Subsidies for German battery cell factory: Merkel’s tedious pick-up maneuvers for electric cars

09/19/2018

Subsidies for German battery cell factory Merkel’s tedious pick-up maneuvers in e-cars

DPA

Economics Minister Peter Altmaier and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (both CDU) want a German battery cell factory

Now the reaffirmation comes from the very top: Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed on Wednesday that in Germany a separate battery cell production is to be set up. Collaborations with other European countries are being considered, as Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) announced on Tuesday in Brussels. But it still needed final agreements.

Details on the planned battery cell production in Germany Altmaier held back. “But we are in the middle of the preparations.” At a meeting in Berlin in November, the project should be advanced. Last time he was with the Polish government in exchange. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has not answered manager-magazin.de on a request to the backgrounds.

The factory is to be built to compete with Asia. So far, the German refer Automotive companies BMW. Daimler. VW and Audi their battery cells for the batteries of the electric cars especially from Asian manufacturers, Among the biggest are the surprise climbers CATL, Panasonic and LG Chem.

Is Germany already suspended?

The battery cell requirements of German companies will increase sharply in the coming years as more and more electric cars are produced. The Federal Government and unions therefore fear a strong dependence on Asian suppliers and have long been pushing for a national or at least European solution. But the corporations themselves shy away from the big investments in such a factory so far and see the government as responsible.

Also read: These companies are competing for Europe’s first “Gigafactory”

The problem seems to want to solve the federal government with money. According to one Report of the “Tagesspiegels” One billion euros in subsidies are to go towards the construction of two battery cell factories – one of them in Lusatia. With 600 million euros, a research factory should also be subsidized. The battery cell concept should be approved by the Cabinet on 19 October.

The Asian producers, however, are years ahead. It is unclear how much the billion dollar subsidies can change that. Also, a consortium of private companies is required for the production of battery cells in Germany. As far as the state of talks is concerned, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has so far not expressed itself on request. Merkel was recently frustrated: “Is it okay if we, as a continent producing cars, buy the battery cells from Asia?” She quotes “Tagesspiegel”.

At least the Chinese cell manufacturer CATL could convince the government, to open a factory in Germany, The first major production in Germany is to be created in Thuringia, for CATL there is German funding and access to research. BMW has awarded in the course of a billionaire order to the Chinese company.

Since the federal government will miss the goal of bringing one million e-cars on the streets by 2020, Berlin is under pressure. As Merkel once again admitted on Wednesday, the spread of electric cars had gone slower than expected. The National Platform for Electromobility had previously concluded in a report that the target must be postponed to 2022.

Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer also said: “We certainly had delayed start-up phases.” Now you are “strong on catching up”. If that’s fast enough, that’s the question.

With material from dpa-afx and rtr

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