Daimler takes full control of two lithium ion battery cell joint ventures

German carmaker Daimler today said that it will acquire Evonik Industries' 50.1-per cent stake in its lithium ion battery cell joint venture Li-Tec Battery GmbH.

Daimler, which also holds a 4-per cent stake in US electric-car producer Tesla Motors through Mercedes-Benz, will also buy Evonik's 10-per cent stake in its second battery joint venture Deutsche Accumotive GmbH & Co.

The twin deals will give Daimler full control of both Li-Tec and Deutsche Accumotive.

Both companies did not disclose financial details of the deals.

Daimler and Evonik have together developed the industrial series production of lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles in Kamenz, near the eastern German city of Dresden.

Evonik said that in order to focus on its core specialty chemicals business, it had been seeking new options for its lithium-ion business.

"The agreement creates important opportunities for Germany as an industrial location in an international environment of intense competition for realising electric mobility as the drive system of the future. In this way, Evonik and Daimler have found a good solution," said, Thomas Hermann, head of corporate development at Evonik.

"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.

With around 380 employees, Li-Tec develops, produces and distributes large lithium-ion battery cells. They are used in the current model of the smart fortwo electric drive. The electric version of the urban two-seater micro car was the market leader amongst all newly registered electric cars in Germany in 2013 with a market share of about 30 per cent.

Deutsche Accumotive was established in April 2009 as a joint venture to secure with an aim to make Daimler a pioneer in electric mobility.

The Stuttgart in Kirchheim-based company is one of the few automobile manufacturers to develop batteries for automotive applications and also to produce them in Germany from 2012.

Deutsche ACCUmotive has approximately 230 employees and has two production plants in Kamenz.