China’s biggest refiner, Sinopec, has set up a venture with South Korea’s LG Chem to develop sodium-ion batteries for the storage industry and for “low-speed” electric vehicles, the company said. This is the first foray of Sinopec in the battery industry.
LG Chem said, as quoted by Korean media, that sodium-ion batteries have a number of advantages over alternatives, such as abundant raw materials, lower production costs, and slower degradation rates at low temperatures compared with lithium-ion batteries.
“Sinopec’s corporate vision is to become a world-leading clean energy and premium chemical company. This collaboration in developing sodium-ion battery materials will further strengthen the technology and market competitiveness of both companies, and help promote energy transition and sustainable development,” the chairman of the Chinese major said at the presentation of the news.
Sinopec is the world’s largest oil refiner in terms of capacity, at around 6 million barrels daily. It is also one of the top crude oil and gas producers in China. Even so, the company has predicted that peak oil demand for China is just a couple of years away. The peak will occur at a daily demand level of some 16 million barrels or a total of 800 million metric tons, the Chinese state oil major said in December last year.
Meanwhile, Sinopec reported a 32% drop in net profits for the third quarter of the year, attributing the result to weaker oil prices and sluggish demand growth.
China is the largest market for electric vehicles in the world, and sodium-ion batteries for EVs are seen as a growth market within that wider one. According to market research cited by Sinopec, demand for sodium-ion batteries is set to grow from 10 GWh this year to 292 GWh in 2034. As much as 90% of global production of these batteries by 2030 will be in China, the refining major also said.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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