Good News For Korea: GM Will Build More Volts

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Did you know that the Volt’s most important and priciest ingredient comes from Korea? The Volt battery is made by LG Chem, the battery arm of the Korean company formerly known as Lucky Goldstar. Noises coming from Korea indicate that GM might be building more Volts than thought. How do the Koreans know that? GM ordered more batteries.

“GM is likely to order far more batteries than we have previously planned for next year,” Ham Jae-gyung, senior vice president of LG’s car battery division, said at a briefing, without disclosing the size of the possible order, reports Reuters.

Originally, GM planned to build 10,000 Volts in 2011 and about 30,000 in 2012. In July, they up-revised those plans to 45,000 units in 2012. Now it could be even more. Why? Because of a single customer, GE.

GE announced they would buy 25,000 electric cars, including 12,000 from GM over the next five years.

LG Chem has a 6 year exclusive with GM. In reaction to the sudden demand, LG Chem plans to boost its annual production capacity at its Korean car battery plant. LG Chem’s U.S. battery plant will start production in 2012. It’s capacity will also be expanded.

Despite the good news, LG’s “much-touted car battery business has not been able to generate meaningful revenue for the South Korean manufacturer of chemicals and rechargeable batteries for mobile devices, as the market has not taken off,” says Reuters. It’s an investment in the supposedly electrified future.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 8 comments
  • Marcelo de Vasconcellos Marcelo de Vasconcellos on Nov 14, 2010

    seems that in the electrified future everybody loses money..

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    • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Nov 14, 2010

      Seems like the electrified future, then, is not so different from the recent non-electrified past.

  • Dwford Dwford on Nov 14, 2010

    It amuses me that the same government that can't get an open Korean market for US made cars is buying batteries for its flagship electric vehicle from those same Koreans. One thing can be said for the Koreans, they support their own. Korean cars are made with mostly Korean parts (even the US assembled ones), Korean tires, etc.., while we sell our manufacturers down the river for a couple of bucks. It's no wonder we are in such a mess.

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    • Golden2husky Golden2husky on Nov 14, 2010
      while we sell our manufacturers down the river for a couple of bucks. It’s no wonder we are in such a mess. American industry started this crap in the late 60s/early 70s with consumer electronics and they've never looked back. We have become addicted to the Chinese-made $40 DVD player, but has anybody really calculated the true cost when all factors are involved? Funny when you go to an antique store, the vast majority of the stuff, even trinkets bear Made In USA labels. Where have all those people gone? Not everybody can be retrained...nor should they have to. Our country can't provide jobs for all skill levels? GM should have built those batteries here.
  • Walter A. Foreman Walter A. Foreman on Nov 14, 2010

    I can see the LG Chem factory that makes the Volt batteries from my apartment in South Korea. I drive by it every day on my way to work. In the past 12 months is has grown in size immensely and it continues to grow. It's surrounded by construction cranes that operate, literally, 24/7. I find the "unprofitable" quote ironic as LG Chem stocks have shot up from about $70 16 months ago to $400 today!! Good thing I bought lots of them as soon as I found out that they had won the contract for the Volt batteries. I think LG Chem also has a battery contract with Volvo.

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