International. The Volswagen Group announced that it will open a unified cell factory in Salzgitter, Germany. With this you will reduce battery costs by up to 50%.
"Not only are we laying a foundation stone, but we are also marking a strategic milestone," Volswagen CEO Herbert Diess said of the new plant that will start production from 2025 and focus on the volume segment.
"The battery cell business is one of the cornerstones of our New Auto strategy, which will make Volkswagen a leading provider of the software-driven sustainable mobility of tomorrow," said Diess.
The nascent company PowerCo will assume this business from an investment of more than 20,000 million dollars until 2030 together with partners for the development of the same. The group expects to generate annual sales of more than US$20,000 and employ up to 20,000 people in Europe alone.
"Establishing our own cell factory is a megaproject in technical and economic terms," Diess said.
Thomas Scmall, Head of Technology and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of PowerCo, who is also a member of Volkswagen's Board of Directors, said: "By building our first in-house cell factory, we are constantly implementing our technology roadmap.
The plant will serve as a standard model for the establishment of six other battery factories.
