Source: Kia Corporation

Kia aims to develop a circular ecosystem for the EV battery industry on a global level

Kia Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with South Korean stakeholders to encourage a circular economy in the electric vehicle battery industry, the carmaker announced October 6.

The company said that the key objective of the MOU is to create a sustainable value chain across the entire EV battery industry and initiate a pilot project through collaborative efforts. The said pilot project will be managed by Kia, which will supply used EV batteries and will also oversee the overall business.

Without disclosing the names of the South Korean stakeholders, the carmaker said that other participants in the circular economy initiative included companies specializing in battery disassembly and raw material extraction, as well as the South Korean government.

Significance: According to Kia, the MOU marks a groundbreaking public-private collaboration in South Korea to promote a sustainable EV battery ecosystem. It aims to forge a cooperative system across the entire industry, spanning from automaker and battery recycling companies to second-life battery material manufacturers and the local government.

Kia's goal is to establish a circular ecosystem for EV batteries and enhance their residual value based on the results of the pilot project. In addition to that, Kia plans to take a leading role in the commercialization of Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) through initiatives such as battery subscription and battery remanufacturing services. From this point of view, the collaboration appears to be crucial for Kia, which will use the pilot project to evaluate the economic feasibility of EV batteries as the number of EVs continues to rise, leading to an accelerated accumulation of used batteries.

“The initiative is essential to verify the battery recycling process and utilize previously used batteries for optimum effect,” the carmaker said, adding that this comprehensive approach will collect detailed data at each stage of the value chain of EV batteries, from raw material extraction, subsequent battery production and installation in EVs to recycling used batteries at the end of life.

Kia said that the empirical results obtained from the pilot project will be carefully analyzed and utilized to promote new business opportunities and ultimately contribute to the development of a robust industrial ecosystem. The South Korean carmaker aims to develop a circular ecosystem for the EV battery industry on a global level.

Contacts

Copyright © 2024 S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.

These materials, including any software, data, processing technology, index data, ratings, credit-related analysis, research, model, software or other application or output described herein, or any part thereof (collectively the “Property”) constitute the proprietary and confidential information of S&P Global Inc its affiliates (each and together “S&P Global”) and/or its third party provider licensors. S&P Global on behalf of itself and its third-party licensors reserves all rights in and to the Property. These materials have been prepared solely for information purposes based upon information generally available to the public and from sources believed to be reliable.
Any copying, reproduction, reverse-engineering, modification, distribution, transmission or disclosure of the Property, in any form or by any means, is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of S&P Global. The Property shall not be used for any unauthorized or unlawful purposes. S&P Global’s opinions, statements, estimates, projections, quotes and credit-related and other analyses are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions, and do not address the suitability of any security, and there is no obligation on S&P Global to update the foregoing or any other element of the Property. S&P Global may provide index data. Direct investment in an index is not possible. Exposure to an asset class represented by an index is available through investable instruments based on that index. The Property and its composition and content are subject to change without notice.

THE PROPERTY IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS. NEITHER S&P GLOBAL NOR ANY THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS (TOGETHER, “S&P GLOBAL PARTIES”) MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, FREEDOM FROM BUGS, SOFTWARE ERRORS OR DEFECTS, THAT THE PROPERTY’S FUNCTIONING WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THE PROPERTY WILL OPERATE IN ANY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE CONFIGURATION, NOR ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO ITS ACCURACY, AVAILABILITY, COMPLETENESS OR TIMELINESS, OR TO THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE PROPERTY. S&P GLOBAL PARTIES SHALL NOT IN ANY WAY BE LIABLE TO ANY RECIPIENT FOR ANY INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE. Without limiting the foregoing, S&P Global Parties shall have no liability whatsoever to any recipient, whether in contract, in tort (including negligence), under warranty, under statute or otherwise, in respect of any loss or damage suffered by any recipient as a result of or in connection with the Property, or any course of action determined, by it or any third party, whether or not based on or relating to the Property. In no event shall S&P Global be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees or losses (including without limitation lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs or losses caused by negligence) in connection with any use of the Property even if advised of the possibility of such damages. The Property should not be relied on and is not a substitute for the skill, judgment and experience of the user, its management, employees, advisors and/or clients when making investment and other business decisions.

The S&P Global logo is a registered trademark of S&P Global, and the trademarks of S&P Global used within this document or materials are protected by international laws. Any other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

The inclusion of a link to an external website by S&P Global should not be understood to be an endorsement of that website or the website's owners (or their products/services). S&P Global is not responsible for either the content or output of external websites. S&P Global keeps certain activities of its divisions separate from each other in order to preserve the independence and objectivity of their respective activities. As a result, certain divisions of S&P Global may have information that is not available to other S&P Global divisions. S&P Global has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain nonpublic information received in connection with each analytical process. S&P Global may receive compensation for its ratings and certain analyses, normally from issuers or underwriters of securities or from obligors. S&P Global reserves the right to disseminate its opinions and analyses. S&P Global Ratings’ public ratings and analyses are made available on its sites, www.spglobal.com/ratings (free of charge) and www.capitaliq.com (subscription), and may be distributed through other means, including via S&P Global publications and third party redistributors.