By Kim Tae-gyu
STUTTGART, BOXBERG — SB LiMotive, the 50-50 joint venture between Samsung SDI and Bosch, plans to double its facility in Korea, while building a new factory in Europe.
Bosch President Rolf Bulander, who is in charge of the gasoline systems division, told The Korea Times exclusively about the joint venture’s plan to expand the joint venture’s battery output. It currently has a factory in Ulsan, a southeastern industrial city.
“By 2015, SB LiMotive intends to boost the annual cell production capacity in Ulsan, South Korea, to a good four gigawatt-hours — enough for some 180,000 electric vehicles,” Bulander said.
“Since more and more European automakers are planning to work with SB LiMotive, we are considering setting up a production facility in Europe after 2013.” Currently, the Ulsan factory cannot supply batteries for more than 100,000 electric cars a year.
Bulander didn’t reveal the specific schedule, site and size of the new European plant of SB LiMotive.
But a company insider said that it will be completed by 2014 or 2015 with a similar production capacity to that of the Ulsan factory. He added that the site has yet to be fixed.
Market watchers point out that the envisioned expansion is good news for SB LiMotive, which hopes to continue to expand its presence in the battery industry in accordance with the global migration to electric vehicles.
Batteries for electric cars are basically rechargeable batteries where the Korean duo of Samsung SDI and LG Chem have competed with Japan’s Sanyo for the global pole position.
Plus, Bosch said the German automotive parts giant is poised to invest a substantial amount of money to build a new line in Korea for the company’s latest high-pressure pumps used for the common rail system, called CP4.
“We will set up a CP4 line in our Daejeon factory where up to 350,000 CP4-powered common rail systems can be produced a year beginning 2013 to meet demands from such Korean carmakers as Hyundai Motor,” Bosch manager Jeon Jong-gyu said.
Jeon, who works at Bosch’s CP4 line in Stuttgart, said that additional CP4 facilities might be established beyond 2015 as orders for cutting-edge diesel parts are likely to increase before the full-fledged advent of electric cars.
Common rail systems refer to a modern variant of the direct fuel injection system directly attached to the engine. Hence, it is comparable to the human heart.
Composed of an injector, an electronic control unit, a rail and a high-pressure pump, Bosch’s CP4 makes it possible for cars to reduce emissions by attaining ultra-high pressure.