The Volkswagen Group has just announced that it has plans to open six battery factories for electric vehicles in Europe by 2030 and that one of them could be in Portugal . Spain and France are also in the running to secure one of these battery production units.
The announcement was made during the first Power Day held by the Volkswagen Group and is part of a bet by the German group to gain an advantage in the electric car industry through battery technology.
In this sense, the German group has also secured partnerships with companies in the energy sector such as Iberdrola, in Spain, Enel, in Italy and BP, in the United Kingdom.
“Electric mobility won the race. It is the only solution to quickly reduce emissions. It is the cornerstone of Volkswagen's future strategy and our aim is to secure pole position on the global scale of batteries”, said Herbert Diess, “boss” of the Volkswagen Group.
New generation of batteries arrives in 2023
The Volkswagen Group announced that from 2023 it will introduce a new generation of batteries in its cars with a distinct structure, a unified cell, with this type of technology reaching 80% of the group's electric models by 2030.
Thomas Schmall, responsible for the Volkswagen Group Technology division.We aim to reduce battery cost and complexity while increasing battery life and performance. This will finally make electric mobility affordable and the dominant power technology.
In addition to allowing faster charge times, more power and better consumption, this type of battery also offers better conditions for the transition — inevitable — to solid-state batteries, which will represent the next big leap in battery technology.
Schmall further revealed that by optimizing this type of battery cell, introducing innovative production methods and promoting material recycling it is possible to reduce the cost of the battery in base-level models by 50% and in higher volume models by 30%. “We are going to reduce the cost of batteries to values significantly below €100 per kilowatt hour.
Six planned battery factories
Volkswagen is focused on solid-state battery technology and has just announced the construction of six gigafactories in Europe by 2030. Each factory will have an annual production capacity of 40 GWh, which will eventually result in an annual European production of 240 GWh .The first factories will be located in Skellefteå, Sweden, and Salzgitter, Germany. The latter, located not far from Volkswagen's host city of Wolfsburg, is under construction. The first, in northern Europe, already exists and will be updated to increase its capacity. It should be ready in 2023.
Battery factory on the way to Portugal?
During Monday's event, Schmall revealed that the Volkswagen group intends to have a third factory in western Europe, adding that it will be located in Portugal, Spain or France.
It should be remembered that the Spanish Government recently announced a public-private partnership for the installation of a battery factory in the neighboring country, which has SEAT, Volkswagen and Iberdrola as members of the consortium.
Herbert Diess, president of the Volkswagen Group, attended a ceremony in Catalonia, alongside the king of Spain, Felipe VI, and the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. The three presided over the announcement of this partnership, which will involve the Government of Madrid and Iberdrola, as well as other Spanish companies.
However, this is just an intention, as Madrid wants to place this project in the financing of its Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is not yet guaranteed. Thus, the decision of the Volkswagen group on the location of the third unit remains open, as guaranteed today by Thomas Schmall during the “Power Play” event, revealing that “Everything will depend on the conditions we find in each of the options”.
A battery factory in Eastern Europe is also planned for 2027 and two others whose location has yet to be revealed.