Swiss battery metals investor Blackstone Resources has submitted a detailed business plan to the German government in a bid to benefit from battery production subsidies.
Blackstone said it was among technology firms invited to submit blueprints for financing to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
The move comes after Blackstone announced it was launching a research centre in Germany— ahead of plans to set up “a substantial battery-production project” in the country.
Blackstone said its proposals include creating battery-manufacturing facilities in close proximity to major German automakers. The company aims to offer an initial capacity of 100 million battery cells per annum or around 1 gigawatt per annum, “which is the equivalent of 25,000 to 100,000 electric vehicle batteries at lower costs than those presently produced by China”.
In addition, Blackstone has pledged to create “an incubator fund and accelerator fund for numerous start-ups and academic research projects across Europe”. The company said it will also cooperate with prominent universities in Germany— and has “already conducted detailed due diligence on a number of highly promising projects and started the evaluation process”.
Germany has committed to pumping €1 billion (US$1.1bn) into promoting battery cell production by 2021— with the aim of German and European producers “supplying 30% of global demand” by 2030.
