Ford and Volkswagen are concerned that a legal dispute between two South Korean battery brands could lead to battery power disorders for long-lasting electric cars, Reuters reported Tuesday.
The report cites documents submitted through Ford and VW to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), asking it to allow SK Innovation to manufacture batteries at a plant proposed in Georgia for use in an electrical edition of the Ford F-150 truck. and other vehicles, according to Reuters.
SK Innovation announced last year that it would build two separate plants in one joint in Commerce, Georgia, at a cost of $2.5 billion. At that time, it estimated the combined annual capacity of 21.5 gigawatt hours at any of the plants.
But SK Innovation and its automakers’ consumers have a problem.
Last year, rival South Korean battery company LG Chem sued SK Innovation, alleging industry violations in the United States and to prevent SK Innovation from generating battery cells in the United States.
Ford Mustang Mach-E 2021 first edition
The case goes back several years: LG Chem necessarily claims that SK produced “imitation” cells that were later installed in safe cars like the Kia Niro EV.
Allowing SK Innovation to produce batteries in the United States is mandatory to “avoid catastrophic source disruption,” VW told THE ITC in May as cited by Reuters.
VW said last year that its battery source is safe, thanks to agreements with SK Innovation and LG Chem, as well as with South Korean company Samsung, CatL of China and Swedish startup Northvolt. But the automaker has in particular SK Innovation for the United States, as one of its plants in Georgia is intended to obtain batteries for the ID.4 crossover, which will be produced at the VW plant in Chatttanooga, Tennessee, starting in 2022. .
Ford said LG Chem claims it can only upgrade SK Innovation as a non-credible battery supplier given the existing battery shortage, Reuters reported. However, Ford turned to LG Chem to obtain the source of Mustang Mach-E batteries, with the maximum or all cells coming from an LG Chem plant in Poland.
LG Chem has a facility in Michigan and is building a facility in Ohio with GM, to supply batteries for GM’s Ultium propulsion strategy.