Rapidly growing US electric vehicle market... LG Ensol, SK E&S, taking the lead

The United States, one of the three largest electric vehicle markets in the world, is expected to grow even more rapidly thanks to the recent support from the Biden administration. As a result, even among domestic conglomerates, competition for dominance in the US electric vehicle market is rapidly progressing.

According to the business world on the 24th, LG and SK made large-scale additional investments and entered the US electric vehicle-related market on the same day.

LG Energy Solutions announced on the same day that it will invest 1.7 trillion won in Queen Creek, Arizona, USA to build a new cylindrical battery plant with a total capacity of 11GWh. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year and mass production is targeted for the second half of 2024. Among domestic battery makers, LG Energy Solutions is the first to build an independent production plant for cylindrical batteries in the North American market.

In addition, LG Energy Solutions held an investment announcement event in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, where a joint plant will be established with the Canadian government on the 23rd (local time) and announced its establishment plan. The total investment amount is 4.8 trillion won, and construction is scheduled to start in the second half of this year and mass production in the first half of 2024.

Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo of LG Energy Solutions said, “With this plant construction, we will be able to provide superior customer value than anyone else in the cylindrical battery market, which has a clear growth rate. We will leap forward as a ‘company’.”

On the same day, SK E&S announced that it had acquired EverCharge, a leading US electric vehicle charging business. Through this, the company plans to enter the US electric vehicle charging market in earnest.

Evercharge is a charging solution company that can manufacture and operate electric vehicle chargers. Currently, about 4,600 electric vehicle chargers are installed and operated in North America, including the United States and Canada. It is focusing on the installation and operation of electric vehicle chargers in parking lots of large buildings such as buildings and offices.

“This entry into the US electric vehicle charging market is a starting point for the transition to a carbon-neutral energy company declared by SK E&S,” SK E&S Vice Chairman Yoo Jeong-joon said. In the next few years, we will become a leader in power solutions in the North American market.”

This is analyzed to be a move to enter the market or secure leadership prior to the rapid growth of the recent US electric vehicle market. The U.S. Biden government is promoting support measures to accelerate the spread of eco-friendly vehicles.

It is pushing for the passage of a large-scale subsidy bill with the goal of replacing 50% of new cars in the US with eco-friendly vehicles by 2030.

According to IHS, a global market research firm, the North American electric vehicle battery market is expected to grow rapidly from 46GWh in 2021 to 143GWh in 2023 and 286GWh in 2025 thanks to such government support. The average annual growth rate is 58%.

An official from the business community said, “As the US electric vehicle market is expected to grow rapidly, there are many companies that want to enter the local market, and the struggle for leadership is fierce among companies that have already entered the market.

Installation of EV chargers for Evercharge, acquired by SK E&S [사진=SK E&S]