National plans for power batteries in Japan, Germany and South Korea
1. Japan’s national plan for power batteries
In the report of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, the target value of the power density, energy density and cost of the vehicle power battery is proposed. The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan took the lead in formulating a more detailed roadmap and action plan for power battery research and development, focusing on the setting of research and development projects for lithium-ion battery cells, modules, standards and evaluation technologies, and technical research. Figure 1 shows the target values of the relevant parameters of the power battery system set by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
NEDO released the secondary battery technology roadmap 2013 (battery rm2013) in 2013, proposing the technical indicators of secondary batteries for electric vehicles and fixed batteries, in which clear targets are set for the energy density, power density and service life of vehicle power batteries.
2. Germany’s national plan for power batteries
In order to promote the development of electric vehicles, the German government has formulated the National Electric Drive Platform (NPE), which promotes the establishment of production capacity of single cells and battery systems in the field of power batteries through the battery light tower research and development project. Carry out research and development work in five aspects: material development and battery cell technology, innovative battery design technology, safety evaluation and testing process, battery life modeling and analysis, and mass production process technology, and put forward the main performance parameters of power battery system: the specific energy in 2014 was 105W·h/kg, the cost was 400 Euro/kW·h, in 2017 it was 110W·h/kg and 300 Euro/kW·h, and in 2020 it was 130W·h/kg and 280 Euro/kW·h. Figure 2 shows the technical indicators of the power battery system set by the National Electric Drive Platform.
19Figure 2 – Technical indicators of the power battery system set by the National Electric Drive Platform
The 2014 electric drive platform progress report believes that during the acceleration phase of the electric vehicle market, the core component is still the power battery system, and low cost and high energy density will help promote the rapid development of the electric vehicle market. The continuous improvement of the lithium-ion battery system and the development of post-lithium-ion battery technology are the key to increasing the energy density, thereby increasing the driving range of electric vehicles. Due to technological progress, the energy density of the battery system will be doubled in 2025, reaching the level of 280~300W·h/L; at the same time, mass production and improvements in the battery chemistry system will reduce the cost of the battery system to less than 200 Euros/kW·h. In the future, it is possible to double the driving range to 400km without increasing the cost of the battery system, or reduce the cost by more than half with the current driving range of 200km.
3. South Korea’s national plan for power batteries
The Ministry of Knowledge and Economy (Ministry of Knowledge and Economy) strongly supports the research and development of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, focusing on research on lithium-ion power battery cells, modules, systems and key raw materials. The supported World Premier Material (WPM) project involves two application areas of pure electric vehicles and energy storage. Pure electric vehicles focus on specific energy, energy storage focuses on cost, and carry out related technical research from four aspects of high power, high capacity, low cost and high safety. The secondary battery technology research and development project that guides a green society includes four sub-projects of lithium-ion battery key materials, application technology research (for energy storage and pure electric vehicles), evaluation and testing infrastructure, and next-generation battery research-2020 battery plan. It covers basic research, key raw materials, test evaluation and standards, and power battery applications, with a view to building a complete power battery industry chain in Korea.
