Fisker mulls battery cell manufacturing in Europe, U.S. with major supplier

By Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) - Fisker Inc CEO said on Thursday that the electric vehicle startup is considering setting up a battery cell manufacturing facility with an unidentified major supplier in Europe or the United States, to secure stable supplies of the key component.

Fisker, which was once a rival to Tesla Motors Inc in the nascent market for electric luxury cars, struggled with the recall of batteries made by its previous supplier, A123, which later filed for bankruptcy.

"We did not want to take any risk on batteries," Henrik Fisker, chairman and CEO of Fisker, told Reuters. He said the company will use prismatic cells from one of the world's four largest suppliers.

China's CATL supplies prismatic cells to Tesla. Samsung SDI makes prismatic cells for BMW cars.

Fisker, which is yet to produce saleable vehicles, has been partnering with companies for manufacturing its electric cars to speed up vehicle development and production.