Samsung SDI will decide within April where its electric vehicle battery joint venture with automaker Stellantis will be based at.
The South Korean battery maker has recently wrapped up discussions over subsidies with a local government in North America for the matter, sources said.
Meanwhile, LG Energy Solution is also expected to finalize the details of its joint venture with the automaker that it announced back in March that will be based in Ontario in Canada. The South Korean company said it plans to spend 4.8 trillion won and is aiming for a production capacity of 45GWh by 2026. LG Energy Solution and automaker are also planning to build a module line at their plant.
Stellantis had earlier said it plans to spend 30 billion euros up to 2025 to shift its production focus on electric vehicles.
LG Energy Solution is expected to provide the automaker with its pouch batteries __ both long axis (600mm) and short axis (300mm) __ while Samsung SDI will be supplying its prismatic batteries.
Samsung SDI will be manufacturing the Gen 5 prismatic batteries, which it is already doing so at its factory in Goed, Hungary, for Stellantis as well.
This means it will likely use equipment supplied by its equipment supplier Philenergy for the joint venture with Stellantis.
Gen 5 batteries are made through stacking materials such as the cathode, separators and anode instead of winding them as Samsung SDI has done for prior generations. This increases the energy density of the batteries.
Another point to focus on is whether Samsung SDI will start manufacturing cylinder batteries for Stellantis, which is considering adopting the battery type for some of its electric vehicles to more flexibly react to market demand. However, productivity needs to be guaranteed for this, the sources said, and the automaker might not go this route.
