BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE:BWA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Frederic Lissalde: So very, I think with the fact that we’ve secured a corridor of supply that is pretty significant and can meet our expectations going forward and our fast growth, 2 points. One, this supply agreement is not exclusive meaning we can work with other silicon carbide supplier should we want, but also if our OEM want us to work with other silicon carbide suppliers, the door is absolutely open, too. So I think we secured a significant capacity corridor, but we also have the ability to be flexible to decide who we work with down the road.

Operator: And our next question will come from Adam Jonas with Morgan Stanley.

Adam Jonas: Fred, I hope you’re feeling better. Buddy, I hope you feel better. I noticed on Slide 8, the cooling plates is kind of so beautifully nesting that 4680 cylindrical cell. I’m curious what you’re thinking about pouch and prismatic versus cylindrical because it seems like given some reports around GM, maybe not doing their fourth plan or possibly changing form factor and Tesla ramping up 4680 and getting others to make it that, that might be — become more of an industry standard, even though there’s still a lot of form factors? I was curious whether you’re witnessing a bit of a gravitational shift or momentum, not just from Tesla to 4680, but others as well. Is that possibly what’s going on? Because I thought that the argument was pouch and prismatic was more energy dense but are some of your products like your cooling plate able to get around that with the cylinders and get the better energy density with the cylinder and versus pouch?

Frederic Lissalde: Yes. So first, what I would say that, first, in the commercial vehicle side, where we are really active from a battery pack manufacturer standpoint, we see cylindrical as the mainstream. In pass car, where we won that business with a major German OEM, we have different technologies that will be in the marketplace. What we’ve created here is focused on cylindrical. I’ve got to comment on the applicability to other technologies. But to answer your question simply on CV, which is cylindrical cooling mainstream and on the different views. Again, different technologies will be hitting the market, and they all have their pros and cons.

Adam Jonas: Okay. Fred, appreciate that. And just…

Frederic Lissalde: The only thing that I would add, I mean, those battery cooling plates for those types of battery architecture, are generating a pretty significant market opportunity, and we estimate that market opportunity to be around $3.5 billion in 2028 already. So it’s not as significant.

Adam Jonas: Got it, Fred. Just a follow-up. The world really changed, continues to change in terms of cost of capital, interest rates consumer slowing Tesla’s dramatic price cuts, et cetera. And your electrification portfolio gives you a really long-dated view into the forward. Are you seeing any hesitation or maybe pushing out of the commitment from OEMs on EV investment at the margin. I know they’re still committed, but I didn’t know if there was a rate of change that might have — you might have picked up on in your forward over the last quarter or so.

Frederic Lissalde: No. I would say to the contrary, I see accelerate program, a tremendous focus on management, both sides, OE and Tier 1 to launch. And also, as I mentioned in prior calls, when we book a program a few months after, we’re talking about capacity increase. What we see, though, is that also from the customer side, what we see is that they want partner with someone who can be impactful on the east side but also on the foundational side so that we pivot together.

Operator: Our next question comes from Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer.