In Salzgitter it is still screwed and calibrated, not everything is perfect. At one point, Volkswagen manager Frank Blome is already stuck: There will be no stumbling block like Northvolt here, in the Volkswagen battery cell factory, he says. Blome, 56 years old, is responsible for building your own cell production in the VW group. He heads the battery subsidiary Powerco. The pressure is high, and finally Europe had suffered many setbacks on the way to more own value creation in cell technology. For Blome, however, this is not a reason to ward off, on the contrary: it is about a technology that you have to “control” in order to be as independent as possible. One morning shortly before the Aut shower IAA Mobility in Salzgitter has now shown how far the construction of the first battery cell factory has progressed. In Salzgitter in Salzgitter in the southeast of Lower Saxony, a forty hectare facility with two blocks was created, of which the first one is now heading for the start of production. From November next to November, Blome announces that it announces a series -ready product from the new work – the new “unit cell” that the group wants to incorporate into as many vehicles as possible in its brands. At first it is all about battery cells for the approval procedures. From next year, they should also arrive in customer vehicles, for example in the new small electric car family around the VW model ID.Polo, which has its big appearance at the IAA in Munich. For Blome and Powerco, this is the start of a surge of several locations that are supposed to cover half of the cell requirements in the group. VW wants to continue to buy the rest from Asian suppliers. The conversion of the location of the salt grille battery cells are the heart of every electric car – they stand for almost half of the added value in the vehicle. Europe wants to become more independent in this business, away from the dominant major producers from the Far East. But the crash of Northvolt has recently shown the local companies their limits. Despite lavish financing and prominent partners such as VW and Goldman Sachs, the start-up did not get its cell production in northern Sweden as quickly and in quality as hoped as hoped. A few months ago, Northvolt was spectacularly the money was supposed to roll up VW projects. The conversion of the Salzgitter location from the engine plant to the “Leitenwerk Zelle” can cost Europe’s largest car manufacturer up to two billion euros. If everything runs as hoped, it will be the first work of a German company to produce battery cells on a large scale in Germany. There were many ideas in the industry. So far, however, only a few projects have really arisen, such as the location of the Chinese world market leader Catl in Thuringia. It is currently still uncertain how the planned work of Northvolt in Schleswig-Holstein Heath. Three projects have remained: Salzgitter with an output of up to 40 gigawatt hours a year, a work in Sagunt in Spanish with up to 60 and St. Thomas in Canada with up to 90 gigawatt hours. For the time being, these are only rough target brands, at the start Salzgitter starts with about half. The “needs-oriented”, says VW manager Blome, a sign of how large the uncertainty is. It seems that the factory should take on as many comprehensive tasks as possible for all battery locations, also to secure jobs. The traditional engine production at the Salzgitter location is affected by the company’s job cuts, the works council has fought to get new employment and to receive as many of the approximately 6,000 jobs as possible. The problem: Cell production is energy -intensive, it is difficult to operate economically at the Germany location due to the high electricity prices. Spain and Canada also pay high subsidies. The project in Salzgitter, on the other hand, is being created on your own account. At a meeting with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), the industry also wants to talk about stronger support on Friday. And so that it stays that way, VW relies on a process other than Northvolt. Like all local cell projects, the start-up had bought machines from special providers from China. But the attempt in Skelleftea in northern Swedish came to the debacle, also because Chinese investment technicians were difficult to get to northern Sweden while Corona. VW, on the other hand, has its facilities in China set and start up with a local partner before they come to Salzgitter. According to Blome, the complexity of the cell variants is also lower. The group’s “unit cell” can cover both common nickel-mangan cobalt chemia as well as new technologies such as lithium iron phosphate in a standard format. He sees VW flexibly set up in order to keep the market development pace.
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