Volkswagen group declares the beginning of its first factory for manufacturing EV batteries.
With an investment of approximately €20 billion, the new battery production venture by the name PowerCo, will set a new benchmark for the German MNC.
This first of the six plants planned in Europe is in Salzgitter, Germany as announced in a phenomenal ceremony at the ‘Power Day’ event of Volkswagen last March.
As per Volkswagen, their new venture PowerCo has the business potential of producing up to €20 billion in annual revenue.
The company expects up to 20,000 people to be eventually employed in their battery plants across Europe. The inceptive factory in Salzgitter will begin its cell production in 2025 and may employ up to 5000 people. This plant will subsequently achieve a 40GWh annual production capacity, to support half a million electric vehicles annually.
After Salzgitter, VW plans another plant in Valencia, Spain, and sites are being evaluated for the remaining plants, including the location possibilities in North America. All factories will total up to produce 240GWh each year, with 40GWh from each one respectively. Expected to run on 100% renewable electricity, all the plants will be designed with future closed-loop recycling systems on-site to enable up to 90% utilization of raw materials from the battery packs till the end-of-life span.
