Porsche competes with Tesla on electric cars: hundreds of millions invested in a key field

The investment in Group14 Technologies comes after Porsche raised its 2030 electric vehicle sales targets to over 80% of global deliveries.

Porsche, which is planning a rapid increase in electric vehicle sales over the decade, said it had taken over a $ 400 million (380 million) round of financing for Group14 Technologies, a silicon-carbon supplier. for electric car batteries.

Porsche led the C-Series round and was joined by other financial and strategic investors, including OMERS Capital Markets of Canada and BlackRock-backed decarbonisation partners, according to a statement.

Group14 has said it intends to open a second commercial-scale plant in the United States to keep up with customer demand, such as Cellforce Group, a Porsche-backed joint venture.

Group14 provides advanced materials for lithium-silicon batteries, which the startup claims can deliver 50% more performance and longer battery life than regular lithium-ion batteries.

Porsche is investing in the future

“Battery cells are the burning chamber of the future,” Porsche Vice President Lutz Meschke said in a statement. “We are investing in the development of new high-performance cells with Cellforce and in the production of battery modules. As a result, Porsche has decided to work with Group14 Technologies. “

The funding comes just weeks after Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said the luxury brand intends more than 80% of its global sales to be fully electric by 2030.

Porsche demonstrated robust performance earlier this year. In the first three months of 2022, the company increased both its sales revenue and its operating profit compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Sales revenue increased from 7.73 to 8.04 billion euros and operating profit from 1.26 to 1.47 billion euros. This is an increase of 4.1 and 17.4%, respectively. Sales profitability improved from 16.2 to 18.2 percent.

“Despite all the global challenges, we are still on the right track,” said Lutz Meschke, Vice President and Member of the Executive Committee for Finance and IT at Porsche AG. “In the first quarter, Porsche benefited in particular from a strong sales mix, disproportionate growth in other business segments and positive currency effects. Due to many external challenges that we cannot influence, it is difficult to offer a perspective. However, we aim for a return on sales of at least 15% in the financial year 2022. “