Mullen announces plans for battery production
The US electric car start-up Mullen Technologies has announced the conversion of its plant in Monrovia, California, to start producing battery packs for its electric vehicles.
Mullen says it wants to reduce its dependence on third-party suppliers and the risk of material and supply bottlenecks. Producing battery packs in-house is also expected to reduce costs and improve overall quality control in battery pack development.
In doing so, Mullen can draw on existing facilities: The Monrovia plant was used by Coda Energy to produce battery packs that Coda installed in its own electric sedan. Mullen acquired Coda’s assets in 2014.
Mullen plans to use the specially assembled battery packs – earlier the company said it relies on lithium-sulphur cells – in the Mullen Five crossover, the One EV Cargo van and the DragonFly EV sports car.
Whether this will happen, is an open question. Mullen Automotive has often caused a stir with numerous announcements, but had most recently been accused by short-seller Hindenburg Research of misleading its investors. This concerned both the batteries and the van, which, contrary to what was stated, was not an in-house development but a Chinese import with the Mullen logo. Mullen is said to be still far away from volume production.
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