LG Chem, Korea’s No.1 chemicals company, will jointly develop a lithium-ion battery system with Mitsubishi Motors Corp, the Japan’s Nikkei business dailyreported on Sunday.
The two firms hope to use the system for some small electric cars that will be launched by fiscal 2012 and new plug-in hybrids introduced in 2013, the paper said.
LG Chem declined to comment on the report. “Such an agreement is usually announced by automobile companies,” its public relations official said.
The development may lead to the first case of a Japanese automaker incorporating lithium-ion batteries made overseas.
LG Chem is supplying batteries for hybrid cars to Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. and also signed electric car battery contracts with General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Volvo Car Corp., Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. and Eaton Corp.
The company expects it may increase operating profit by about 19 percent this year, helped by strong demand for petrochemical products and batteries for mobile phones.
Operating profit may be about 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion) in 2010, compared with 2.1 trillion won last year, the company said in July.
Net income jumped 36 percent from a year earlier to a record 645.7 billion won in the three months ended June 30, driven by Chinese consumption of materials used to make plastics.
Sales of smart phones will boost demand for LG Chem’s batteries in the second half of this year, the company said.
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기