Ford’s plans for the F-150 electric pickup and Volkswagen’s plans for the VW ID.4 are in jeopardy as its battery supplier is facing an import ban on intellectual property issues.
LG versus SK innovation
In 2019, LG Chem, a leading supplier of electric vehicle batteries, filed federal lawsuits against SK Innovation (SKI), another major supplier of electric vehicle batteries, for allegedly stealing trade secrets.
In the lawsuits, LG claims that SK Innovation “accessed trade secrets” by hiring 77 employees from its LG Chem lithium-ion battery division, which they claim “developed the first commercially available lithium-ion battery in the market. world for automobiles ”.
They claim that some of these employees stole some trade secrets before leaving for SK Innovation:
These employees include dozens of engineers involved in research and development, manufacturing and assembly and quality assurance testing for lithium-ion batteries, including the latest and most advanced generation battery technology. The lawsuits claim that a significant number of these workers were involved in stealing LG Chem’s trade secrets to benefit SK Innovation in the development and manufacture of bag-type lithium-ion batteries, of which LG Chem is the world’s leading supplier.
LG Chem claims to have evidence of employees conspiring with SK Innovation.
The company filed similar lawsuits against SKI in Korea, as the two companies are based in South Korea and won in the Supreme Court.
They are calling for a precautionary measure to prevent SKI from importing its battery cells and modules into the United States.
LG won and SKI is not the only one to lose
The International Trade Commission has already ruled on the case and has banned SKI from importing its batteries into the United States.
Yet, Bloomberg reports that the ITC gave Ford and VW, which had SKI batteries for some electric vehicle programs in the United States, a few years before the ban was implemented:
SK Innovation will be able to import components for four years, starting now for domestic battery production for the launch of Ford’s EV F-150 next year, and for Volkswagen’s American MEB line for two years, to give automakers time for the transition to new domestic suppliers, the Order of the International Trade Commission.
Ford warned the commission that changing battery suppliers is not easy, but the automaker looks happy with the four-year delay in the ban:
This ITC decision supports our plans to bring the all-electric Ford F-150 to the market in mid-2022. Delivering this zero-emission and specially developed truck for our customers is an important part of our plan to lead the electric vehicle revolution and is one of the company’s top priorities.
Ford has already confirmed plans to launch a fully electric version of the F-150 pickup on the market in 2022.
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