S.Korea's SK C&C enters battery sector with DNA Motors

South Korea's SK C&C will make batteries for electric motorcycles as the first domestic system integration company to enter the battery field.

SK C&C on Wednesday said it will supply high-performance and interchangeable lithium-ion battery packs to DNA Motors, formerly Daelim Motor Co. and a maker of electric motorcycles. SK C&C developed an exchangeable battery pack that meets the specifications of DNA's new ED-1B model, developed its own battery management system (BMS) for this and finished preparation for mass production.

A professional manufacturer will oversee production and SK C&C will attach a BMS, which optimizes energy efficiency by collecting measurement and control data such as those of battery current, voltage and temperature.

The ED-1B equipped with the battery pack and BMS passed the Ministry of Environment's certification inspection. Compared to other products, the company said the pack saw mileage rise 8.1% at room temperature and 7.8% at low temperature.

With this team-up as an opportunity, SK C&C will expand its cloud-based remote battery management unit, or battery as a service (BaaS). BaaS remotely monitors and analyzes battery packs through the Internet of Things, managing a battery's lifecycle such as charging, replacement, disposal and timely production.

In 2021, electric motorcycles accounted for about 17% or 20,000 of the 120,000 motorcycles sold in the country. The ministry plans to supply 170,000 of the eco-friendly vehicles by 2025 and have all motorcycles be electrically powered by 2030.

South Korea has an estimated 2.5 million registered motorcycles.

"We judged as promising the exchangeable battery pack supply field through integration with ICT," said Kim Sung-hwan, head of SK C&C's manufacturing digital platform group. "We plan to expand our BaaS business to industrial applications such as forklifts and automated guided vehicles and consumer applications such as electric carts."

Write to Hae-Sung Lee at lhs@hankyung.com