The ‘must-have’ Small Battery Market Forecast!

ALL > Technology

Secondary Battery Market Outlook 

The ‘InterBattery 2020’ was held at Seoul in October. And in the keynote speech of ‘Secondary battery market outlook’, Samsung SDI Vice President Yoon Tae-ill said that the small battery market shows an annual growth of 8%. 

　　​

Batteries are now used at more diverse applications, and this has become the driving force of the growth in the small battery market. Corded products powered by fossil fuels now enjoy more space in an environmentally friendly way, thanks to batteries.  

　　​

The small battery market has seen a continuous growth driven by IT devices such as smartphones, tablets, note PCs, and non-IT devices such as power tools and gardening tools. And the higher growth is projected as batteries are used at various applications such as wireless earphones, smart watches, drones, electric bikes, e-scooters, electric kickboards and robots. 

　　​​

A new business model with the rise of the mobility market 

　　​

Electric kickboards, bikes and wheels have become popular these days, which shows a high growth of the micro-mobility market. Micro-mobility refers to a small vehicle driven by users personally and powered by electricity. It replaces public transport or walking trips, and serves as a solution to cover short distances.

　　​

People now buy applications equipped with batteries, but there will be new business models. For example, people could rent a battery or replace a battery with the fully-charged one at a charging station as more vehicles are powered by electric motors. This, eventually, will lead to the continuous growth of the small battery market.

　　​

Samsung SDI introduced a rechargeable battery pack for e-Scooters and a charging station for battery pack at the ‘InterBattery 2020’ in October, and many visitors showed interests in them.

　　​

[Samsung SDI’s rechargeable battery pack for e-Scooter at InterBattery 2020]

　　​​

Small battery – what are customer’s needs and where do we stand? 

　　​

As there are more various applications and more products are equipped with small batteries, customers want higher battery performance. People want longer-lasting smartphones, stronger power tools, longer-mileage electric kickboards and scooters. 

　　​

In order to meet customers’ growing demands, we need to increase battery capacity and a quick charging technology to shorten the charging time. Samsung SDI is currently working on developing some technologies to meet customers’ requirements. 

　　​

We’ve developed a button cell and a mini cell that have smaller sizes than pouch batteries to be equipped into small and slim products. These cells are used for Galaxy Buds Live, Galaxy Watch and others. 

　　​

[Samsung SDI’s button cell and mini cell for wireless earphone at InterBattery 2020]

　　​

Pouch batteries used at IT devices have longer life with increased energy density. And for cylindrical battery, we have 21700 battery with increased capacity compared to the 18650 battery. 21700 is used for various mobility applications including electric bikes, driving the growth of a cylindrical battery.

　　​

We are also further developing a quick charging technology by changing materials and structures to allow lithium ions move faster between cathode and anode. We aim to achieve a quicker charging technology, and to do so, various studies and experiments are underway to reduce a battery charging time. 

　　​

We learned about the growth potential of the small battery market, customers’ growing demand, and how Samsung SDI is working to go one step ahead. We will do our best to lead the small battery market, so stay tuned for our next step. 

　　​