The government will develop a total of 25 secondary battery standards, including nine international standards by 2030, to strengthen the global competitiveness of K-batteries. The scope covers the entire secondary battery industry, from battery safety analysis to next-generation cell technology and activation of the circular economy.
The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the "secondary battery standardization strategy" on the 13th. The strategy, prepared with domestic industry-academia-research experts, includes plans to establish nine international standards, 10 national standards, and six organizational standards by 2030.
In the field of commercial secondary batteries, the agency plans to establish standards such as methods for analyzing gases generated by cell thermal runaway, methods for analyzing battery state information, and methods for analyzing cathode and anode material components. The standard for thermal runaway gas analysis to enable early detection of electric vehicle battery fires is expected to help prevent accidents from spreading. It will also newly establish safety requirement standards for secondary batteries for ships, drones, robots, and construction machinery.
Next-generation secondary batteries will be standardized for methods of analyzing solid electrolytes in all-solid-state batteries and for cell performance and safety requirements for lithium-sulfur and sodium-ion batteries. This will support domestic corporations in preoccupying the next-generation secondary battery market, which will become a mainstay product.
In the field of used batteries, it plans to develop standards for definitions of terms, transport and storage guidelines, and remanufacturing, reuse, and recycling. It will also prepare a standard for calculating the carbon footprint of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles to build a resource-circulation ecosystem.
Korea Agency for Technology and Standards Administrator Kim Dae-ja said, "Once the secondary battery standards to be developed based on industry demand are established, battery safety and reliability will be greatly improved," adding, "We expect corporations to secure competitiveness in the global secondary battery market and contribute to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050."