April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean battery maker Samsung SDI confirmed on Dec. 8 its latest supply deal with the US electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors, which industry watchers estimated to be US$520 million.

Samsung SDI is slated to provide its cylindrical batteries to the California-based EV maker.

Lucid Motors' latest concept sedans

Lucid Motors, which aims to compete with Tesla and other luxury EV brands, announced last week to build a $700 million auto factory in Arizona. It plans to launch high-end sports electric vehicles, which run more than 644 kilometers on a single charge.

Although the terms of the deal between the two firms wasn’t disclosed, the Lucid vehicle is expected to have an initial manufacturing level of about 20,000 units in 2018, according to EV news media InsideEVs.

“Based on the estimated 20,000 units, Lucid needs around 1.74 gigawatt-hours of batteries, which are 30 percent of Samsung SDI’s total battery capacity in 2016,” said Jang Jeong-hoon, an analyst at Samsung Securities.

“On the assumption that cell price is $300 per kilowatt hour on average, total sales would be around $520 million,” Jang added.

The batteries to be supplied for Lucid Motors is expected to have improved in energy density, capacity, lifespan and safety compared to existing batteries. The new cylindrical batteries labelled as “21700,” which is 21 millimeters in diameter and 70 millimeters in length, has improved energy capacity by maximum 50 percent compared to the existing “18650” batteries, Samsung SDI said.

Following the news on the supply deal, Samsung SDI’s shares closed at 94,500 won ($81) on Dec. 8, a 4.19 percent rise from the previous day. 

By Shin Ji-hye/The Korea Herald (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)