車Battery technology dominates Japan… Analysis of Japanese Industry by Young-Hyo Jeong, who is chasing after Korea

World patent for 20 years… Japanese companies sweep the 1st to 3rd places
Toyota overwhelmingly number 1 with 1331 vehicles
Six of the ‘Top 10’ are Japanese companies
Four Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics and LG Chem

The technological competition for the development of next-generation electric vehicle batteries is flowing in a structure where Korean companies are chasing the dominance of Japanese companies. Among the world’s top 10 companies with many patents for all-solid-state batteries, called ‘dream batteries’, six were Japanese and the other four were Korean.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Pattern Trialt, a patent research company, on the 7th, Toyota secured 1,331 all-solid-state battery-related patents from 2000 to March 2022 and ranked first. The number of patents was three times higher than that of Panasonic Holdings (445 cases), which ranked second.

Idemitsu Kosan, a petrochemical company, ranked third with 272 cases. A total of six Japanese companies entered the top 10, including 1st to 3rd places.

Toyota began researching all-solid-state batteries in the 1990s. He now holds patents in a variety of fields, from battery structures to materials and manufacturing processes. In 2020, an electric vehicle equipped with an all-solid-state battery was also tested.

In second place, Panasonic established a battery joint venture with Toyota in 2020 to jointly develop all-solid-state batteries. Idemitsu Kosan, in third place, is known to have a number of patents related to metal raw materials.

In Korea, four companies, including Samsung Electronics (4th), LG Chem (6th), Hyundai Motors (9th), and LG Energy Solutions (10th), made the top 10.

In particular, Samsung Electronics and LG Chem have rapidly increased the number of patents since 2016 to prevent Japanese companies from monopolizing the market. During 2016-2020, Toyota’s patents increased by 40% compared to the previous five years, while Samsung Electronics’ patents doubled and LG Chem’s tripled patents.

Korean companies are evaluated to have many patents directly related to battery performance, such as technology to extend battery life.

An all-solid-state battery is a battery that uses a solid electrolyte instead of the liquid electrolyte of a lithium-ion battery. The charging time is one-third that of a lithium-ion battery, but the range is twice as long. It is evaluated as a next-generation electric vehicle battery as it has a very low risk of ignition, a weakness of lithium-ion batteries.

Although TDK, a Japanese materials and parts maker, has succeeded in commercializing small all-solid-state batteries, it is expected that it will take some time before commercialization of large batteries used in electric vehicles.

Toyota plans to develop a hybrid car equipped with an all-electric vehicle battery within two to three years. Nissan Motors and Honda also plan to release electric vehicles equipped with all-solid-state batteries by 2030.

Reducing the manufacturing cost four times that of lithium-ion batteries is evaluated as a practical task. In terms of battery production capacity, Japan is inferior to its competitors.

According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Goldman Sachs, Japan’s annual battery production capacity will increase from 22 GW (gigawatt) in 2020 to 39 GW in 2025. On the other hand, electric vehicle battery production capacity in China and Europe soared from 181GW and 66GW to 754GW and 726GW, respectively.

In Japan, the Sony Group developed the world’s first lithium-ion battery in 1991, but it has been pushed to Korea and China to give up the global market leadership.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun pointed out, “The future challenge is whether Japanese companies that are advanced in patent technology can have an edge over foreign companies in the competition for commercialization.”

Tokyo = Correspondent Young-hyo Jung [email protected]