Foxconn Electronics is developing LFP (lithium iron phosphate) and solid-state batteries for use in electric vehicles (EVs), according to industry sources.

For EVs, Foxconn and Hua-chuang Automotive Information Technical Center under Yulon Motor have established Foxtron Vehicle Technologies, a joint venture to operate MIH which is an open hardware/software-integrated platform for developing EVs.

Battery packs take up about 30% of the total cost for an EV and up 50% of the total weight of an EV. If the weight of battery packs is reduced by 50%, EVs' endurance running distance can be increased by 25%, implying the importance of decreasing weight and production costs for EV-use batteries.

According to Foxconn chairman Young-way Liu, Foxconn plans to unveil sample EV-use sold-state batteries in 2021 and put such batteries into commercial use in 2024.

Many first-tier automakers have been developing EV-use solid-state batteries on their own or via cooperation with battery makers, but none of such batteries have so far been used in EVs, the sources noted. SolidEnergy Systems, a startup based in China and the US, has signed with General Motors for jointly developing EV-use solid-state batteries and will offer prototype models the earliest in 2023, the sources indicated.

EV-use battery packs
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