South Korea’s chemical and battery firm LG Chem was picked as business partner for Faraday Future to supply lithium-ion batteries to the Silicon Valley-based electric vehicle maker.

The U.S. company announced on Monday (local time) that it entered into partnership with LG Chem to develop the technology for electric vehicle batteries with the highest energy density. The technology is expected to be used in Faraday Future’s variable platform architecture (VPA), which is the company’s modular base battery structure that can fit into different sized vehicles. VPA can increase battery capacity if needed.

Faraday Future is headquartered in California and its largest shareholder is Chinese Internet company Letv. Last year, it pledged it will catch up with its rival Tesla Motors Inc. within the next three years.

Early this year, the company unveiled FFZERO1, a single-seat electric car with small spacecraft shape. “LG Chem worked closely with Faraday Future to develop a tailored cell chemistry to optimize the range and safety of our mass production battery hardware,” said Tom Wessner, vice president of global supply chain at Faraday Future. “We look forward to our relationship with LG Chem as we push towards our vision of future mobility,” he added. Lee Ung-beon, head of LG Chem`s battery business division, said that the progress they have made so far shows an important step forward in battery technology and LG Chem looks forward to growing the partnership and co-developing hardware into the future.

Currently, LG Chem supplies batteries for electric vehicles to three automakers in North America - General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler - and 29 global carmakers. The chemical company set a vision to become the world’s first company in the electric vehicle battery field with sales of 7 trillion won ($6.3 billion) by 2020. The company ranks second in market share following Japan-based Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC).

By Jung Wook

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