Volkswagen seems intent on building a new Gigafactory dedicated to the production of electric batteries in the eastern part of Europe. It seems? Yes, because once again the German giant has decided to postpone a final decision on the matter: recently the company let it be known that it would have the last word on it not before next year given the many risk factors, from the economic uncertainty of the market to the high energy prices in the designated area. Everything is still at stake, therefore: nothing is decided yet.
“Volkswagen AG and its dedicated battery company PowerCo are constantly evaluating suitable sites for their next battery Gigafactory in Europe – reads an email sent by Volkswagen – There is no pressure or rush to act as we take more time to make decisions in light of the current market circumstances. To date, the planned start of construction of the plant and the start of production have not been impacted”. As reported by Reuters, the European Union fears a investment outflow towards the United States in light of the generous green energy subsidies offered by companies under the Inflation Reduction Act: Sweden’s Northvolt, just to give an example, has opened up the possibility of prioritizing the expansion of its battery plants in the United States compared to Europe precisely in the light of the energy landscape in the Old Continent, where energy prices have reached record levels.
“THE energy prices in Europe they’re making it hard to justify to shareholders why we should build a battery plant right there – the CEO of the German giant Thomas Schafer declared in recent days – If you have the ability to build a battery plant in Europe, where electricity costs 15 cents per kilowatt hour, but you can get it in China or America for 2-3 cents, we’re not in a position to guarantee that we’ll do it here. It’s a touchy subject, and often people they underestimate how complex it is to move forward here”.
#postpones #decision #European #batteries #FormulaPassion.it