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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] LG Energy Solutions and SK ON, South Korea's No. 1 and No. 2 battery makers, saw their plant utilization plunge in the third quarter of last year.
The average utilization rate of LG Energy Solutions' global operations fell down to the third quarter of this year, and SK On's utilization rate also slowed down in half a year.
As automakers are adjusting the production and investment speed of electric vehicles in earnest, the battery industry is expected to continue to decline for the time being.
According to each company's third-quarter report on the 15th, the cumulative operation rate of LG Energy Solutions in the third quarter of this year was 72.9%, down 2.5% points from 75.4% a year earlier. It peaked at 77.7% in the first quarter and then fell steadily. This is the sum of the operation rate of medium and large batteries and small batteries for electric vehicles. The operation rate of SK On, which only produces electric vehicle batteries, also fell for the first time this year from 95.4% in the second quarter to 94.9% in the third quarter.
The drop in plant utilization this year is due to slowing demand for electric vehicles.
LG Energy Solution, which supplies batteries to almost all major carmakers such as Volkswagen, General Motors (GM), and Ford, has started to adjust battery production as electric vehicle stocks in the European and U.S. markets piled up.
Alphabiz 김지현 기자(ababe1978@alphabiz.co.kr)
