Megafactories buildout could up nickel demand in batteries 19 fold—Benchmark, page-149

from Handelsbatt 08.02.2019

Carmanufacturers are entering the era of electromobility - but without their ownbattery cell production

Volkswagen,Daimler and Co. want to produce more e-cars in the future. But that's daring,because they do not make the battery cells themselves

Thepreparations for the introduction of the first wave of purely battery-poweredelectric vehicles are in full swing at German car manufacturers. Audi startsthe sale of its first pure electric SUV in the spring, at Daimler it starts inthe summer. Market leader Volkswagen comes a little later: The production ofthe new generation of electric cars starts in the second half of the year. At themoment, the German automakers are still unanimous in one point: They areentering the new era of electromobility without their own production of batterycells. Instead, they rely solely on supplies from major Asian cellmanufacturers such as LG, Samsung and CATL over the next five to six years. "Inthe battery cells, we will engage ourselves as a customer, but not on theproduction side," said Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche at the CAR symposium ofthe University of Duisburg-Essen. Almost ten years ago, Daimler and the EvonikGroup in Saxony had started a joint venture to produce cell technology - andpaid high training fees. The lossesfrom this joint venture encourage Daimler to date to buy the battery cells fromoutside from large suppliers. By the year 2030, Daimler has ordered batterycells worth around 20 billion euros from major Asian producers. In thesignificantly larger Volkswagen Group, the order volume for the coming years iscorrespondingly higher: in Wolfsburg, it is more than 40 billion euroseuros
Very interesting:
VW pursues a special strategy 
Sommer did not commit to what might happen after2025 at Volkswagen. Already in the fall of last year were rumors in Wolfsburgrumors, according to which the VW Group could enter into a cell joint venturewith the Korean supplier SK Innovation
A jointventure would bring several benefits to Volkswagen. The group would haveimmediate access to the know-how. A knowledge that is still very limited in thecompany today. The one-sided dependence on cell suppliers would thus also beavoided. Since thebattery can make up to 40 percent of the value of an electric car, this is aweighty argument for Volkswagen. In addition, the group saves money: The costof the new cell works would be distributed over two shoulders, the supply ofEuropean car plants with battery cells would be secured in the long term.

We're still in the game ... we'll have some exciting days ......