Leading car supplier Bosch decides against battery cell production
Europe鈥檚 largest car supplier Bosch has decided not to enter the production of battery cells for e-cars, ending months of speculation. 鈥淚s Bosch going to start manufacturing its own battery cells? The answer is 鈥榥o.鈥� Bosch will continue to buy in the cells needed to make batteries,鈥� said Bosch Management Board member Rolf Bulander in a statement. 鈥淲e are convinced that battery cells will be a standardised commodity in the long run. We have to understand cells technically, we don鈥檛 have to make them ourselves.鈥� Bulander said his company will be an electromobility leader even without cell manufacturing operations of its own. 鈥淐ell production is not decisive for our success.鈥�
Bosch鈥檚 decision is a setback for the European Union and the German government, as both had pushed for a European consortium to break the dominance of Asian suppliers. Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst told the S眉ddeutsche Zeitung that the decision was also a 鈥渕ajor blow鈥� for the German car industry. 鈥淭he dependence on Asians can no longer be challenged. [This decision] weakens the negotiating position of German carmakers.鈥�
Read the statement in English .
Read a Reuters story on the decision in English .