Daimler subsidiary Li-Tec will stop producing Li-ion battery cells in December, closing the only German factory currently producing cells for EVs.

“Our cells are very good, but at current production figures far too expensive,” Daimler Manager Harald Kröger told Der Spiegel. “We have realized that a car manufacturer does not have to produce the cells themselves.”

Nissan seems to have recently reached a similar conclusion, saying that Korean battery-maker LG Chem could offer a better price-performance ratio than Nissan’s homemade cells.

This doesn’t mean Daimler is getting out of the battery business. Most of Li-Tec’s 280 employees will be transferred to another subsidiary, Deutsche Accumotive, which manufactures battery packs. Accumotive is expanding production capacity to build packs for the smart ED and other Daimler plug-ins. The cells will be coming from – you guessed it – LG Chem.

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Source: Green Car Congress, Der Spiegel