A Stellantis sign is seen outside the company’s headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, U.S., June 10, 2021. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
SEOUL, Oct 22 (Reuters) – South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co Ltd (006400.KS) and automaker Stellantis NV (STLA.MI) said on Friday they plan to create a joint venture (JV) to produce electric vehicle (EV) battery cells and modules in the United States.
Stellantis’ tie-up with the battery maker comes less than a week after it signed a similar agreement with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, supporting its goal for EVs to account for over 40% of its U.S. sales by 2030.
Stellantis, which was formed in January via the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA, has said it wants to secure more than 130 gigawatt hours (GWh) of global battery capacity by 2025 and over 260 GWh by 2030.
With these two joint ventures, the world’s No. 4 automaker has secured an annual battery production capacity of up to 80 GWh, which could power about 1.2 million electric vehicles.
Global automakers are investing billions of dollars to accelerate a transition to low-emission mobility and prepare for a progressive phase-out of internal combustion engines.
The Stellantis-Samsung SDI venture aims to start operations by the first half of 2025 with an initial annual battery production capacity of 23 GWh, the companies said.
The joint venture’s annual battery production capacity could increase to 40 GWh in the future, they said in a statement.
They did not provide any financial details of the deal.
The batteries produced at the U.S. joint venture will be supplied to Stellantis’ factories in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The location of the factory is under review.
Samsung SDI, an affiliate of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), already has EV battery plants in South Korea, China and Hungary, which supply customers such as BMW (BMWG.DE) and Ford Motor (F.N).
Samsung SDI shares closed up nearly 2% to 737,000 won ($627), highest since late last month. Benchmark KOSPI (.KS11) closed down 0.04%. Stellantis shares were up 0.8%.
($1 = 1,174.8900 won)
Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Himani Sarkar
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Source: Reuters
