In the electric vehicle market, small and medium-sized companies specializing in ‘battery packs’, ‘coatings’ and ‘distribution boards’ are creating high profits one after another.
Hyundai Motor Company's entry into the US electric vehicle market has expanded to investment in the acquisition of robot companies rather than parts development, and the construction of LG Ensol's joint battery plant with a US automobile company is putting the brakes on.
On the other hand,Coating companies that specialize in fire and impact in racing sports cars are starting to make big money in the production of electric cars.
To protect electric vehicle (EV) components, emerging companies specializing in batteries and coatings, and suppliers traditionally focused on motorsport or Formula 1 (F1) racing, are pushing for EV contracts, which will enable automakers to design a platform that will be used for the next decade. Reuters reported on the 23rd that mass models could generate big profits for many years.
With the international auto giant injecting $1.2 trillion into electric vehicle (EV) development, the new supplier has been offered the opportunity to win contracts to provide everything from battery packs to motors and inverters.
Nick Frari, CEO of McLaren Applied, a F1 engineering and technology company, a small Italian company specializing in inverters, said: "We go back to the early days of Henry Ford, where everyone was asking, 'How do I get these things to work?' “This is a huge opportunity for a company like ours,” he told Reuters.
McLaren Applied adopted an efficient inverter developed for F1 racing for EV, and the inverter is highly efficient in controlling the flow of electricity with the battery pack.
The silicon carbide IPG5 inverter weighs only 5.5kg and can extend the range of an EV by more than 7%.
CEO Fry told Reuters that McLaren Applied is working with about 20 automakers and suppliers, and that inverters will appear on high-volume luxury EV models from January 2025.
McLaren Applied was acquired from McLaren in 2021 by private equity firm Greybull Capital.
Actnano, a parts supplier in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA developed a coating that protects electric vehicle parts from condensation and supplied it to Tesla, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) expanded its business to Tesla, Volvo, Ford, BMW, and Porsche. did.
Instead of a wire harness that groups and guides the vehicle's cables, California-based startup CelLink has developed a "flex harness" that flattens and eases installation into a fully automatic device.
Celllink CEO Kevin Coakley told Reuters that the harnesses have been installed in about a million EVs and that it is "working with US and European automakers and European battery makers" on battery wiring.
Croatian Rimac is an electric hypercar manufacturer owned by German Porsche that supplies battery systems and powertrain components to other automakers.
Reuters told the German automaker, whose Remark was not disclosed, that it would use its own battery system in high-performance models that produce about 40,000 units per year starting this year and expand its market further.
“We have to do 20%, 30% better than they can, and then they work with us,” said Remark CEO Mate Rimac. “If they can make a 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack, we We have to make a 130-kilowatt pack of the same size at the same cost," he said of the development competition for electric vehicle parts.
Bosch and Continental, Germany's largest traditional auto parts manufacturers, are also investing heavily in EV parts technology.
Germany's Continental announced an autonomous driving software and hardware system partnership with California-based artificial intelligence chip company Ambarella on the 5th.
The two companies plan to develop so-called Level 2 Plus autonomous driving, which will allow drivers to briefly take their hands off the wheel through features such as assisted cruise control and lane centering.
Ambarella is a company developing a new category of semiconductors called system-on-chips and SoCs that combine multiple CPUs on a single logic board and provide artificial intelligence processing.
The joint venture between Continental and Ambarella is a joint development of technology that will consist of a high-resolution camera, radar and lidar senses, along with the necessary software, the statement said.
In addition to the US joint venture between German automakers and parts makers, a joint venture with AEye, a California-based short-range lidar patented technology start-up, is integrating long-range lidar sensors based on AEye's patents into electric vehicles.
As a small and medium-sized company, a British motorsport manufacturer that cannot afford the enormous initial investment in EVs is developing and launching high-priced battery packs.
James Eaton, CEO of Ionetic, a British startup that develops high-performance battery packs, told Reuters that some manufacturers are delaying the rollout of electrification because electrification is currently too expensive.
Innotic has developed powerful motorsport engines for Swindon Powertrain since 1971, and currently develops battery packs, electric powertrains, and e-axles, and supplies them to more than 20 partners, including automobile manufacturers and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturers. there is.
“There are still opportunities for small-volume manufacturers or manufacturers of high-end and high-performance cars seeking an edge,” Mat Rimark, CEO of Rimark in Croatia, told Reuters.
"We can't afford to rely on a third party making that kind of investment for us," Tim Slatter, CEO of Ford Motor Company in the UK, told Reuters of developing its own electric vehicle parts.
"Mass-market automakers often prefer to develop EV parts in-house and own the technology," Reuters reports. "After years of pandemic-related parts shortages, they are wary of over-reliance on suppliers." revealed
Reuters reported on the 25th that GM withdrew plans for a fourth joint battery cell plant in New Carlisle, Indiana, with LG Energy Solutions Korea.
The two companies established Ultium Cells, a battery joint venture in 2019, and were promoting the construction of the fourth joint venture in the United States following Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan.
Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, is expanding the acquisition in June 2021 of Boston Dynamics, an American robot company, through personal investment and investment in the US corporation.
In December 2020, the equity structure was acquired by investing KRW 1.057 trillion from 80% of Hyundai Motor Group, and the share ratio was 30% in Hyundai Motor, 20% in parts company Hyundai Mobis, and 10% in Hyundai Glovis. It has a personal governance structure.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an electric vehicle fire risk investigation on 138,324 vehicles equipped with LG Energy Solutions batteries on April 5 last year, Reuters reported.
The NHTSA investigation follows a series of vehicle recalls from 2020 by five automakers, including GM, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motor Company, Stalantis and Volkswagen, due to fire risks caused by defects in LG batteries.
NHTSA announced at the time that it would contact LG Ensol as well as other automakers that purchased the company's battery equipment so that a safety recall could be conducted.
NHTSA announced that Mercedes-Benz recalled the 2019 'Smart Fortwo' electric vehicle in February 2020, citing a high risk of fire due to internal defects in LG battery cells.
In November 2020, GM recalled 140,000 Chevrolet Volt electric vehicles for defects in LG battery manufacturing, and in October 2021, LG disclosed that the recall share for LG battery recall was 1.4 trillion won.
As for the recall of Stallantis, dozens of vehicle fire reports were received in February of last year and 2017-2018 Pacifica hybrid minivans equipped with LG batteries were recovered, and Volkswagen recalled the 2021 ID4 electric vehicle last month.