important part to play in the stationary energy storage sector.
This is on top of the recent announcement from Samsung SDI opening a battery manufacturing factory in Hungary. We've also seen and hear of aggressive growth strategies at Panasonic, LG Chem and BYD. With such financial muscle and R&D expertise expect to see costs tumbling as they have in the Solar PV sector for the last decade and more. Exciting times.
Push EVs provides more, noting, “Sony has recently released its new 3000 mAh 18650 cell, the VCT6, which is still behind the 3500 mAh cells that Sanyo, LG Chem, and Samsung SDI already produce in the same cylindrical format. Yet the Sony VC7 cell is coming and it will match the 3500 mAh capacity. This is especially important for battery makers that use 18650 cylindrical cells. Such as Kreisel Electric or Imecar. The 18650 cells are great for third party battery makers, since their tiny size allows them to adapt to any battery pack. But for electric car makers, prismatic or pouch cells are preferable since they make the task of building a battery pack a lot easier.”
