​American battery startup ONE opens South Korean office

By Park Sae-jin Posted : March 15, 2023, 15:16 Updated : March 15, 2023, 15:16

[Courtesy of ONE]

SEOUL -- American battery startup Our Next Energy, backed by Bill Gates and BMW, has set up an office in South Korea. The CEO of the South Korean office is Shazad Butt, the Chief Operating Officer of the battery startup.
 
Aju Daily found through its news covering process that Our Next Energy (ONE) chose to nest inside an information technology industry center in Hwaseong southwest of Seoul. The American startup is busily moving to start a business in South Korea. The company had recruited a South Korean battery cell specialist who worked at Samsung SDI.
 
ONE, which specializes in producing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, is a company founded by a former leader of Apple's autonomous car project. Starting this month, the company began production of initial quantities at a factory located in Michigan and plans to produce LFP batteries that can supply up to 200,000 electric vehicles (EVs) by 2027.
 
ONE has also collaborated with South Korean companies and won orders for the Michigan factory. Subsidiaries of Cowin Tech -- Top Material and EM Plus -- participated in the LFP battery production line.
 
The adoption of LFP batteries is increasing in the EV industry mainly dominated by lithium-ion batteries. LFP batteries have a better life cycle and reliability as they are designed to discharge up to 90 percent of the total capacity without long-term damage. However, LFP batteries are more expensive than lithium-ion batteries and have lower energy density.  
 
At the end of 2022, ONE was officially selected as a commercial electric truck battery supplier for Bollinger Motors. ONE received attention from the industry after equipping the new battery pack for the Tesla Model S, which can run up to 752 miles (1,210 kilometers) on a single charge. ONE also developed the "Gemini Dual Chemistry Battery," which can enable a maximum of 965km of driving for the BMW EV iX, and signed a contract to use it in the iX prototype version.
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