Forsee Power signs supply deal with CALB
French battery manufacturer Forsee Power has signed a cooperation agreement with Chinese cell producer CALB. Under the agreement, Forsee Power will integrate CALB’s NMC cells with “very high energy density” into its battery systems for electric commercial vehicles.
Concrete purchase quantities or financial volumes of the agreement have not yet been disclosed. The cooperation also works well with CALB’s plan to build its first European factory in Portugal. However, according to the announcement, that represents “a future European procurement opportunity for Forsee Power” – so until then, CALB cells from Chinese production will likely be used.
CALB currently has seven production sites in Changzhou, Luoyang, Xiamen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Hefei and Heilongjiang, with a planned capacity of 200 GWh for 2022. In 2021, CALB announced plans to expand its production capacity to an initial 300 GWh by 2025, later increasing that target to 500 GWh by 2025 and 1,000 GWh by 2030.
Forsee Power does not manufacture battery cells itself, but assembles purchased cells into battery systems – primarily for use in electric buses and other electric commercial vehicles, but also for maritime applications. One of the cell suppliers is LG Energy Solution, and this agreement was only extended in early 2022.
In the announcement, Forsee emphasized that CALB was the first supplier to undergo the third-party audit. In December 2022, Bureau Veritas conducted an on-site ESG management audit of CALB, “confirming high level of social, environmental and governance practices. Particular attention was placed on safety, material traceability as well as products carbon footprint calculation,” according to the French company.
This third-party verification is part of Forsee’s new sourcing criteria. Starting this year, in addition to signing the Forsee Power Supplier Code of Conduct, suppliers must complete a comprehensive ESG questionnaire to provide information on their environmental, social and governance management and performance – and just be audited during the audit.
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