[페이턴트] “Neither Tesla nor Apple”… Why do you have to go to a Korean company for electric vehicle production?

[비즈월드] #One. Tesla held a battery technology and investment briefing session’Battery Day’ on September 22 (local time, 23rd Korean time) last year. This event drew attention from around the world with a mixture of expectations from the battery industry and the expectation that there will be a game-changing talk of the future electric vehicle industry.

Tesla mentioned’half-price’ batteries and fully self-driving cars on this day, but announced commercialization three years later. There was no specific mention of the battery internalization plan or the one-million-mile battery, and it was criticized for being a rush.

Battery Day, which had the highest number of viewers, reached 270,000, and the opinion that there was no “surprising” news, such as no mention of new technology, was dominant in the industry. “(The content to be announced tomorrow) will affect semi-cyber trucks and roadsters in the long term, but it does not mean that mass production will be reached by 2022.”

“We are trying to increase the battery cell purchases of LG, CATL, Panasonic (or other partners) rather than reduce them,” he said.

#2. On February 8, related stocks shook as Hyundai Motor Group revealed that it was not conducting discussions with Apple on the development of self-driving electric vehicles.

On January 8th, as foreign media reported that Apple proposed cooperation with Hyundai Motors for the launch of the’Apple Car,’ discussions were under way. The stock prices of related companies such as Hyundai Wia (21.33%) surged, but the stock price fluctuated once again as reports that Kia decided to take over the production of Apple cars.

Bloomberg News reported on the 5th (local time) that Apple recently stopped discussions with Hyundai Motor and Kia for electric vehicle development.

Bloomberg said that Apple would have been upset as news of the EV-related discussions were reported one after another, and it is unclear when the discussions between the two companies will resume.

Accordingly, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia, and Hyundai Mobis announced on the day that “there is no discussion with Apple on the development of autonomous vehicles.”

These companies added, “We are reviewing cooperation with a number of overseas companies related to the autonomous electric vehicle business, but it has not been decided yet.”

It is interpreted that the discussions that Hyundai Motor Company and Kia had with Apple on the development of self-driving electric vehicles were temporarily halted. However, there are also observations in the industry that there is a possibility to cooperate in the electric vehicle sector, not in autonomous driving.

The two examples above, which drew a lot of attention, have something in common. It is that the names of Korean companies are always being discussed. This is because the technology of eco-friendly vehicle batteries such as batteries and hydrogen vehicle fuel cells, which are key parts of electric vehicles, is excellent.

In fact, according to the data released by the Korean Intellectual Property Office, it was found that domestic patent applications related to eco-friendly vehicle batteries (electric vehicle batteries and hydrogen vehicle fuel cells) by automobile companies are increasing rapidly.

A total of 4435 patent applications were filed for battery-related automobile companies from 2010 to 2019. Among them, the number of related patent applications from 277 in 2010 to 433 in 2019, an increase of 56%.

The proportion of battery applications among all automobile companies’ patent applications also increased from 7.0% in 2010 to 9.1% in 2019.

As the market changes from internal combustion locomotives to eco-friendly vehicles, it is interpreted as a result of gradually increasing the proportion of battery-related R&D by automobile companies, which is called the’heart of eco-friendly vehicles’.

By company, Hyundai Motor Group (56.4%), Toyota Motor (27.6%), Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (11.5%) and Volkswagen (Audi, Porsche, etc.) accounted for 2.4%.

What is peculiar is that Tesla, the number one global electric vehicle company, accounted for only 0.25% of domestic battery patent applications by automakers.

Even in the U.S., the home of electric vehicles, for the past five years from 2014 to 2018, the top five global automakers applied for an average of 696 patents for each battery-related company, while Tesla applied for a total of 37 patents.

This trend is based on the stable sales of automobiles in the case of existing automakers, which has been able to steadily develop battery technology in preparation for the era of eco-friendly vehicles, while new electric vehicle makers such as Tesla are using batteries that require long-term accumulated technology This is because it relies on outsourcing supply and demand from specialized battery companies and focused on improving the external efficiency of batteries such as the design and structure of electric vehicles.

Dividing eco-friendly vehicles into electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles, since 2010, automakers have applied for an average of 263 electric vehicle batteries and 180 hydrogen vehicle fuel cells.

Domestic automakers accounted for 56.8% of hydrogen vehicle fuel cell applications, while foreign automakers accounted for 80.4% of EV battery applications.

This is where you can see the difference between domestic and foreign automakers in the direction of approach to future eco-friendly vehicles.

An official from the Korea Intellectual Property Office’s Next Generation Energy Review Division said, “As the eco-friendly vehicle market is predicted to expand rapidly, battery technology development in the automotive industry is expected to expand gradually to meet the explosive battery demand and secure price competitiveness.” As companies are recognized for their global competitiveness, in order to lead the next-generation eco-friendly car market, it is necessary to demonstrate synergy of technology development through cooperation between domestic companies and to protect this strongly with intellectual property rights.”