The battery division of the VolkswagenGroup and the Belgian materials technology group Umicore are putting their new joint venture “Ionway” into operation. Under this company name, the joint venture will in future supply the European battery cell factories of the VW subsidiary PowerCo with inexpensive materials for battery production, VW and Umicore announced on Friday. This should also reduce the prices for electric cars.
“Together with our reliable partner Umicore, we purchase our own key materials for cell production at favorable conditions,” said PowerCo boss Frank Blome, according to the statement. “Secure access enables PowerCo to supply the Volkswagen Group with competitively priced battery cells for years to come. This means the Group brands can offer their customers attractive, affordable electric vehicles.”
The new joint venture based in Brussels aims to expand annual production capacity to 160 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year by the end of the decade, providing materials for 2.2 million Electric cars deliver per year. This would cover a large part of the needs of Volkswagen’s planned battery factories in Europe.
Competition to BASF
VW and Umicore announced the project a year ago. For comparison: According to the company, BASF’s cathode plant in Schwarzheide will enable the production of 20 GWh of cell capacity per year. The modular structure and infrastructure of the plant basically enable a rapid expansion of production capacities, BASF explains further upon request. BASF boss Martin Brudermüller (62) wants to expand his group into the world’s leading cathode supplier for e-mobility.
The VW subsidiary and Umicore want to invest three billion euros by the end of the decade. At the head of the new joint venture is the previous Umicore manager Thomas Jansseune, and the previous PowerCo man Achim Holzer has been appointed as financial manager.
Jansseune, Ionway’s boss since July of this year, said, according to the statement, that the establishment of the joint venture would send “a strong signal for the rollout of battery cell technology in Europe.”
VW is planning six of its own battery cell factories in Europe by 2030. The first location is currently being built in Salzgitter, the next one is being built in Spain near Valencia. The batteries for VW’s planned entry-level electric car models will be produced there from 2026 for less than 25,000 euros.
According to its own statements, the globally active materials technology group Umicore achieved a result of 4.2 billion euros with sales of around 25.4 billion euros last year and employs 11,000 people.