[경제]Intense competition to secure “white oil” lithium…the “K-Battery One Team” was formed.

[앵커]

As for secondary batteries, which are essential for electric vehicles, the United States and Europe are introducing ways to reduce their dependence on Chinese products.

The government and the battery industry plan to set up a “single team” to ensure key minerals such as lithium, called white oil, become the No. 1 in the world by 2030.

This is reporter Lee Seung-yoon.

[기자]

The Ombre Muerto salt lake is located at an altitude of 4,000m in the Andes in northwestern Argentina.

In this place where it is not easy to breathe, a plant of POSCO Holdings was built to extract lithium.

[최정우 / 포스코 그룹 회장 : 포스코 그룹의 이차 전지 소재 경쟁력을 강화시키는 시작점으로 100년 기업의 근간이 될 중요한 이정표가 될 것이며….]

Technology has also been developed in Korea to extract more than 90% of battery raw materials from used secondary batteries.

Korea has also actively entered the global competition to secure lithium, which is called white oil.

[문남일 / 영풍 그린 메탈 캠퍼스 소장 : 리튬 90% 이상, 니켈·코발트 95% 이상 회수할 수 있는 건식 용융 환원 기술입니다. 자원이 부족한 우리나라의 자원 순환 경제 발전에 기여하도록 하겠습니다.]

A technology has also been developed that saves more than 85% of the electricity consumed in the process of charging and discharging secondary batteries, and the battery industry is strengthening its competitiveness overseas.

[나광수 / 갑진 기술연구소장 : 핵심 기술인 전력 변환 원천 기술을 통해 에너지 변환 과정을 고효율화하고, 손실을 최소화하고 있습니다.]

However, the US government’s policy of subsidizing EVs only when US-made batteries are used is putting our battery industry in crisis.

This is because more than 80% of battery raw materials depend on China.

To overcome the crisis, the government and companies have established the “K-Battery One Team”.

[이창양 / 산업통상자원부 장관 : 미국, EU 등 주요국들이 이차전지 산업을 경제 안보 관점으로 접근하고 있기 때문에 지금의 시장 지배력을 더욱 강화해나가기 위해서는 민관이 함께하는 전략적 대응이 필요합니다.]

So far, each company has signed a supply contract, but from now on, battery-related companies and the government will proceed from mining the ore to smelting and supplying it.

The government plans to increase the world’s second-largest market share of secondary batteries from 25.8% to 40% by 2030 through the innovation strategy of the secondary battery industry.

This is YTN Lee Seung-yoon.

YTN Lee Seung-yoon ([email protected])

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