Automakers are forging partnerships with electric vehicle (EV) battery makers in a bid to increase production of batteries for their respective EV brands.
In two such deals announced on Monday, Volvo and Porsche are teaming up with Northvolt and Customcells, respectively, to boost their EV battery output.
Volvo and Northvolt
The Volvo Car Group, which is now part of China’s Geely, has announced a partnership with Swedish battery company Northvolt to produce more sustainable batteries for pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars. The partnership includes setting up a research and development center in Sweden that is expected to start operating in 2022 as well as a European gigafactory powered by 100pc clean energy with a 50 GWh annual potential capacity by 2026, Northvolt said in a statement on Monday.
Under this deal, Volvo will source 15 GWh of battery cells annually from Northvolt’s Swedish plant starting 2024. The partnership will aid in fulfilling Volvo’s European battery cell needs to boost the carmaker’s plans to sell 50pc pure EVs by the middle of this decade and to only sell EVs by 2030. Volvo can reduce its environmental footprint caused by sourcing and production of batteries, by working with Northvolt and producing batteries close to its European factories.
For Polestar, the joint venture will assist in Volvo’s commitment to creating a climate-neutral vehicle by 2030. Henrik Green, chief technology officer at Volvo Cars stated that with cells being developed in-house, the company can focus on giving Volvo and Polestar customers more range and short charging times. The electric successor to Volvo’s XC60 model will be the first car to benefit from this partnership.
Porsche and Customcells
Porsche AG is setting up a joint venture with Customcells, a German lithium-ion cells specialist, to make high-performance EV batteries with significantly reduced charging times.
Additionally, by enhancing the energy density the JV plans to reduce the amount of raw material necessary for achieving the same scale in batteries and decrease battery production costs to make EVs more affordable.
While Porsche did not reveal its investment in the JV, per media reports, the luxury carmaker intends to invest a high double-digit million Euros into the venture and will hold 80pc of the shares.
More recently, US automakers Ford and General Motors have announced their own plans to produce EV batteries.