KB News Desk
US battery tech startup searches for Korean partners
By Park Jae-hyuk
Senior executives from a battery technology startup in the U.S. state of Massachusetts visited Korea recently to introduce a possible solution to frequent fires caused by electric vehicles (EVs).
Naoki Ota, the president and CEO of 24M Technologies, told The Korea Times in a recent interview that his company’s Impervio separator can enhance the safety of EVs and energy storage systems (ESS) by reducing the risk of fires and explosions, which he said result mainly from internal short circuits.
“Currently, the most dangerous position for a cell is an internal short circuit — the plus and the minus connected inside the cell,” he said.
“An internal short circuit can happen by defect or error in the production process, or naturally.”
Impervio impedes the growth of dendrites, according to 24M, although the separator cannot completely prevent the formation of the metal structures that can build up on the anode surface and potentially short the battery cell, which can lead to fires.
Richard Chleboski, the company’s chief financial officer, explained that Impervio continuously monitors the cell and can detect a potential short before it occurs, enabling safe discharge and shutdown of the individual battery cell.
He showed the results of the company’s internal comparison tests of baseline cells, which demonstrated safety advantages of cells with Impervio.
With the aim of fully demonstrating mass production of Impervio by the end of this year, 24M plans to introduce it to the market in 2025 or 2026, in collaboration with volume production partners and license partners for initial product launch.
“Battery fires are not just a Korean issue. There was the fire in Incheon, but there have been fires throughout the world — the United States, China and Europe. Both EVs, which have gotten a lot of attention, but also ESS applications have suffered fires,” Chleboski said.
“As we build up a greater capability to make the material, we can work with more partners and we are hopeful to work with some Korean partners as well.”
The company has multiple global partners, including Fujifilm and Kyocera in Japan, GPSC in Thailand, Axxiva in China, Lucas TVS in India and Volkswagen and Freyer in Europe.
However, the U.S. firm does not have any Korean partners, despite previous meetings between its executives and representatives of major Korean battery firms.
“We are looking for many potential partnerships with EV companies like Hyundai and big three cell suppliers in Korea,” Ota said.
“If we could initiate more discussions or show more existence in Korea, it may help each other.”
Chleboski said that 24M has had initial conversations with Korean strategic partners, although they have not matured into a joint development or a further collaboration so far.
“We look forward to continuing those discussions,” he said.
“In addition, I would say that this won’t be our only stop in Asia, so Naoki and I will both go to separate countries after this and have further discussions in those countries.”
How to deal with EV-phobia
Ota said that 24M is open to talks with the Korean government, which has kept a close watch on battery safety after a series of recent fires. The company has had conversations with government institutions in China, Japan and Thailand.
During the interview, the 24M CEO expressed his opinions about the Korean government’s regulations on the state of charge (SoC) of EVs parked at underground garages and loaded on ships.
He believed that banning EVs with over 90 percent SoC from underground garages can reduce the severity of fires.
However, he emphasized that such regulations cannot be the fundamental solution without the prevention of internal short circuits.
In response to a question about the impact of safety concerns over EVs on 24M’s business, Ota said that the situation can be a blessing in disguise for his company, which has served as an R&D center for cell manufacturers.
He believes that the decelerating global demand for EVs will prompt producers to stop using the existing products and search for new technology developed by 24M.
“The automobile market cannot go back. They have to go to electrification, because it is easier to implement autonomous driving and other technologies in EVs,” he said.
