Battery takes the lead in new energy market

Battery first in the new energy market

Volkswagen is continuing its electric vehicle strategy and today built its first battery factory in Salzgitter. The new production facility will begin operations in 2025 and will play a key role in the company's battery offensive. With immediate effect, the global battery business will be handled by the newly established company "PowerCo". In addition to battery production, the new company will be responsible for activities along the entire battery value chain. Together with its partners, PowerCo will have invested more than €20 billion in the development of its business areas by 2030, generating annual sales of more than €20 billion and employing up to 20,000 people in Europe alone.

German Chancellor Olaf Schulz said of the groundbreaking ceremony: "Today is a good day for the German and European automotive industry. Volkswagen is demonstrating sustainable, climate-compatible The future of mobility. Together in Salzgitter we are laying important foundations for shaping this future."

PowerCo bundles global battery businesses

The Volkswagen Group is consolidating its operations. Global battery business under European company PowerCo. From Salzgitter, the company will manage international plant operations, battery technology development, vertical integration of the value chain and the supply of machinery and equipment for the plant. Going forward, PowerCo is also planning other products, such as large-scale storage systems for the grid. The next battery factory after Salzgitter will be built in Valencia, with three more planned in Europe. In addition to Europe, PowerCo is also exploring the possibility of building gigafactories in North America.

PowerCo will be led by CEO Frank Blome and board members Sebastian Wolf (Chief Operating Officer), Kai Alexander Müller (Chief Financial Officer), Soonho Ahn (Chief Technology Officer), Jrg Teichmann (Chief Procurement Officer) and Sebastian Krapoth (Chief Human Resources Officer) Management Resources Officer).

Standard factories and unified units achieve rapid global deployment

At the groundbreaking ceremony, the group proposed the concept of standard factories for the first time; Salzgitter will become the blueprint for the entire European battery factory and will be Setting new standards in sustainability and innovation. "We have already carried out millions of tests on vehicle platforms such as MQB and MEB, which will also lay the foundation for establishing battery production: we will standardize and upgrade on the basis of European standards. In this way we will combine speed and Cost optimization combined with the highest quality levels," said Frank Blome, CEO of PowerCo. Standardization covers not only equipment, buildings and infrastructure, but also products, processes and IT. In this way, factories will be created that can be quickly converted for further product and production innovations.

Volkswagen has launched its new prismatic unified battery cell, which allows the flexible use of different battery chemistries. This will be available on up to 80 of all Group models from 2025 onwards. The plant's annual production capacity is expected to reach 40GWh by 2030, enough to produce about 500,000 electric vehicles. Volkswagen Group has six battery factories in Europe and plans to produce a total of 240GWh by 2030. The new unified battery is expected to reduce battery costs by up to 50%.