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Stellantis announced today that they will be entering a joint venture with Samsung SDI to produce battery cells and modules in the US. It looks as though Stellantis is really ramping up battery production as this announcement came within a week of them signing a preliminary deal with LG Energy Solution, also for battery production. The Samsung deal is reported for 23 gigawatt hours of batteries per year with annual capacity expected to get up to 40 gigawatt hours while the deal with LG is starting at 40 gigawatt hours per year. With 80 possible gigawatt hours of batteries, this positions Stellantis to have enough for 1.2 million electric vehicles per year. They expect to start operations by the first part of 2025 although they have not chosen a site yet. Stellantis is going to use these batteries in the US Canada and Mexico plants to produce next generation plug-in hybrid vehicles as well as all electric vehicles.
Toyota North America claims they will be investing $3.4B into the US over the next 9 years to develop battery production domestically. They are also planning on using these batteries for electric vehicles that will be produced in the US. Again, this plant is expected to start production early in 2025. This is only part of the $13.5B program from Toyota for global battery production. Toyota has already earmarked $1.29B for a lithium ion battery plant in the US. Although they have not released the location or business plan they have said it will bring 1,750 new American jobs. It seems as though most auto manufacturers are shooting for around half of their sales to be EV by 2030 and many have expressed desire to be 100% electric by 2035.
Gigantic tire manufacturer, Continental AG, is working on a tire made partially from recycled materials. The new product being called the Conti Green Concept is made from a material derived from dandelions, rice husks, and recycled bottles. A little more than a third of this product is said to be made of renewable materials and 17% come from recycled plastics and metals. I am a little surprised that this company is 150 years old and just now making a product that is better for the environment. Tires are one of the world’s major waste products, filling up landfills all over the world, and the materials they are made from are kind of gross and don’t biodegrade. Better late than never I guess.
Ted Cannis, CEO of Ford Pro, Ford’s new fleet and commercial division, was asked by Reuters about fleet customers moving to EVs. He stated that the new Ford commercial EVs, like the E-Transit and Lightning pickup, are “targeted at real people doing real work”. I am always leery of any automotive CEO that talks about “real work” as many of them have no clue what real work really is, and it looks like most companies probably agree with me as well. Mr. Cannis stated that he sees a lot of potential fleet buyers taking a “wait and see” approach which seem completely justified as the manufacturers move away from 100 year old technology and go to cutting edge technology that is bound to have major issues and set back for a while. When a company’s survival and profits are tied to the performance of their fleet, many companies don’t want to take this huge leap of faith with the auto manufacturers.
Foxtron, a joint venture between Foxconn and Taiwanese automaker Yulon Motors, unveils their first EV concepts. The model C, Model E and Model T were introduced on monday at their Tech Day event. Foxtron is not planning on selling the models directly but through other companies like Apple. Apple has not so secretly been working with manufacturers to produce the Apple car. Foxconn is already the largest assembler of iPhones in the world and this release from Foxtron should help them in the negotiations with Apple moving forward. Foxconn recently purchased an Ohio assembly plant from EV startup Lordstown Motors for $280M. Lordstown Motors is currently fighting lawsuits based on misleading investors and looks like they might be in trouble. I am all for new competition in the auto space but just adding another mega corporation like Apple to the mix I don’t think will move us much in a good direction.
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