[Digital Times, Park Seul-gee]. As electric vehicle companies adopt cylindrical batteries one after another, they have emerged as the mainstay of electric car battery, overcoming the existing square and pouch type.

According to the battery industry on July 24, Fisker, an electric vehicle maker acquired by China Wanxiang Group, will install LG Chem`s 21700 standard cylindrical battery in `Emotion` of electric car to be launched in 2019. The 21700 battery is a lithium-ion battery with a diameter of 21 mm and a height of 70 mm, which is up to 50% larger than a conventional 18650 (diameter 18 mm, height 65 mm) battery.

Emotion is a sports car with a maximum speed of about 260km / hour. It can run more than 644km on a single charge and can charge the battery capacity to run about 201km in 9 minutes. LG Chem will supply 21700 cylindrical batteries to electric cars to be launched by Fisker, as well as US electric car startups Lucid Motors and Faraday Future.

Cylindrical batteries have been used primarily in thick notebook PCs in the past, but their use has been declining. However, Tesla and other electric car makers are getting attention again when they start to install cylindrical batteries.

In fact, this year, the cylindrical battery for the first time in the world electric car battery market, the square and pouch type was also put out. According to market researcher SNE Research, global electric cars shipped in January ~ May showed the top share with 40.4%, square type and pouch type with 32.5% and 27.1%, respectively. Until last year, square type was 54%, cylindrical type was 32.7%, and pouch type was 13.3%.

This is attributed to the fact that Tesla adopted Panasonic`s cylindrical batteries from Roadster, the first electric car, to Model 3. Cylindrical batteries are standardized and compatible, and electric car companies are increasingly using them.

Battery manufacturers are also preparing a variety of products to expand the cylindrical battery market with non-IT products, including electric cars, as the thickness of IT products such as notebook PCs is getting thinner.

Battery industry expert said, "The number of cylindrical batteries in IT products is small, but there is a minimum of 7000 to 8000 units in a single car. Also, Tesla is hiring a battery-powered battery pack.”


By Park Seul Gee seul@


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