[M 오토데일리 이상원기자] On the 10th (local time) of the US International Trade Commission, Ford Motor Co., Ltd. and LG Energy Solutions and SK Corp. announced a decision to ban SK Innovation from importing battery cells and related parts and selling battery cells in the United States. I asked for an agreement from innovation.
According to a report by Reuters, Ford Motor’s CEO Jim Farley publicly demanded on the 11th (local time) that LG Energy Solutions and SK Innovation agree on the battery dispute as soon as possible.
Prior to this, ITC said that SK Innovation stole the trade secrets of LG Energy Solutions on the 10th, and prevented battery cells and related parts from being imported to the US for 10 years. A ruling was made to allow supply.
“The voluntary agreement between the two Korean battery suppliers will ultimately be of the greatest interest to US manufacturers and workers,” said CEO Jim Parley on Twitter.
“Ford’s $22 billion investment in electrification strategy does not include battery production and investment, whether through Ford itself or through joint ventures,” Parley said in a video call with analysts last week.
Ford and Volkswagen, which agreed to supply batteries for pickup truck F-150 and ID.4 electric vehicles from SK Innovation in the US, have repeatedly urged both battery companies to resolve the battery dispute smoothly through agreements.
ITC made a final decision to force Ford and Volkswagen to find other battery suppliers during the grace period, but it is difficult to find alternatives other than SK Innovation during this period.
A spokesman for the LG Energy Solutions litigation said that LG could absorb this quantity if SK let go of it, but experts point out that it is not easy to get batteries with the desired specifications when needed.
Although the agreement between the two companies is the best way for companies that have signed battery supply contracts, such as Ford and Volkswagen, as well as LG and SK, and the US, the agreement between the two companies is showing a very large difference, so the agreement is still difficult.
LG is claiming at least 3-4 trillion won, including compensation for damages and opportunity costs related to litigation due to technology infringement, while SK Innovation is known to claim hundreds of billions of won.
However, as the confrontation situation between the two companies gets longer, there is a concern about a big blow to future battery orders and corporate image.
This is because Volkswagen and Ford Motors will inevitably leave the batteries ordered to Korean companies, but there is a high possibility that Korean battery companies will be completely excluded from future orders.
In the case of Volkswagen, not only SK Innovation, but also the supply of batteries to other domestic battery companies has suffered.
Currently, Europe is carrying out its own battery procurement project at the pan-European level for battery independence, and the US is also focusing on fostering domestic battery companies.
Therefore, it is pointed out that an immediate agreement between the two companies is also needed to improve the image and sustainability of domestic battery companies.
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