Volkswagen part: No more battery factory!

The Volkswagen-The group is currently not planning a second battery factory at its home in Lower Saxony. This is due to the high price of energy in Germany, which is necessary for the production of energy for battery cells. Stephan Weil, Prime Minister of Lower Saxony and member of the VW Management Board, advocated the construction of a second gigafactory in Emden. However, the group has decided that such an investment would not be profitable at this time. For this reason, in April, Weil launched the “electricity transition price” program with a government subsidy of 7 cents per kilowatt hour to improve Germany’s competitiveness compared to Asia and the United States. Battery cells are an important technology of the future and it remains to be seen if the plan will be successful.

The current price cap for medium and large companies in Germany is 13 cents per kilowatt hour. According to the reports, the high energy price was also discussed at a meeting between German auto chiefs and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Tuesday, which was also attended by VW boss Oliver Blume. Blume supports Weil’s proposal and emphasizes that the automotive industry needs planning security for future investments. Shortly before the meeting, the federal government and the state of Schleswig-Holstein had pledged to support the construction of a battery factory by Northvolt in Heide. The industry hopes that this project will send a signal to other forward-looking projects. VW is currently building its first cell plant in Salzgitter, and another site is being built in Sagunto, Spain.

Discussions are also being held about a factory in Eastern Europe. VW confirms that the goal of building cell factories with a capacity of about 240 gigawatt hours in Europe by 2030 still exists. However, the company must have “competitive cell costs in international comparison”. However, Volkswagen’s electronic attack has been overshadowed by price competition in the global car market and the profitability of the flagship VW brand. So the group is planning a multi-billion dollar savings and conversion program.