Volkswagen is continuing its e-mobility strategy: to kick off its battery offensive, the Group broke the ground for its first cell factory in Salzgitter on July 7, in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Production will start in 2025. With immediate effect, responsibility for global battery business is to be held by the newly created company “PowerCo”. In addition to cell production, the new company will be responsible for activities along the entire battery value chain. Up to 2030, PowerCo is to invest more than €20 billion (around $30 billion) together with partners in the development of the business area, to generate annual sales in excess of €20 billion and to employ up to 20,000 people in Europe alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said with regard to the groundbreaking ceremony:
“Today is a good day for the automotive industry in Germany and Europe. Volkswagen is showing how the future of sustainable, climate-compatible mobility could look. Together, we are laying the foundation for shaping this future to a significant extent in Salzgitter.“
(Image: Computer generated representation)
Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, said: “Today we are not only laying a foundation stone but also marking a strategic milestone. The battery cell business is one of the cornerstones of our NEW AUTO strategy which will make Volkswagen a leading provider of the sustainable, software-driven mobility of tomorrow. Establishing our own cell factory is a megaproject in technical and economic terms. It shows that we are bringing the leading-edge technology of the future to Germany!”
The Minister-President of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, said:
“At Salzgitter, we can see the transformation of the automotive industry more clearly than at any other location in Germany. Battery cells are soon to be produced where conventional engines are still rolling off the production line. Jobs for the future are being created here. The heart of the automotive industry will be electric in the future. And it will be beating in Lower Saxony.”