President Moon Jae-in attends a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of LG Energy Solution’s testing research center at its plant in Ochang, Chungcheongbuk-do, on July 8. Earlier at the plant, President Moon presided over the K-Battery Strategy Report Convention.

Korea revealed a vision to be the global No. 1 battery powerhouse by investing a combined 40.6 trillion won in the battery sector by 2030.

The government decided to offer tremendous incentives, including a 50 percent tax reduction in R&D outlays, to shore up the unmatched supremacy of the Korean battery industry.

President Moon Jae-in presided over the K-Battery Strategy Report Convention at LG Energy Solution’s second plant in Ochang, Chungcheongbuk-do, on July 8.

He said, “Batteries are already emerging as the centerpiece of future industries, and our goal is to become the global No. 1 battery country by 2030,” President Moon said.

Korea defeated Japan in the small-sized battery market, and the nation is competing for the top in the medium-sized battery market with China, so the Korean battery industry is expected to follow on the heels of the “Korean semiconductor legend,” he said.

President Moon lifts interchangeable batteries for motorcycles at LG Energy Solutio. (Photos on the courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae website)n’s plant in Ochang.

The government came up with “K-semiconductor strategies” to become a semiconductor powerhouse in May.

This time, it worked out “K-battery strategies” as part of efforts to nurture future new industries. The government decided to set batteries as part of the nation’s core state technologies to ramp up tax credits.

The government decided to provide a 20 percent tax reduction on battery facility investments and a 40 percent to 50 percent tax credit on R&D outlays.

It plans to implement massive R&D projects to commercialize next-generation batteries such as solid-state batteries and build next-generation battery parks to support research, verification and commercialization.

A joint 80 billion won innovation fund involving the public and private sectors will be raised to support battery raw materials, parts and equipment SMEs.

The value of the global battery market is forecast to jump from $46.1 billion last year to $351.7 billion in 2030.

LG Energy Solution currently ranks 2nd in the global battery market, while Samsung SDI and SK Innovation place 5th and sixth, respectively.

Korean battery makers plan to pour a combined 20.5 trillion won in facility investments and 20.1 trillion in R&D outlays by 2030.

The government and the private sector’s joint K-battery strategies to invest 40 trillion won have been worked out at the backdrop of a rapid growth of the global battery market.

The other reason is that Korean battery makers find not easy to give late-comers’ chase the slip.

Industry sources said the secondary battery market began to resurge last year when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.

The reason is that as the automobile market shrank, advanced countries like Europe focused their fiscal focus on EV cars to resuscitate their sagging economies.

The global market survey firm EV Volumes reported that the numbers of EV cars, including hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars, soared to 2.94 million units, a 44.6 percent jump over the previous year.