Volkswagen

VW and Northvolt JV plans for EU lithium-ion gigafactory gain momentum

Vehicle OEM Volkswagen is investing €450 ($487million) to construct the buildings and infrastructure of a European lithium-ion gigafactory it is developing with its joint venture partner Northvolt.

Construction of the Northvolt Zwei factory in Salzgitter, Germany— close to VW’s existing Center of Excellence for Battery Cells— is due to begin by the close of the year with cell production scheduled for early 2024.

germany

electric vehicle

OEM

Volkswagen

VW follows Tesla with move to 811 lithium-ion cells in hunt for higher driving range

German vehicle OEM Volkswagen is moving to a NMC 811 cell format in its electric vehicle battery packs with the “medium to long term” goal of one day producing cobalt free cells.

The company is following Tesla’s lead in moving to the NMC 811 cell format, which VW’s China battery supplier CATL believes gives better performance capabilities over its previous NCM 523 cells.

CATL plans cash boost for German EV gigafactory project

Chinese lithium giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) has revealed it is set to pour a total of up to €1.8 billion (US$2.1bn) of cash into its planned electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Germany.

CATL said the proposed investment included €240 million already pledged for the project at Erfurt, in the east-central state of Thüringen.

Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL)

lithium-ion batteries

Jaguar Land Rover and PSA

VW coy on partnership and funding for €1bn battery cells plant

German carmaker Volkswagen is to invest “just under €1 billion” (US$1.1bn) to build a battery cell production facility in the country with an undisclosed partner.

A VW spokesperson told BEST Battery Briefing its partner would be “a European-based company” but declined to elaborate.

However, the spokesperson revealed the plant would have an annual production capacity of 10GWh and could be in operation by 2022/2023.

SK Innovation ‘in battery venture talks with VW, China’

South Korea’s SK Innovation (SKI) is reportedly in talks to establish two separate battery production joint ventures— one with Volkswagen and another with Chinese partners.

SKI confirmed talks with Volkswagen in an interview with Reuters, saying the two companies were discussing building a factory together. SKI also said I was “on the cusp” of agreeing plans to build a plant in China with “undisclosed partners”.

The president of SKI’s batteries business YS Yoon told Reuters: “Our strategy is to keep up with technological advancement by having relationships with some of our key customers. Compared with rivals, we’ve been matching or exceeding investment in the (EV batteries) area since last year.”

Novel start-up forging ahead with VW investment

US-based start-up Forge Nano has received a US$10 million investment from German car maker Volkswagen— funds the company will use to continue investigating and developing “a material coating technology that could further improve the performance of battery materials”.

Forge Nano has been investigating processes for scaling atomic layer deposition— “a chemical process for applying atomic scale coatings one atom at a time”— to create new core-shell materials, particularly for battery applications, with the aim of boosting the energy density of electric vehicle battery cells.

Forge Nano founder and CEO Dr Paul Lichty (pictured) said the company’s “atomically precise surface engineering technology is ushering in a new era of high performance materials”.

Forge Nano

Volkswagen

Battery innovations

Research & Development

electric vehicle EV batteries

VW ups Quantumscape investment for solid-state batteries

Volkswagen is investing $100 million to increase its stake in US battery start-up Quantumscape and “accelerate” commercialisation of innovative solid-state battery technology.

VW said the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will make it Quantumscape’s largest automotive shareholder and will give the car giant a seat on the board.

Volkswagen

quantumscape

solid-state batteries

electric vehicle

VW confirms plan for battery cells pilot plant

Volkswagen has told BBB it will build a pilot manufacturing plant for battery cells in Germany as part of a new corporate “centre of excellence”.

The pilot facility, on which work is expected to start by 2019, will be incorporated with an existing VW plant in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, a VW spokesperson confirmed.

Volkswagen ‘to buy EUR20bn of batteries from Asia’

Volkswagen has reportedly earmarked EUR20 billion ($25bn) to buy in lithium batteries for its electric vehicle business from China’s CATL, South Korea’s LG Chem and Samsung SDI.

China’s state Xinhua News Agency said the move was agreed by VW at its annual general meeting in Berlin— although BBB could not independently confirm the report.

Volkswagen

electric vehicles

lithium-ion batteries

LG Chem

samsung sdi

CATL

CATL snaps up Canadian lithium firm

China’s CATL has reportedly bought a 90% controlling stake in a Canadian lithium firm— to shore up supplies of the key raw material for its expanding global battery business.

Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) acquired 36.6 million shares of North American Lithium from Jilin Jien Nickel Industry, according to the China Daily.

CATL

canada

china

North American Lithium

Jilin Jien Nickel Industry

Volkswagen