Battery for Tesla EVs
Tesla’s electric vehicles (EVs) which use batteries produced by Japan’s Panasonic are getting popular. Domestic battery producers should be anxious but they are rather delighted at the current situation. This is because they believe that the popularity of Tesla will rapidly grow the EV market and lead to an opportunity for domestic battery firms with the global competitiveness, though they don’t supply batteries to Tesla.
According to automobile and chemical industry sources on May 5, Tesla’s low-end sedan “Model 3” posted 400,000 units in preorder sales, heralding the era of EV. Accordingly, Panasonic, which supplies cylindrical batteries to Tesla, are elated at the result. Some concern that Panasonic can secure the leadership in the EV battery market thanks to Tesla. However, domestic businesses see it as an opportunity, not a crisis.
LG Chem CEO and vice chairman Park Jin-soo recently said, “Since the EV market is growing, it is also good for LG Chem. We should pay attention to the fact that the market is expanding.” LG Chem is technologically superior to other battery producers and it has won deals to supply batteries to millions of EVs from GM, Renault, Daimler AG and Audi. Therefore, the company is confident that LG Chem will have a growing presence in the process of the EV market expansion, though Tesla’s EVs are popular right now.
During a press conference last month, SK Innovation Vice Chairman Chung Chul-khil also said, “We have just passed 1 kilometer of a 41-km-long marathon in the EV battery business. Battery producers are not competitors one another but rather partners that grow the market. With a concrete will and strategy, we will foster the business.”
Samsung SDI also think that domestic firms with the technology and price competitiveness will benefit from the expansion of the EV market and has decided to invest 1 trillion won (US$865.43 million) in the sector this year.