Volkswagen reinforces its alliance with Northvolt to intensify lithium battery production

Despite the pandemic, the Volkswagen Group still has the power to invest in their electric future. VW has just made a €450 million investment to strengthen its joint venture with the Swedish battery producer Northvolt AB, which is specialized in lithium-ion battery cells production. This joint venture will allow Volkswagen to produce its own battery cells in a specific plant in Salzgitter (Germany).

Stefan Sommer, member of the Volkswagen Group Board and a member of the Northvolt AB Board of Directors said: “We are optimizing the Volkswagen Group’s strategic position in the key future field of batteries. In addition to a very secure supply base with external producers, we are also systematically building up further capacities.”

This joint venture between Volkswagen and Northvolt has been established in September 2019 with the goal to prepare themselves for the large-scale production of lithium-ion batteries in Germany. Volkswagen strongly believes that buildings and infrastructure is the next key strategic decision for the EV market. The construction of the new site will commence before the end of this year.

Thomas Schmall, CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, declared: “Battery cell production in Salzgitter is an important step for the transformation to e-mobility. We are pooling expertise at the Salzgitter site with production capabilities and the Center of Excellence for Battery Cells, and are therefore driving battery cell development further forward, developing new standards and transferring them direct to the manufacturing process

The group expects that in Europe the annual power demand will exceed the amount of 150 gigawatt hours from 2025. That’s why Volkswagen will nonetheless maintain its relations with other battery producers like LG Chem, Samsung, SKI and CATL, in order to satisfy the customers’ requests.