Volkswagen invests $ 100 million (86 million euros) in the US company QuantumScape and wants to build a first small factory for solid batteries in the next year. These batteries were able to remove the lithium-ion batteries as energy storage in E-cars in several years.
A production plant to start manufacturing in a small mabboat, could be settled in Salzgitter: "We are currently building a lithium-ion pilot production in Salzgitter, and that’s certainly one of the options we look at," said Volkswagen Chef Strategist Thomas Sedran the German press agency. A decision should only fall in one to two years.
QuantumScape consists of a group of scientists who have been working for years at this battery type. Volkswagen secures the first right of access to developments with the deal and then wants to build them in the new manufacturing facility, which should stand by 2025. There, the batteries should not only be put together, but also battery cells are to be manufactured – according to Sedran at the beginning for about 10.000 vehicles in the year. This only covers a tiny part of Volkswagen production: By 2025, a quarter of the last more than ten million vehicles sold have to have an electric drive.
Whether a rough series production for batteries comes to Germany, dear sedran open: "The gross competitive disadvantages we have in Germany for cell production are once the high labor costs and the high energy costs, which are significantly lower, for example, in Eastern Europe."He realized that you have to use batteries in a coarse style, so that it is worth:" If you want to make cell production really competitive, you have to be natural with the stucco numbers in areas of Elon Musks Gigafactory."