This is the second installment of a three-part series looking into SK Innovation’s struggles to rise to the global leadership of lithium ion batteries, which have become a key enabler for a global shift toward sustainable mobility. The articles are sponsored by SK Innovation. - Ed.
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Yukong’s technical support laboratory is shown in newspaper coverage on Nov. 12, 1985. (News Library) |
SK Innovation’s journey into the battery business dates back to 1982, when SK Group acquired Korea Oil Corp. and changed its name to Yukong. After the acquisition, Yukong chose future businesses to pursue, and an “energy accumulation battery system” was among them.
In 1985, Yukong became the first petrochemicals company in South Korea to establish a battery research facility, which later became today’s SK Innovation Institute of Technology Innovation.
After making preparations in the late 1980s, SKI kicked off the development of advanced batteries in 1991. Two years later, SKI successfully developed electric vehicle batteries that can offer 120 kilometers of driving range in a single charge. At that time, electric vehicles seemed like something from science fiction.
In the early 2000s, SKI manufactured batteries for hybrid and pure electric vehicles, keeping up with the pace of automakers developing such vehicles. In 2010, SKI’s batteries were loaded on Hyundai Motor’s BlueOn, the country’s first mass-produced pure electric vehicle.
SKI’s endeavor in the battery business is well-recorded in documents.
According to “Sunkyung (SK Group)’s 40-year History” published in 1993, the late Chairman Choi Jong-hyun held a meeting with Yukong managers on Dec. 9, 1982 and suggested a new direction Yokong must take.
“After the oil shock of the 1970s, many countries around the world are trying to develop alternative energy sources. To cope with such changes in situations, we also must turn our direction from being a mere oil company to becoming a total energy provider,” Choi said.
“There’s not only oil but also coal, gas, electricity, solar energy, nuclear energy and the energy accumulation battery system and so on. In the long run, we have to cover all of them, and our petrochemicals business must be capable of handling all areas directly and indirectly.”
At Choi’s command, Yukong poured in 10 billion won ($8.8 million) and set up a technology support research laboratory in Ulsan on Nov. 11, 1985, according to a newspaper coverage at then.
In 1991, Yukong made headlines for announcing that it would make an electric vehicle. An article published on Dec. 23, 1991 says Yukong successfully manufactured and tested a three-wheel electric vehicle using solar cells. It says the company decided to manufacture a four-wheel electric vehicle by the first half of 1992.
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Newspaper coverage of Yukong’s plan to develop high-tech storage batteries published on Dec. 23, 1991 (News Library) |
According to the article, the three-wheel electric vehicle manufactured as a pilot product had a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour and was capable of about 40 kilometers of driving before it needed to be recharged. Also, the batteries to be used for the four-wheel vehicles could be nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel metal hydride batteries or sodium-sulfur batteries.
On Jan. 19, 1993, a newspaper reported another advancement in Yukong’s electric vehicle research. The article said, “Yukong’s electric car for demonstration test of high-tech batteries has a maximum speed of 130 kilometers per hour, a driving distance of 120 kilometers on a single charge.” At the time, the highest-performing electric vehicles showed a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour and a driving range of 100 kilometers, according to the article.
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An article on the development of Yukong’s electric vehicles is reported in a newspaper on Jan. 19, 1993. (News Library) |
