Volkswagen plans to begin mass production at its new battery cell factory in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, starting in mid-September. According to Frank Blome, head of VW’s battery division PowerCo, the group intends to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the site.
Blome further stated that by the end of the year, the facility aims to manufacture at least one million battery cells, which would be enough to power 10,000 electric vehicles. Initially, these energy storage units from Salzgitter will be installed in newly developed small electric car models that VW produces in Spain. The senior battery manager at VW provided assurance that the company “must and will deliver.”
This battery cell plant in Salzgitter, costing roughly two billion euros, is Volkswagen’s first independent facility. With this venture, Europe’s largest automaker seeks to reduce its reliance on suppliers from Asia. Volkswagen is expanding its presence further, with additional battery factories currently under construction in Spain and Canada.
However, Blome stressed that simply catching up to Chinese battery manufacturers like CATL and BYD is not enough. Looking toward the long term, he emphasized that VW must become a technological leader. “Everything else is not an option,” he concluded, stating that the company must develop products that surpass anything currently available on the market.
