LG Energy Solution makes small batteries for a variety of products such as portable electronic devices, Light Electric Vehicles, and wearable devices. Its small batteries dominate the market offering differentiated customer experience with their high capacity, high output, and ultra-thin look. IN:CHARGE interviewed Byeong-jun Jeon who develops small batteries for e-bikes.
Q. Please introduce yourself.
Hi. I’m Byeong-jun Jeon and I develop battery packs for e-bikes, among many LEV applications, at the E-bike Pack Development Team. I basically deal with device design using cylindrical cells and my jobs include responding to customer demands, making commercial packs, and developing anti-thermal propagation (TP)* solutions.
*Thermal Propagation: The thermal runaway of batteries
Q. What are the qualifications required by the E-bike Pack Development Team?
A variety of applications such as bicycles, scooters, and robots are classified as LEVs and the specifications demanded by clients are all different. Therefore, you should consider many factors of each application when you design. For example, the highest priority for a wheelchair is safety. So, you should think about lowering charging conditions or a fire control to prepare for thermal propagation.
Also, problem-solving ability is essential at the team. You should be able to analyze given problems, come up with appropriate plans, and execute them. And you should be able to draw cooperation from relevant departments to do your job without much problem.
Q. What do you do to have your own expertise?
I’m currently getting expertise in anti-TP solutions. We at LG Energy Solution have developed a satisfactory anti-TP solution for e-bike packs. For now, most battery packs do not consider TP in the e-bike market. If the TP test is selected as a test item for the international standards later, the competitiveness of our products will increase further.
And I plan to acquire expertise in e-bike battery pack design and develop understanding on cell properties and the general logic of the system. I want to develop more marketable products and perfect them to gain strong customer trust.
For the purpose, I try to produce the optimum solution by studying cell properties and structures and keeping testing TP. I work hard collecting data about technical drawings of batteries and analyzing advantages and disadvantages of the designs.
Q. When did you feel most fulfilled at work?
I have a work attitude of building expertise in pack development and making competitive products and earn customer trust. I feel especially fulfilled when I find our finished products are used in the field, without causing issues. I also learn much from discussing with my teammates in difficult situations and solving problems one by one.
Q. What is the goal you want to realize with the skills you have polished?
My goal is to lead many projects and produce a variety of products. Also, I want to improve stability of battery-embedded products in our daily lives. For the long term, I aim at further increasing the global competitiveness of LG Energy Solution with our technology.