South Korean commercial vehicle manufacturers have joined the green bandwagon, expanding the customer base for local battery makers.

Doosan Bobcat Inc., a construction equipment unit of South Korea’s Doosan Group, is currently developing the world’s first all-electric small-size loader with an aim for mass production as early as next year in North America. A loader is a construction equipment vehicle used in aggregate cargo trucks.

The small-size loader being developed by Doosan Bobcat will be equipped with lithium-ion batteries.

The equipment maker has been eager in transition to green fueling.

Last year, Doosan Bobcat started mass production of E10e, a 1-ton electric mini excavator, in Europe. E10e is an environmentally-friendly product run only by an electric motor without an internal combustion engine. The green vehicle has same level of output and performance as other diesel engine-powered products of same category. The heavy equipment is capable of operation of up to 4 hours per single charge, the company said.

The excavator’s oil pressure part – which is the key moving part – however still relies on a non-battery power.

The new loader being developed for the North American market is expected to be all electrified including the oil pressure part.

Hyundai Construction Equipment, another construction equipment manufacturer, also loaded lithium-ion batteries in its unmanned forklift it demonstrated in April. The unmanned forklift is an artificial intelligent (AI) robot that autonomously goes around warehouses and stably loads and unloads boxes.

Hyundai Construction Equipment said it isn’t able to disclose information of the battery manufacturer but industry sources noted that the forklift used battery cells made by a Korean battery maker.

According to battery market research agency B3, global demand for battery cells used in construction equipment and robots is projected to reach 8.9 billion this year, up 2.3 percent from 8.7 billion last year. Demand for batteries has been on a steady rise from 5.8 billion cells in 2016.

To meet growing battery demand from the construction and commercial sector, Korean battery makers – LG Chem and Samsung SDI – are actively engaging to customize batteries with aluminum better fit to power heavy equipment machines.

Korea’s No. 1 EV battery maker LG Chem plans to mass produce a battery composed of nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum (NCMA) materials next year and Samsung SDI aims to complete the development of electric vehicle-use nickel, cobalt, and aluminum cathode material and battery within this year.

Battery manufacturers also have been approached from makers of robots, ships, and drones.

LG Chem has been recently selected as battery supplier of Amazon.com’s warehouse robots. EAV-3, a solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute, is also loaded with LG Chem’s lithium-sulfur battery.

Samsung SDI is also supplier of lithium-ion batteries for vessels being developed by Hanwha Defense and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.

By Choi Keun-do and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]