News today that Magna is in talks to buy Italian contract auto manufacturer and design house Pininfarina SpA.
One angle that wasn't mentioned in the Globe and Mail article, was that Pininfarina is the same company that has been working together with the Bolloré Group to produce the Bluecar. The Bluecar is an electric car that uses new battery technology produced at Bolloré's plant in Boucherville, near Montreal, as well as at another location in France.
Bollore's battery is called the Lithium Metal Polymer (LMP), which is notable for faster recharge times and larger storage capacity by weight than traditional batteries.
This would potentially add the dimension of a completely Canadian built EV to the Magna - Pininfarina talks..
Showing posts with label Magna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magna. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Roughing in the Scenery in the EV Battery Landscape
Another piece of the puzzle is falling into place in the EV battery landscape.
This week, Canada's Magna announced they are in the process of scouting sites for two new lithium ion battery factories, one to be located in North America, the other in Europe. The amount of investment is between $400 million and $600-million and production of batteries could begin in 2013, Siegfried Wolf, Magna’s co-chief executive officer, said Tuesday.
This follows last October's news that Bollore Group, of France, is building a $120 million EV battery factory in Boucherville near Montreal. and is planning on further expansion in France in the near future. Bollore will be producing proprietary lithium-metal-polymer batteries.
A gaping hole in the EV battery/storage cell landscape continues to be the spot reserved for, but as yet unoccupied by, the Eestor storage unit, whose status for the time being is trending to vaporware. An April 22 entry on the GM-Volt blog or whatever it is reveals nothing new from the Eestor side of things although did include this interesting but not promising tidbit: High level GM sources have just recently told GM-Volt they tried in earnest to do some fact finding discussion with EEStor but “never got anything substantive from them.”
This week, Canada's Magna announced they are in the process of scouting sites for two new lithium ion battery factories, one to be located in North America, the other in Europe. The amount of investment is between $400 million and $600-million and production of batteries could begin in 2013, Siegfried Wolf, Magna’s co-chief executive officer, said Tuesday.
This follows last October's news that Bollore Group, of France, is building a $120 million EV battery factory in Boucherville near Montreal. and is planning on further expansion in France in the near future. Bollore will be producing proprietary lithium-metal-polymer batteries.
A gaping hole in the EV battery/storage cell landscape continues to be the spot reserved for, but as yet unoccupied by, the Eestor storage unit, whose status for the time being is trending to vaporware. An April 22 entry on the GM-Volt blog or whatever it is reveals nothing new from the Eestor side of things although did include this interesting but not promising tidbit: High level GM sources have just recently told GM-Volt they tried in earnest to do some fact finding discussion with EEStor but “never got anything substantive from them.”
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