South Korea's leading battery maker, LG Energy Solution (LGES), has signed a $1.4bn multi-year electric vehicle (EV) battery supply deal with German carmaker Mercedes-Benz.
Under the deal, LGES will supply EV batteries to Mercedes from March 2028 through the end of June 2035 across Europe and North America, according to a regulatory filing dated 8 December. Further details were undisclosed.
LGES and Mercedes had previously concluded two supply agreements in September for 107GWh of EV batteries, strengthening Mercedes' role as a key driver of LGES' future revenue stream.
But LGES has increasingly shifted its focus this year toward the energy storage systems (ESS) sector. Ther company's Polish plant — the largest in the region with 86GWh/yr of capacity — has begun converting part of its EV production lines to meet rising ESS demand, said the firm. In June, LGES also started producing lithium-iron-phosphate batteries for ESS in the US, becoming the first among major South Korean battery makers, including Samsung SDI and SK On, to do so.
LGES' average international operating rates across its battery manufacturing facilities fell further to 50.7pc in July-September, down from 51.3pc in the first half of the year and 59.8pc during the same period a year earlier.
