Daimler has agreed to acquire Evonik’s shares of Li-Tec Battery GmbH and Deutsche ACCUmotive GmbH, making Daimler the sole owner of the two companies. In recent years, Daimler and Evonik have worked together to develop industrial series production of lithium-ion battery cells for EVs.

The two companies produce the batteries used in the current model of the smart fortwo electric drive (the previous generation used batteries from Tesla), which is selling well in Germany, with a market share of about 30 percent of EVs sold.

“Along the value chain for drive-system batteries with lithium-ion technology, we now have the two most important components: the production of battery cells and the related development and production of highly complex drive-system batteries as a combination of cells and battery electronics,” said Harald Kröger, Head of Development at Mercedes-Benz Cars Electrics/Electronics.

Li-Tec Battery, based in Kamenz, near Dresden, develops, produces and distributes large lithium-ion battery cells. Li-Tec’s CERIO cells feature Evonik’s ceramic SEPARION separator and LITARION electrodes. The company is also targeting stationary and grid applications.

Deutsche ACCUmotive, established in 2009 as a joint venture, made Daimler one of the few automobile manufacturers to develop batteries and to produce them in Germany, starting in 2012. The company has two production plants in Kamenz and a headquarters and R&D department in Kirchheim, near Stuttgart.

Source: Daimler, Green Car Congress