South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers’ geoeconomic strategy in the European single market

With intensifying US-China rivalry over clean energy industries and critical raw materials as well as the energy shock driven by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, how to compete with Chinese dominance in electric vehicle (EV) and EV-battery manufacturing is one of the major struggles for the European carmakers. Meanwhile, South Korean EV-battery companies managed to rise as a competitor to China in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Interplaying with EU policies including EU single market rules and climate and energy policies, they successfully shaped the direction and launched the cooperation with the CEE region as its production base to access to the European EV-battery market. Existing literature on South Korea’s green industrial policy often pays attention to the close state-business relations from the East Asian developmental state’s tradition to explain Korea’s successful green industrial strategy. However, how the Korean EV-battery firms utilised their structural power in domestic green policymaking while juggling with its limited resources in Europe and the European regulatory rules have not been thoroughly studied yet. Given this background, the aim of the suggested research is to examine the geo-economic strategising process of South Korea’s EV-battery manufacturers in CEE region, namely Samsung SDI, SK On and LG Solutions. How did the three EV-battery manufacturers from South Korea strategise themselves for their industrial competitiveness in the European single market? To answer this question, I conduct a qualitative case study and use explaining-outcome process-tracing methodology. The empirical data will be collected from semi-structured expert interviews, related policy documents and publications from EV-battery industry associations in South Korea and the EU. With this study, the paper expects to demonstrate the increased role of external business actors in the European green industrial market. It also expects to share lessons and pitfalls of the specific South Korean case when shaping coherent and competitive strategies in the European green industrial market amid the new geopolitics of energy.