SEOUL (Reuters) – Volkswagen plans to gradually switch the type of battery used in its electric vehicles, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, leaving its supply deals with LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation in doubt.
The automaker’s plan comes at a time when two major South Korea battery makers that manufacture the current pouch-type batteries for Volkswagen, LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation, have been locked in a legal battle in the United States over allegations of misappropriation of trade secrets related to EV battery technology.
Volkswagen plans to use the prismatic type of battery in its electric cars, increasingly turning to supplies from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), South Korea’s Money Today online news site reported earlier on Monday, citing unnamed South Korean battery industry sources.
Volkswagen plans to announce its battery procurement plans at its Power Day event on Monday, it added.
LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation have been manufacturing pouch-type batteries for Volkswagen, while CATL and Samsung SDI have supplied it with prismatic ones.
Volkswagen declined to comment. LG Energy Solution, a unit of LG Chem, said it does not comment on market speculation, while SK Innovation declined to comment.
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; Writing by Joyce Lee; editing by Louise Heavens)
