December 21, 2024

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LG Energy Solution CEO Kim Dong-myung speaks during the company's vision announcement ceremony at LG Science Park in western Seoul on Monday. (LG Energy Solution)

LG Energy Solution on Monday vowed to double its annual sales by 2028 based on expanding and diversifying battery businesses outside of electric vehicles while continuing to secure technological leadership in the EV battery sector.

“We will not settle at producing and selling batteries anymore, but we will establish a paradigm of subscription economy for batteries based on our battery diagnosis and management technologies,” said Kim Dong-myung, CEO of LG Energy Solution, during the company’s first in-house strategy announcement at LG Science Park in western Seoul.

“We will more than double our sales in the next five years and have our company’s value recognized by creating mid-10-percent (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) without the (US Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits).”

The battery-maker posted 33.75 trillion won ($25 billion) in sales last year with an operating profit of 2.16 trillion won. The company has logged rather disappointing earnings in the first half of this year -- 12.29 trillion won in sales and 352.6 billion won in operating profit, down 29.8 percent and 67.7 percent on year, respectively -- amid slower-than-expected EV growth worldwide.

LG Energy Solution laid out four plans to achieve its goal to double sales.

The battery-maker will look to set up a more balanced business portfolio by actively expanding non-EV businesses such as energy storage systems, or ESS. The company will allocate personnel for new application businesses with high growth potential, including the sectors of urban air mobility, shipping and robotics.

LG Energy Solution will focus on diversifying customers and products within the EV division. Going beyond premium battery products with high nickel, the company will work to strengthen its competitiveness in the more affordable EV battery sector by advancing the technologies of lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries, lithium manganese iron phosphate, or LMFP, batteries and high-voltage mid-nickel batteries. As for cylindrical batteries, it will aim to secure deals with traditional automakers with its 46-series battery while considering new form factors based on the needs of customers.

The battery-maker will zero in on expanding its battery and energy service areas by forming an ecosystem of batter-as-a-service, or BaaS, for lease, rental and recycling. On top of that, the company plans to bolster its energy-as-a-service, or EaaS, capabilities to create new business models that can contribute to the stabilization and circulation of energy as a total solutions provider.

LG Energy Solution will put all-out efforts to secure leadership in next-generation battery technology by producing anode-free solid state batteries and graphite-anode solid state batteries. It plans to accelerate the mass production of bipolar semisolid-state batteries and low-cost, high-output batteries using sulfur or sodium ion, as well as lightweight batteries using lithium-metal for the aviation sector.

The battery-maker also presented road maps for each of the EV battery, small battery and ESS divisions.

The EV battery division plans to concentrate on overcoming slowing EV growth through 2026 by efficiently operating manufacturing facilities worldwide. By 2028, the company will look to roll out high-voltage mid-nickel pouch-type products and LFP products manufacturing in a dry electrode process.

The small battery division will proactively search for new clients that handle high-output products and artificial intelligence servers while looking to expand its major global production footholds to gain an upper hand in logistics.

The ESS division aims to top the US market share in 2028 as the company gets ready to begin the mass production in America next year.

“Under the vision of ‘Empower Every Possibility,’ we will turn every possibility into business from now,” said Kim.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)