Volkswagen “switch to square battery” K battery’left anxiety’

▲ Captured the release materials for Volkswagen’Power Day’. ⒸNew Daily

Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest automakers, announced that it would expand the installation of “square” batteries in its electric vehicles in the future, and LG Energy Solutions and SK Innovation, which mainly supplied “pouch-type” batteries, are inevitable.

Batteries for electric vehicles are divided into cylinders, pouch types, and squares according to their shape. LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation focus on pouch-type batteries, CALT and Samsung SDI in China focus on prismatic batteries, and Panasonic in Japan focus on cylindrical batteries.

With this decision, LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation, which have been supplying pouch-type batteries to Volkswagen, are inevitable.

For the MEB platform, Volkswagen’s popular brand electric vehicle platform, LG Energy Solution is the largest supplier in Europe, and SK Innovation is known as the second largest supplier.

An official in the industry said, “LG Energy Solutions and SK Innovation, which have been supplying pouch-type batteries to Volkswagen so far, have no choice but to be embarrassing news.” said.

LG Energy Solutions has been supplying pouch-type batteries to Volkswagen, but in addition to pouch-type, it is producing and supplying cylindrical batteries to various customers such as Tesla and new electric vehicle companies.

On the contrary, SK Innovation only makes pouch-type battery products, and it is observed that the impact will be greater as it has a high dependence on Volkswagen in the US business.

On the other hand, CATL, which has supplied batteries to Volkswagen with a main focus on the square, is expected to gain reflection and increase its global market share. According to SNE Research, CATL has maintained the No. 1 global market share for the fourth consecutive year since 2017.

▲ Captured the release materials for Volkswagen’Power Day’. ⒸNew Daily

There are several interpretations behind Volkswagen’s choice of square.

First of all, more than 40% of Volkswagen’s sales are generated in China, and it is analyzed that China’s major battery company, CATL, is considering the electric vehicle business in China.

In particular, it plans to expand its base in the Chinese and North American markets by expanding infrastructure such as a rapid charging system and a battery management system. By the end of the year, about 3,500 fast charging points will be secured in North America, and in China, a total of 17,000 fast charging points will be established by 2025.

In Europe, it has agreed to expand the rapid charging system in cooperation with energy companies BP (UK), Iverdrola (Spain) and Enel (Italy).

It also announced that it will fill more than 50% of Volkswagen vehicles sold in the Chinese and US markets with electric vehicles. In Europe, it is planning to build battery factories in six locations by 2030 and raise the proportion of electric vehicles to 70% by raising the annual output to 240GWh.

Another official said, “If Volkswagen, a major battery owner, strengthens cooperation with CATL, K batteries will inevitably suffer a significant blow.”

Another background is that Volkswagen is currently pursuing a battery cell plant in Salzgitter, Germany in partnership with Swedish battery maker North Volt. There is also an observation that it is not.

In addition, Volkswagen plans to launch a new integrated battery cell in 2023 to increase the range and performance while reducing the cost and complexity of the battery and install it in 80% of the group’s electric vehicles by 2030.

The policy is to optimize battery cell types, deploy innovative production methods, and reduce additional costs through continuous recycling to lower battery prices.

To this end, Volkswagen aims to gradually reduce battery costs by 50% in the entry-level sector and 30% in the volume sector.

After installing this new integrated battery cell, it is planning to switch to the next-generation all-solid battery in the next step. Quantum Scape, an American battery startup funded by Volkswagen, is currently focusing on the development of all-solid-state batteries.

▲ Captured the release materials for Volkswagen’Power Day’. ⒸNew Daily