With manganese, KEPCO has succeeded in developing a secondary battery that is safer and costs half to produce compared to a lithium-ion battery
KEPCO announced on May 7 that it has developed a next-generation secondary battery that can supply 20 amperes of current per hour by using manganese as a cathode material. 20Ah is a minimum capacity of a secondary battery for an energy storage system (ESS).
Lithium ion currently used as a cathode material in most secondary batteries has the advantage of emitting less harmful materials and a higher amount of electrical energy that can be stored per unit volume than lead acid storage batteries. However, it is true that there are concerns about safety such as a fire as lithium ion has flammable organic substances that are easily ignited. In fact, a total of 28 ESS fires have occurred since May 2017.
The secondary battery developed by KEPCO is characterized by the use of manganese as a cathode material. Manganese secondary batteries are half the price of lithium-ion secondary batteries and feature enhanced safety. "If secondary batteries for ESSs in Korea are replaced with manganese secondary batteries, the total cost will be reduced by about 250 billion won," a KEPCO official said.