Bosch-Samsung Li-ion batteries JV starts ops

STUTTGART, GERMANY & SEOUL, KOREA: The 50:50 joint venture "SB LiMotive Co. Ltd." of Bosch and Samsung SDI started its operations on September 1, 2008.

The objective of the new company is to develop, manufacture, and sell lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications. It is planned to start series manufacturing of highly efficient lithium-ion battery systems customized to automotive requirements and to market them worldwide in 2011. To achieve this, the joint venture partners will jointly invest between 300 and 400 million dollars in the next five years.

The new company will be led by Youngwoo Park (Samsung SDI), who will be in charge of finance, production, sales, and purchasing, and Dr. Joachim Fetzer (Bosch), who will be responsible for engineering and quality. A few days ago, Bosch and Samsung SDI received the approval from all relevant authorities for the establishment of the joint venture.

SB LiMotive is headquartered in Suwon, South Korea. This will also apply initially to battery cell development. Further, initial production of lithium-ion cells is also planned in Korea. Roughly 100 associates will be located there. In Germany, a subsidiary based in Stuttgart will be established. At first, 40 associates will work there in sales, marketing and system engineering. The location of the manufacturing sites for battery systems will be announced at a later date.

Lithium-ion batteries are the basis for forward-looking technologies in the automobile, such as hybrid or electric drives. Bosch and Samsung expect a market volume of some three million hybrid vehicles by 2015. The prime objective of the joint venture is to optimize lithium-ion battery technology to meet the exacting requirements associated with the automobile, with respect to power density and safety, for example, and in this way to allow purely electrically powered driving over longer distances.