Volkswagen breaks ground on battery cell facility
By Bradley Osborne - 23rd July 2022
Germany – Automotive corporation Volkswagen AG of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony announced it has broken ground on a new facility for the production of cells for electric vehicle batteries at Salzgitter, Lower Saxony which will be managed by a new subsidiary company named PowerCo.
Production at the site is slated to begin in 2025, with annual capacity expected to reach a peak of 40 GWh, enough to supply approximately 500,000 electric vehicles. By 2030, the Volkswagen Group aims to open six cell factories with a total output of 240 GWh. The Salzgitter factory will be the first, with a second to follow in Valencia, Spain and three more elsewhere in Europe. The group is also looking at sites in North America. The plant at Salzgitter will serve as the blueprint for future cell factories, with power drawn entirely from renewables and a recycling rate of more than 90% as part of what it calls a “closed-loop” cycle of raw materials.
