S.Korea to focus on secondary batteries, lunar landing vehicles

The Korean government has decided to develop electric vehicle batteries that can travel more than 600 km on a single charge and lunar landing vehicles in collaboration with companies such as LG Energy Solution and Hanwha Aerospace.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has established a National Strategy Technology Special Committee and selected four major projects for the first half of this year. The committee is composed of experts in various fields and executives from major companies, including Samsung Electronics, who participate as private-sector members.

The projects selected for the first half of the year are next-generation high-performance secondary batteries, lunar landing vehicles, 6th-generation (6G) communications technology, and a Korean urban air transportation operating system.

After conducting a feasibility study, the participating companies and details of the projects, including the budget, will be confirmed. The semiconductor and display sectors have been designated for review in the second half of the year.

The project for developing next-generation high-performance secondary batteries aims to secure kilogram-level 400 Wh-class next-generation battery manufacturing technology by 2028. When applied to electric vehicles, it will be possible to travel more than 600 km on a single charge.

LG Energy Solution's Chief Technology Officer Shin Young-jun and other experts will participate in the project and secure related technologies such as full solid-state, lithium metal and lightweight lithium-sulfur batteries, and plan to start verification from 2028.

Lee Jun-won, head of the Launch Vehicle Business at Hanwha Aerospace, will join the lunar landing vehicle development project. The goal is to complete the design of the lunar landing vehicle by 2028 and perform lunar landing and scientific missions by 2032.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com