At the Volkswagen Group’Power Day’ event held in Wolfsburg, Germany on the 15th (local time), all of the chairman of the Volkswagen Group Herbert Dys are speaking. Provided by Audi Volkswagen Korea
Volkswagen, the world’s largest automobile company, has declared its separation from’K battery’ in its next-generation electric vehicle strategy. It is by formulating the conversion to a product of a’square type’ rather than a’pouch type’, which is the flagship model of the Korean battery industry. Instead, it presented a plan to reduce battery cost by cooperating with a Chinese company, which is Volkswagen’s’big hand’. Considering the share of Volkswagen in the global automobile industry, warning lights have entered the domestic battery industry right away.
Volkswagen Group “will fill 80% with square integrated battery cells by 2030”
Volkswagen Group, which has 12 brands including Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, held a’Power Day’ event in Wolfsburg, Germany on the 15th (local time) and announced a technology roadmap for the battery and charging sector to be promoted by 2030. The core of this roadmap was focused on reducing battery cost through integration and internalization. “We aim to increase life and performance while reducing battery cost and complexity,” said Thomas Schmal, director of technology at the Volkswagen Group. It will be lowered to less than (about 135,000 won).”
To this end, Volkswagen decided to supply 80% of its electric vehicles by 2030 with rectangular integrated battery cells instead of the existing pouch type. It plans to reduce the battery manufacturing cost by 30-50% through this. For a stable supply of battery cells, Volkswagen said, “We want to secure a long-term supply of cells with selected strategic partners.” Sweden’s North Bolt, China’s CATL and Guoxian are among the strongest strategic partners. Through this, Volkswagen plans to establish a total of six giga factories in Europe alone by 2030, producing 240GWh of battery cells per year.
The Volkswagen Group is also expected to accelerate the development of all-solid-state batteries based on rectangular integrated cells. “Volkswagen’s incorporation of battery cells into a square shape is a choice with long-term all-solid-state battery conversion in mind,” said Wonseok Won-seok, a researcher at Hi Investment & Securities, in a report. “We have invested a total of $300 million (about 340 billion won) in Quantumscape, a battery startup in the US,” he said.
What is the future of the K-battery that has been neglected by Volkswagen?
Inside and outside the industry, Volkswagen’s change in battery type is a paving stone aimed at China, where the world’s largest market,’square’ shape is the main focus. Recently, Chinese battery makers such as CATL are expanding their production to Europe. That means that you can expect a stable battery supply and demand.
Some analysts say that the uncertainty over the supply and demand of batteries that emerged during the lawsuit for infringement of trade secrets between LG Energy Solutions and SK Innovation also influenced Volkswagen’s decision.
An industry insider said, “Volkswagen had no choice but to choose a method to reliably procure batteries as the battery supply and demand disruption for US production became a reality due to the lawsuit between LG and SK.” SK has lost its second largest customer after Hyundai and Kia.” The battery dispute between LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation eventually brought about a boomerang.
“The bigger problem is that Volkswagen has played a leading role in the automobile industry, such as modularization and platform commonalization, so that the message that it is going to be square on this day will have a great implication for other competitors.” The pouch-type battery, the flagship product of the company, is growing rapidly, but if Volkswagen’s choice becomes a milestone, the entire K battery could fall into a crisis,” he warned.
Kim Kyung-jun reporter [email protected]
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