JLR rumoured to be AESC’s next customer

Following AESC’s deal with Nissan in Sunderland, a second British manufacturer is now interested in the batteries from the Chinese-Japanese company. This was revealed by AESC CEO who mentioned talks were underway with several manufacturers.

The deal with Nissan to take over the former plant at Sunderland and convert it into a battery factory was only finalized last week, along with the announcement that an EV model would also be built there. Now, Envisions CEO Lei Zhang said in an interview that Envision were in talks with Jaguar Land Rover, as well as other automobile manufacturers in the UK about the delivery of battery cells.

Jaguar Land Rover has not reacted to the report. It is now known that the carmaker, which belongs to the Tata Group, has an increased need for battery cells: Under the new CEO Thierry Bolloré, the ‘Reimagine’ strategy was drawn up, according to which Jaguar is to become an all-electric brand from 2025. At Land Rover, too, the number of electric and hybrid models is to increase, and from 2036 Land Rover is also to be purely electric.

Total planned capacity for the Sunderland plant is to start with 9 GWh, meaning some batteries should be left over after the planned CMF-EV based vehicle production, but later expansion to 35 GWh is planned, meaning AESC would be in a good position to supply UK automobile production. For the European mainland, AESC is also building a battery factory in Douai, France, placing them in a good position to supply Renault. This plant will launch with a 9 GWh capacity, which is to be upgraded as far as 43 GWh.

Following Jaguar Land Rover, a cooperation with the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) is not unlikely, as the two already have a supply agreement for LEVC’s vehicles built in China, however the UK production for LEVC has an agreement with LG Chem. On the other hand, Sunderland is closer than LG Chem’s production facilities.

insideevs.com (in German)