The largest auto parts supplier in the world, Bosch, has decided that it won’t be manufacturing its own electric vehicle batteries, despite the booming of the sector, as the billions of euros of investment that would be required would pose too much of a risk to the company.
Bosch had said it would only consider making battery cells if there was a chance it could capture a fifth of that market by 2030, a move it said would require about €20 billion ($24 billion) of investment to create 200 gigawatt hours of capacity. In the overall interest of the company, such an investment is not justifiable.
Bosch would instead work with battery cell suppliers to design cells for electrical vehicles, and then buy these cells from them.
Accompanying the announcement from Bosch was the revelation that the company would be completing ceasing further research into battery cell tech (a pit which the firm has already dropped €500 million into) and that it would be dissolving its related joint-venture, dubbed Lithium Energy and Power GmbH & Co KG (LEAP).
And, the company will also be selling the US-based lithium-ion battery tech firm Seeo, which was only acquired in 2015. That firm was, of course, acquired for the specific purpose of giving Bosch a foothold in the electric vehicle battery sector. I suppose that things didn’t work out in that regard?
In other words, the company seems to now be running for the exit.