“Volkswagen gets far fewer battery cells from Samsung for electric cars”
Volkswagen is adjusting its battery delivery plan worth 50 billion euros, because Samsung SDI cannot meet the initially agreed amount of battery cells to be delivered. At least that’s what Bloomberg reports based on sources.
Bloomberg writes that several people who are familiar with the matter indicate that the agreement with Samsung SDI may be dropped. This is related to the finding that Samsung can supply significantly fewer battery cells than previously agreed upon. Samsung would have originally agreed to supply cells for 20 gigawatt hours, which is enough for, for example, 200,000 cars with 100 kWh batteries. According to the sources, that would now amount to less than 5 gigawatt hours. Volkswagen has informed Bloomberg in an email that Samsung is still its battery supplier for Europe. Samsung declined to comment. It is unclear how Volkswagen will respond to the apparent shortage of 15 gigawatt hours.
An analyst writes that in the near future, with the introduction of a fleet of fully electrically powered cars, such as the recently shown ID.3, Volkswagen will eventually need 300 gigawatt hours of annual battery cells. That is only for the joint European and Asian market. According to the analyst, delivery of this amount is impossible without multiple contracts with different suppliers. Volkswagen therefore has several suppliers besides Samsung, including LG Chem, SK Innovation and the Chinese CATL.
Last year, through CEO Herbert Diess, Volkswagen already indicated that the company wants to get rid of its dependence on Asian producers. In 2017, Maroš Šefčovič, the then European Commissioner for the Energy Union, already advocated the creation of a European consortium for the production of car batteries. Germany is willing to invest one billion euros to start large-scale battery production in Germany and Europe. In March, Volkswagen formed a consortium with the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt, a start-up of former Tesla manager Peter Carlsson. The aim is to bring together knowledge about battery cell production and thus stimulate research into batteries in Europe.