Volvo is to jointly develop lithium-ion battery packs for its commercial vehicles under a new partnership with Samsung SDI.
The Sweden-based vehicle manufacturer said the alliance with Samsung would help to “accelerate the speed of development and strengthen the long-term capabilities and assets within electromobility”.
Chinese and Korean battery makers have signed deals to secure the “multi-billon-dollar” long-term supply of electric vehicle batteries for Swedish car firm Volvo.
Volvo said today the agreements with Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and LG Chem would ensure supplies of lithium-ion batteries over the coming decade for its next-generation Volvo and Polestar models.
Volvo has inaugurated an energy storage project made up of connected lithium-ion batteries previously used in the Swedish automotive manufacturer’s electric buses.
The “energy warehouse” consists of 14 lithium-ion e-bus batteries, which are installed in a battery chamber and connected to create a 200kWh storage pack, which has been fitted to a Riksbyggen apartment complex in Gothenburg that “aims to be Sweden’s most innovative and sustainable housing project”.
The storage pack will be implemented to cut the apartment complex’s power consumption peaks by storing energy bought from the grid at periods of low demand, and to store or sell surplus solar energy generated at the property.
Daimler is staying mum on a report that Chinese carmaker Geely has bought a stake in the German peer with a view to partnering on battery tech for electric vehicles.
According to Reuters, sources believe Geely, which owns Volvo, “is keen to access Daimler's battery technology and wants to establish an electric car joint venture in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province”.
Volvo has created a way to integrate batteries and supercapacitors into the materials of a car so entire bodywork panels would become a battery.
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