SDI to Supply Batteries for BMW
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Samsung SDI said Monday that it signed a 10-year deal to supply BMW, the German carmaker, with batteries.
The Korean company also revealed its plan to invest $500 million in batteries for electric cars over the next four years until 2013.
``Our goal is attaining a 30-percent share in the world's car battery market by 2015,'' Park Young-woo, CEO of SB LiMotive said.
SB LiMotive ― a South Korea-based company ― is a one-year-old joint venture with Germany's Robert Bosch that specializes in developing, manufacturing and selling lithium-ion batteries.
Under the deal, the joint venture will supply battery cells for BMW's Megacity project, an electric vehicle due in the first half of the next decade.
The Megacity car is an offshoot from BMW's ``Project I'', which was tasked to develop new mobility concepts for cities with more than 10 million inhabitants.
``SDI will supply the batteries for test cars from next year. The deal is an exclusive between the SB LiMotive and BMW by 2020,'' SDI spokesman Seo Hae-su said.
Rechargeable batteries are emerging as a core technology for the auto industry amid enhanced global awareness for environment.