FAQ

Can I see Samsung SDI products first hand?
Every year, Samsung SDI participates in various expositions and fairs. Please see the "Exhibition" menu for more information.
Can I get the price information of Samsung SDI’s battery cells?
Thank you for your interest in Samsung SDI’s products. The prices of battery cells may vary depending on the type and specification. Please send us the product that you are interested in and its specification at battery@samsung.com, and the sales manager in the relevant region will contact you.
How can I obtain a sample of Samsung SDI’s battery cell?
Thank you for your interest in Samsung SDI’s products. We can provide a battery cell sample through an internal process called CET (Customer Environment Test). Please contact us at battery@samsung.com if you have any further questions about CET.
I would like to buy a Samsung SDI’s battery cell. Where can I buy it?
Thank you for your interest in Samsung SDI’s products. We have sales bases in seven countries around the world including South Korea. Please let us know your location and the product that you want at battery@samsung.com, and the sales manager in the relevant region will contact you.
Where are the bases of production and supply for Samsung SDI’s battery?
Thank you for your interest in Samsung SDI’s products. The production bases of Samsung SDI’s battery cells are located in Malaysia, China (Tianjin), and South Korea (Cheonan and Ulsan), while the battery packs are produced in the bases located in China (Shanghai and Tianjin).
How cloudy or rainy days affect the next generation energy?

The intensity of sunlight on the ground surface varies depending on season, weather, and region. In general, electricity can be generated during the day but not at night. We have two solutions to resolve this issue.

First, we can install a power storage system (something like storage battery) and keep leftover electricity during the day to use it at night.   
Second, we have solar energy generator interconnected with power lines. Then, we are able to purchase electricity on cloudy or rainy days when solar energy is not strong enough to generate needed electricity, or we can sell electricity when solar energy generates more-than-enough electricity. Our country has yet to commercialize this method due to lack of relevant laws and regulations but industrial counties such as Japan, US and Europe have made efficient use of solar-voltaic power by adopting this method.
 

People talk a lot about plastic solar cells or organic solar cells these days. What are they?
Plastics had generally been known to be a non-conductor that does not conduct electricity until professor Heeger, MacDiarmid, and Shirakawa (Nobel laureate 2000) found conductive organic polymer that conducts electricity in the 1970s. In early 1990s, Cambridge University in UK introduced a light emitting display that emits light with a certain amount of voltage using the semiconducting nature of conductive organic polymer.
In contrast to it, we can create an element that can turn light into electricity and this is called the plastic solar cell.
Existing solar cells are made of silicon crystals used as material of computer chips. In comparison, organic polymer material is easy to manufacture with much lower cost of manufacturing as well. However, some 97% of solar energy is destroyed while electrons go through a winding path within the plastic solar cell. The efficiency of plastic solar cells hovers at one fifth of the silicon solar cell’s, which necessitates further research for this technology to be commercialized.  
If installing a solar cell, can we be subsidized?
If you install a solar cell, you are given a subsidy of generation balance fund. Currently, the base price per Kw is 716.4 won and it is supported for 15 years.
Where can I see a solar cell?
Domestically you can see the solar cell at Korea Institute of Energy Research and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, Solar light system in Wolryung-ri, Hanrim-eup, Jeju Island, Wesaeorum Solar light generation system in Mt. Hanla, Jeju island, Kwangju Biennale Event Hall, and so forth. And it is also installed in the rooftop of the corporate R&D center of our company. Recently (December, 2003) we installed our product, a 3Kw solar cell in the solar energy actual proof research complex at the Chosun University in Kwangju.  
Is HEV on sale domestically?

Currently (May, 2004) there is no HEV placed on the market domestically. Samsung SDI reached the worldwide top level in the business of small size secondary battery for mobile in the shortest term and at the moment it is striving to develop and commercialize secondary battery for HEV based on experienced battery business for mobile with the purpose of popularizing environmentally friendly vehicles domestically.

Do I have to charge HEV with electricity?

No extra charge is necessary. When descending flat or hill road or operating the brake, some of energy generated from the engine of a car is left, which drives the generator and electrifies battery for HEV.

How does HEV save fuels of vehicles?

When starting a car or traveling rough ways, the engine of a car requires a lot of power. At this, a lot of fuels should be consumed. Consumption of fuel can be reduced through operating motors with electricity after electrifying secondary battery for HEV.

Is a fuel cell an environmentally friendly energy source?
Electricity occurs by reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. At this, water is produced as reactant and it is not harmful to the earth environment.
Is it true that a fuel cell for mobile has a ten times longer operating time than the existing ones?

Energy efficiency of a fuel cell is high. If we take an example of a car, so far only 10 – 20 % of energy was obtained and utilized from fuels, but over 40% of energy can be utilized in operating with a fuel cell.

Isn’t the greatest merit of fuel cell environmentally friendliness only?

Surely, it can be said so, but a fuel cell of high energy efficiency is usable for cell phones or home appliances as well as vehicles. For example, as portable electric devices like digital camera or video, cell phones or notebook computer are getting highly advanced in performance, power consumption increases and the number of consumers requiring battery lasting a long time is increasing. In this sense, a fuel cell is a very attractive product.

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