Volkswagen and Bosch have signed an arrangement to set up a joint venture to help Europe find battery equipment solutions. German carmaker Volkswagen says that the two companies will work together to provide integrated battery production systems and help battery cell and system manufacturers ramp up and keep their businesses running.
The joint venture will help VW reach its six battery cell factories by 2030. It will also be able to help other factories in Europe. Volkswagen and Bosch did not say how much money they would put into the project.
To meet their goal of making millions of electric cars in the next few years, automakers are working on becoming more self-sufficient and less reliant on getting their battery supplies from other countries, which has become worse because of supply chain issues. This is what happened in 2021: Many automakers and cell suppliers wanted to build battery cell factories near where they live. VW was already there with a battery cell production plant in Salzgitter, Germany.
A Volkswagen board member who is in charge of battery plans said in a statement that Europe has the chance to become the world's battery powerhouse in the years to come. There is a lot of demand for everything that makes batteries, including the equipment for new gigafactories. Volkswagen and Bosch will look for ways to grow and shape this new, multi-billion-euro industry in Europe.
Volkswagen is also part of the growing movement of automakers looking to diversify their income by offering services to their rivals. Tuesday, Ford and ADT joined together to make a monitoring system for cars attached to any make or model to help keep them safe from being stolen.
"We will make a lot of money by becoming more involved in the battery-making value chain," said Schmall. In business history, setting out to build a fully localized supply chain for e-mobility made in Europe is a rare chance to make money.
The European Battery Alliance says that a third of the world's batteries should be made in Europe by the end of this decade. But, so far, battery cell plants that can produce less than 900 gigawatt-hours of capacity in Europe are set to make up only 16% of global battery production by 2029.
Tesla plans to build a battery plant in Berlin with 50 GWh next to its 300-hectare site, where it will make Model Y cars. However, both are still waiting for approval from local authorities, despite CEO Elon Musk's promise that production would start in November or December of last year.
Volkswagen's planned factory in Salzgitter is supposed to make 40 GWh, but if the automaker can increase production and build six more factories, it should produce 240 GWh.
Volkswagen and Bosch will make battery cells together to help the European battery industry grow and make more batteries.
