Some might have seen this already, but I don't remember seeing...

Some might have seen this already, but I don't remember seeing this on the ARL thread yet.

The car manufacturers are starting to go on a spending spree. Time to investigate where CATL, LG Chem and Panasonic source their battery materials from.

I am sure the Japanese (Panasonic) will be striking back soon to regain the crown of largest Li-Ion battery manufacturer.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-b...n-ev-battery-factory-in-germany-idUKKBN1JZ161

Around 240 million euros ($280 million) will be invested in the first phase of the project, Wolfgang Tiefensee, Thuringia’s minister of economic affairs, told journalists.
BMW plans to source 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) of battery cells from CATL over the next few years, with 1.5 billion euros coming from the new site in Erfurt in eastern Germany, the carmaker’s purchasing head, Markus Duesmann, said.
CATL, the world’s largest maker of battery cells for electric vehicles, said the new factory was just its first step in Europe.


https://www.ft.com/content/eecaf1cc-8987-11e8-bf9e-8771d5404543

BMW has gained the right to take an equity stake in CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle battery producer by sales, after the carmaker agreed to purchase $4.7bn worth of battery cells from the Chinese company. BMW Brilliance, the German carmaker’s Chinese joint venture, is entitled to an equity investment of up to Rmb2.85bn ($430m) if the company sells new shares, CATL said on Tuesday. That would give BMW a stake of 0.8 per cent at the current stock price, and would make it the first foreign carmaker to invest in the Chinese battery maker. The statement cements the ties between BMW and CATL, which raised Rmb5.46bn in an IPO last month. CATL overtook Japan’s Panasonic as the world’s top EV battery vendor last year, with shipments of 12 gigawatt hours sold to Chinese EV manufacturers and overseas companies. BMW said last week it would source €4bn ($4.7bn) of battery cells from CATL over the next several years, some of which would be manufactured at a new facility in Germany.