That follows a recent announcement that Daimler AG will take
a 33 per cent stake in battery cell manufacturer Automotive Cells Company
(ACC), founded in 2020 by Stellantis and TotalEnergies in 2020.
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 plans to go electric in Europe received a
boost on Monday as the company said it would invest up to £230 million (€272
million) to retool an engine factory in northern England to produce electric
car power units instead of combustion-engine transmissions.
The number two US carmaker has said its car lineup in Europe
will be all-electric by 2030.
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.
That has attracted the attention of Taiwan's Foxconn, which
has ambitious plans to diversify away from its role of building consumer
electronics for Apple Inc 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.
It first mentioned its EV ambitions less than two years ago
and has moved relatively quickly, this year announcing deals to build cars with
US startup Fisker Inc and Thailand's energy group PTT Pcl.
The need for speed was also a reason Volkswagen AG had Tesla
CEO Elon Musk address top executives at the German carmaker over the weekend.
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.
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