Wrapup: Carmakers shift up a gear in race to go electric

Yulon Motor Co

18/10/2021 11:54

By Nick Carey
    LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - With electric car sales soaring
and regulations increasingly favouring zero-emission vehicles, a
flurry of announcements on Monday showed how the global auto
industry has kicked into a higher gear as it races to speed past
the fossil-fuel car era.
    As part of its own 30 billion euro ($34.7 billion)
electrification plan Stellantis  STLA.MI  - born out of a merger
of PSA and Fiat Chrysler earlier this year - said it had entered
a preliminary agreement with battery maker LG Energy Solution to
produce battery cells and modules for North America, where the
world's No. 4 automaker expects more than 40% of its U.S. sales
will be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2RE17J
    That follows a recent announcement that Daimler AG
 DAIGn.DE  will take a 33% stake in battery cell manufacturer
Automotive Cells Company (ACC), founded in 2020 by Stellantis
and TotalEnergies  TTEF.PA  in 2020.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2QQ0RF
    Carmakers are racing to secure battery supplies as they
switch to electric, with dozens of new battery plants planned
across Europe and America.
    Ford Motor Co's  F.N  plans to go electric in Europe 
received a boost on Monday as the company said it would invest
up to 230 million pounds ($316 million) to retool an engine
factory in northern England to produce electric car power units
instead of combustion-engine transmissions.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2RD0BK
    The No. 2 U.S. carmaker has said its car lineup in Europe
will be all-electric by 2030.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KN0O4
    Companies like Mercedes-Benz Daimler maker have warned that
shifting to electric will cost jobs at combustion-engine plants,
so Ford's announcement is a boost for workers making fossil-fuel
engines at its Halewood plant near Liverpool.
    The shift to electric has also been accompanied by changes
in the automotive landscape, with a large number of startups
hoping to become the next Tesla Inc  TSLA.O . 
    That has attracted the attention of Taiwan's Foxconn
 2317.TW , which has ambitious plans to diversify away from its
role of building consumer electronics for Apple Inc  AAPL.O  and
other tech firms.
    Indeed, Foxconn unveiled its first three EV prototypes on
Monday - an SUV, a sedan and a bus - made by Foxtron, a venture
between Foxconn and Taiwanese car maker Yulon Motor Co Ltd
 2201.TW .
    It first mentioned its EV ambitions less than two years ago
and has moved relatively quickly, this year announcing deals to
build cars with U.S. startup Fisker Inc  FSR.N  and Thailand's
energy group PTT Pcl  PTT.BK .
    The need for speed was also a reason Volkswagen AG
 VOWG_p.DE  had Tesla CEO Elon Musk address top executives at
the German carmaker over the weekend.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2RC08I
    Volkswagen's CEO Herbert Diess has made no secret of his
ambitions to chase and overtake Tesla, the world's leading
electric carmaker. 
    But in a Linkedin post, Diess said he had invited Musk as a
"surprise guest" to drive home the point that VW needs faster
decisions and less bureaucracy for what he called the biggest
transformation in the company's history. 
    ($1 = 0.8636 euros)
    ($1 = 0.7281 pounds)

 (Reporting By Nick Carey;
Editing by Bernadette Baum)
 ((nick.carey@thomsonreuters.com; +44 7385 414 954;))