Luxury carmaker Audi says its first all-electric car will drive nearly 500km on a single charge, using an advanced battery developed by South Korea’s LG.
Battery suppliers LG, Samsung Electronics’ SDI unit and Panasonic are emerging as the early winners amid a shift by car companies away from in-house efforts, traditional battery makers and start-up ventures.
Electric cars remain a niche market amid a lack of charging and other infrastructure, high development costs and the USA’s low petrol prices. But coming exhaust emissions regulations have encouraged Audi and others to bring all-electric vehicles to market. And they are largely picking the same three Asian companies to supply batteries.
