South Korea’s SK Innovation (SKI) is reportedly in talks to establish two separate battery production joint ventures— one with Volkswagen and another with Chinese partners.
SKI confirmed talks with Volkswagen in an interview with Reuters, saying the two companies were discussing building a factory together. SKI also said I was “on the cusp” of agreeing plans to build a plant in China with “undisclosed partners”.
The president of SKI’s batteries business YS Yoon told Reuters: “Our strategy is to keep up with technological advancement by having relationships with some of our key customers. Compared with rivals, we’ve been matching or exceeding investment in the (EV batteries) area since last year.”
Volkswagen told Reuters: “We are considering an investment in a battery manufacturer in order to reinforce our electrification offensive and build up the necessary know-how.”
If realised, the battery production joint ventures would be the latest in a string of investments from the South Korean group. In March, SKI broke ground on a US$1.1 billion EV battery production facility the US state of Georgia, and announced an EV battery separators production facility in southern Poland.
SKI has said previously it plans to spend KRW4.51 trillion ($3.95bnbillion) by 2022 in order to boost EV battery production capacity.
