VW will produce batteries throughout Europe. At least 6 factories planned
Volkswagen is looking to ramp up production of electric vehicle batteries over the next few years, with the German auto giant announcing on Monday that it plans to establish several "gigafactories" in Europe by the end of the decade.
“Together with the partners, we want to have a total of six cell factories active in Europe by 2030,” said Thomas Schmall, CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, in a statement. This move, he added, would guarantee "security of supply".
According to VW, it is expected that, once fully operational, factories will be able to produce batteries for electric cars and other uses with a combined energy value of 240 gigawatt hours per year.
The first two will be located at a Northvolt plant in Skellefteå, Sweden, and at the VW Salzgitter site in Germany. In its announcement on Monday, Northvolt said it has received a $ 14 billion battery cell order from Volkswagen, which will increase its ownership stake in the Swedish battery maker.
Volkswagen will also focus on developing a "new standardized storage cell" which is expected to be launched in 2023 and used in 80% of the group's electric vehicles in 2030.
“On average, we will reduce the cost of battery systems to significantly less than € 100 per kilowatt hour,” said Schmall. "This will finally make electric mobility accessible and the dominant driving technology." this will reduce the cost of the medium battery pack to 5 6 thousand euros, which however remains too much compared to the costs that Tesla can pay in its factories.
On the charging front, VW said it plans to operate around 18,000 "public fast charging points" in Europe by 2025. This will be achieved through its joint venture, known as "IONITY", with other major car manufacturers, as well as what he described as "a series of strategic partnerships".
The latter will see VW – which will invest € 400 million in its European initiative by 2025 – collaborate with Enel in Italy, Iberdrola in Spain and BP in Great Britain.
In China, another joint venture, CAMS, will aim for 17,000 fast charging points by the middle of this decade. In North America, plans are in place for around 3,500 fast-charging points by the end of 2021.
On Sunday, VW said it will freeze its workforce size at January 2021 levels and begin offering partial retirement for workers born in 1964 and an early retirement initiative for employees born between 1956 and 1960.
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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/vw-produrra-batterie-in-tutta-europa-previste-almeno-6-fabbriche/ on Wed, 17 Mar 2021 08:00:44 +0000.