HANOI: What's up with VinFast these days? Well, it wants to make electric cars and to do that, it's seeking to strike deals with leading battery makers from around the world.
Vingroup's vice chairman Thuy Le said the Vietnames automaker is teaming up with a number of companies in battery research and manufacturers from the US, Israel and Taiwan to ensure that VinFast's EV models will be equipped with cutting-edge batteries.
VinFast is working with Israel's StoreDot, a company known for its extreme fast charging technology that allow battery to charge to 80% of capacity in under 5 minutes. StoreDot's technology has been proven to work well on cellphones, drones and e-scooters. Instead of graphite, StoreDot uses nanoparticles in their batteries, which allows much faster charging speed compared with current technology.
Thuy Le said VinFast would leverage on Storedot tech to leap ahead of other EV makers and become one of the few manufacturers with the most advanced battery technology in the world.
VinFast is keen to use solid-state batteries and is talking to Taiwan's ProLogium, which also has a 100% solid-state battery experimental facility for cars.
VinFast has also singed an MoU with China's Gotion High-Tech to supply lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries that can be produced at a low cost and is suitable for mid-range electric cars.
According to Thuy Le, Vingroup is conducting battery R&D activities on its own as well as part of its ambition to achieve self-sufficiency in EV battery supply and to roll out the highest quality of batteries.
Setting up battery plants in Vietnam, Europe and the United States are also on the drawing board, she added.
