Rivian and Samsung SDI’s talks over joint venture dropped

US electric vehicle firm Rivian and South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI’s talks over forming a potential joint venture have effectively ended, TheElec has learned.

The pair were no longer in negotiations over the forming of a battery making joint venture, sources said.

Rivian, founded in 2009, listed on Nasdaq last year on November 10, once reach a market capitalization of US$144 billion.

But its share price has dropped around 40% since its debut due to the company’s production volume of electric trucks being less than expected.

The delays in electric truck production had caused trouble between Rivian and Samsung SDI’s talks, sources said.

Rivian had requested a transfer of the battery making technology and also rights to inspect the interior of factories, they said, which was unacceptable to Samsung SDI.

The US firm also didn’t guarantee to buy certain amounts of the battery produced, they said.

Executives of Rivian had previously met with various South Korean battery equipment makers to discuss building its own battery factory. Rivian is aiming to build a battery production capacity of 100GWh by 2025.

Samsung SDI had reported this to the leadership of Samsung Group, which expressed its opinion that Rivian’s terms were unacceptable, the sources said.

This is why Samsung SDI instead announced a partnership with Stellantis, they added.

The South Korean battery maker will continue to supply cylinder batteries to Rivian, however, despite the pair’s talk over the joint venture ending, they also said.

Samsung SDI recorded its first revenue from Rivian during the third quarter last year.

A spokesperson for Samsung SDI said there had been no specific discussions with Rivian related to a battery joint venture.