Volkswagen and Bosch have agreed to set up a joint venture by the end of this year to complete a battery cell factory. The establishment of this joint venture aims to help Europe become self-sufficient in battery production.
Quoted from Reuters, Wednesday (1/19/2022), the venture will provide battery production systems and assist battery cell manufacturers in upgrading and maintaining production sites. They will serve their own factory and other factories across Europe.
“We are working to build a complete and localized European supply chain for ‘made in Europe' electronic mobility,” he said.
The company did not say how much it would invest in the venture. So far, battery cell factories capable of producing capacities of just under 900 gigawatt hours (GWh) have been announced in Europe, which will account for about 16 percent of global production by 2029.
See also: Honda and LG Energy Solution negotiating the construction of a battery plant in the USA
However, the European Battery Alliance (EBA) says a third of global batteries should be produced in Europe by 2030 to reduce dependence on suppliers that dominate the market. Electric car batteries mostly come from South Korea and China.
The largest battery plant planned in Europe is Tesla, which is located in Berlin. The plant, which is located next to its electric vehicle plant, will produce more than 100 GWh of capacity at its peak.
See also: Vinfast plans to open an electric vehicle battery factory in America
Volkswagen, which intends to beat Tesla as the top electric vehicle (EV) seller, has announced plans to build six so-called gigafactories in Europe by the end of the decade with a combined capacity of 240 GWh.
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, who at the end of last year clashed with the company's workers board over its electrification strategy, said the battery division is expected to generate 20 billion euros ($22.7 billion) in sales by the end of the decade.
