Can reduce battery production costs by 30%, LG New Energy plans to commercialize dry coating technology by 2028

News from this site on July 4, according to Bloomberg, LG Energy Solution Ltd.’s latest statement stated that it plans to commercialize dry-coating technology by 2028 , this technology aims to replace the energy-intensive wet process of manufacturing anode and anode electrodes, a key component of electric vehicle batteries, and can reduce production costs by 30%. Currently, companies such as Tesla and Samsung SDI are studying this technology.

Kim Je-Young, chief technology officer of LG Energy Solutions, said in an interview with Bloomberg: "LG is a leader among battery manufacturers in terms of dry coating technology. We started developing this 10 years ago technology.” Kim revealed that LG plans to complete the trial production line of the dry coating process in the fourth quarter and achieve full mass production in 2028. This is the first time LG has disclosed the commercialization timetable of this technology. Kim estimates that dry coating technology can reduce battery manufacturing costs by 17% to 30%.
Tesla acquired dry coating technology startup Maxwell Technologies Inc. in 2019 and tried to produce its Model 4680 cells at its factory in Austin, Texas, with little success. The wet process requires the use of 100-meter-long drying ovens on battery production lines to dry chemicals that dissolve toxic solvents at high temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius, which is not only costly but also very energy-intensive.
Dry coating technology allows battery manufacturers to save energy, equipment costs and space because they do not need to invest in drying ovens or solvent recovery systems. Volkswagen AG is also trying to develop a dry process at its internal battery company PowerCo. They call this technology a "disruptor" because it can allow companies to reduce energy consumption by 30% and space occupation by 50%. .
LG aims to improve its competitiveness through this technology and respond to challenges from Chinese companies. This site notes that LG’s share of the electric vehicle battery market has dropped to 12.6% so far this year from 14.6% last year, largely due to the expansion of Chinese companies such as CATL and BYD. The average price of lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP) in China plunged 44% to $53 per kilowatt-hour as of April, according to BloombergNEF.
A battery is made up of three main parts: two electrodes (anode and cathode) and a separator, which helps transport charge between the electrodes. The materials used to make these components determine how much energy the battery can store and how much it costs.
Tesla vigorously promoted the electrode dry process at the 2020 Battery Day event. But according to Reuters, the U.S. electric car maker can currently only apply the process to the anode part of the battery, not the cathode part.
Experts say that using dry processes to produce cathodes is more challenging than producing anodes because cathode materials are generally more difficult to process.
Kim said that the dry electrode manufacturing process LG is developing can be applied to cathodes and anodes regardless of the size of the cathode particles. But he added that applying dry electrode manufacturing to cathodes with smaller particle sizes is very challenging.
According to a report by SNE Research in April, in addition to Tesla, companies such as Panasonic, CATL, EV Lithium and Honeycomb Energy Technology are also developing dry electrode technology and applying it to high energy density Type 4680 battery.
Park Chul-Wan, an automotive engineering professor from Sejong University, said: “Since Tesla was the first to adopt this technology, all manufacturers are now rushing to invest in research and development. South Korea’s three battery manufacturers are still in the early stages of the dry process. .”

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