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In an era where Electric car news is coming in by the day now and the consumer base of petrol cars are seeing electric cars finally as a viable alternative, the race for the best battery technology is on. Battery technology is of massive importance because the company with the highest range and best efficiency is most likely to win this new charge war and Tesla has been ahead for a long time but other auto makers are now investing heavily and Volkswagen AG is no exception.
“We are optimizing the Volkswagen Group’s strategic position in the key future field of batteries”, said Dr. Stefan Sommer, Volkswagen Group Board Member for Components and Procurement and a member of the Northvolt AB Board of Directors. “In addition to a very secure supply base with external producers, we are also systematically building up further capacities.”
Volkswagen has now joined forces with Swiss company Northvolt to invest €450 million in a new factory to produce the latest in battery technologies for cars. Volkswagen will build the factory in Salzgitter, Germany and it is a very important step as Volkswagen expects annual demand of over 150 gigawatt hours from 2025.
“Battery cell production in Salzgitter is an important step for the transformation to e-mobility”, said Thomas Schmall, CEO of Volkswagen Group Components. “We are pooling expertise at the Salzgitter site with production capabilities and the Center of Excellence for Battery Cells, and are therefore driving battery cell development further forward, developing new standards and transferring them direct to the manufacturing process.”