LG Energy has developed NCMA quaternary lithium batteries, which will be delivered in large quantities in 2021 for Tesla vehicles. This battery uses four metals, nickel, copper, manganese, and aluminum as the positive electrode material. Compared with the previous NCM ternary lithium battery, aluminum is added, and the nickel content is increased to 90%.
LG Energy said that the battery will be delivered in the second half of 2021, but it cannot disclose the names of its customers. However, the company is expanding the production capacity of its Nanjing plant, and this company mainly produces cylindrically packaged lithium batteries for Tesla, so the report speculates that the plant is likely to produce new NCMA lithium batteries for Tesla.
According to previous reports that LG cooperated with General Motors to establish a company called Ultium Cells to produce NCMA quaternary lithium batteries for General Motors by 2022.
The 90% of the positive electrode of the NCMA battery is nickel metal, while the proportion of cobalt is reduced to less than 5%, which greatly reduces the cost, and at the same time the energy density is improved, which can make the electric vehicle last more than 600 kilometers, while the existing electric vehicle battery life Generally only about 500 kilometers.
Aluminum and cobalt can play a role in suppressing the generation of unstable impurities in the electrode. Using aluminum to replace parts of cobalt can reduce costs. The research and development of this battery by LG Energy referred to a paper by a professor from Hanyang University in South Korea. The paper pointed out that NCMA batteries are superior to NCA batteries and NCM batteries in terms of capacity, battery life, and internal resistance.
LG is expanding the production capacity of its Nanjing plant this month, which is currently producing 21700 cylindrical lithium batteries for Tesla. In November of this year, LG and Tesla signed an agreement to supply batteries for Model Y electric vehicles produced by the Shanghai Super Factory.
