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Cranes for the cells:
A look at the construction site of CATL's cell factory in Erfurt (October 2021)
Photo: Martin Schutt / picture alliance / dpa / dpa-Zentralbild
Cracked concrete, wild bushes, next to it a lush track structure: the old freight yard in Arnstadt has seen better days, as a photo of the portal inthüringen.de from the end of October shows.
But that should change in the foreseeable future.
Because Deutsche Bahn wants to revive the station 15 kilometers south of Erfurt: Arnstadt is to be expanded into a modern freight terminal, the road connections to the terminal and the surrounding area are to be improved.
The main reason for the revitalization of the run-down train station: The Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) is building a factory for battery cells in the industrial area of Erfurter Kreuz, a good three kilometers to the north.
CATL is struggling in Erfurt with the search for suitable employees and the cooperation of Chinese and German colleagues, as CATL European boss
Matthias Zentgraf
admitted at the end of July.
But the plant is already being built - and something is not only happening in Thuringia: highly specialized factories are being built all over Germany in which battery cells are to be built - also thanks to multi-billion euro funding from the EU and the federal government.
There are so many projects in very different dimensions that some warn of huge overcapacities.
We present an overview of the most important German projects.
The most important figures are shown on our overview map, details follow in the text below.
CATL in Erfurt: BMW as a major customer
The Chinese battery giant CATL is investing around 1.8 billion euros in its cell factory at Erfurt Kreuz. The groundbreaking ceremony for the plant has already taken place; it should actually go into operation in 2022. However, the start-up is likely to be postponed a bit due to Corona. In the medium term, around 2000 employees are to produce lithium-ion cells for electric car batteries in one of the world's largest cell factories.
CATL already has a major customer for its Erfurt plant: the Bavarian car manufacturer BMW has a stake in CATL through its Chinese joint venture Brilliance.
According to the previous plans, BMW wants to cover a third of its battery requirements from German production.
In the final stage, the CATL plant in Erfurt is expected to have a battery capacity of up to 100 gigawatt hours per year.
That is enough for 1.3 million electric cars with a 75 kWh battery on board, such as BMW's new e-SUV iX in basic equipment.
Tesla in Grünheide: Elon Musk wants advance approval for battery production
Tesla boss
Elon Musk
(50) recently presented
his car plant in Grünheide near Berlin to
the public with great pomp.
Tesla is still building most of its plant with preliminary building permits.
But one thing is certain: Tesla is also building a battery cell production facility in Grünheide in addition to car production.
The shell of the battery factory is already in place, Musk is pushing for a permit.
According to the Tagesspiegel, 2000 people will work in the battery plant alone, and Tesla plans to invest a total of around 5 billion euros in cell production.
A good fifth of the amount is said to come from government funding as part of the second European battery cell program.
In the longer term, the Tesla battery factory, like the competition in Erfurt, is expected to have a total annual capacity of 100 gigawatt hours.
Tesla boss Musk even promised up to 250 gigawatt hours.
Whether this can actually be put into practice is just as uncertain with announcement world champion Musk as the actual start date of Tesla cell production.
According to previous plans, Tesla wants to manufacture the first battery cells in Grünheide as early as 2022.
Kaiserslautern: team of three relies on German-French cooperation
Battery cells are also to be produced at the Opel site in Kaiserslautern in Rhineland-Palatinate: Opel parent company Stellantis and German car maker Daimler have teamed up with the battery manufacturer Saft, which belongs to the French energy group Total, for the cell factory. Your joint venture, the Automotive Cells Company (ACC), is to produce its own cells - both in Kaiserslautern and in Dovrin in northern France. The Federal Ministry of Economics has already promised 437 million euros in support for the construction of the cell plant in Kaiserslautern.
The plant in Douvrin is scheduled to go into operation as early as 2023, as is apparently the newly built plant in Kaiserslautern.
In the final stage, 2000 people are to be employed in Kaiserslautern.
The Rhenish-Palatinate plant starts with a total capacity of initially 8 gigawatts, in the final stage the total annual capacity should be 24 to 32 gigawatt hours.
Göttingen and Salzgitter: Volkswagen relies on partner Gotion
In Göttingen, Lower Saxony, a former Bosch plant is being switched to battery cell production: VW's Chinese battery cell partner Gotion bought the plant in July. According to previous reports, the group wants to set up an assembly of lithium-ion cells there, but Gotion's first battery production center in Europe is also to be built. So far, there is no information on the planned number of employees or the investment volume.
Volkswagen joined Gotion as the largest shareholder in May 2020 for around one billion euros.
Gotion is also a partner for the planned battery factory in Salzgitter, which Volkswagen originally wanted to pull up together with the Swedish battery cell start-up Northvolt - but has now apparently decided to go it alone in Salzgitter.
In Salzgitter, cells for electric cars are to be built in the volume segment from 2025, something similar would also be conceivable in Göttingen.
According to previous reports, Gotion should provide production capacities of 40 gigawatt hours per year, while Salzgitter should also have a capacity of up to 40 gigawatt hours in the final stage.
Smaller battery factories: Farasis factory in Bitterfeld is stalling
Svolt, an offshoot of the Chinese car company Great Wall Motors, plans to produce lithium-ion cells in Überherrn in the Saarland from the end of 2023. Citizen protests, however, prevented the start of construction, which was planned for the beginning of 2021. Up to now, a maximum of 2000 jobs were planned; in the final expansion stage, the plant should produce cells with an annual volume of 24 gigawatt hours. Some time ago, Svolt presented the car manufacturer Stellantis as the first customer.
In Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, Daimler's battery partner Farasis actually wanted to produce lithium-ion cells as early as April 2022. But it's not going well. manager magazin reported a few months ago that the Daimler managers were dissatisfied with the quality of the Farasis cells. Farasis European boss Sebastian Wolf switched to the Volkswagen Group in the fall. Construction of the plant in Bitterfeld has not yet started. So far it is unclear whether and in what size it will be built.
The battery cell factory of the US supplier Microvast in Ludwigsfelde, Brandenburg, got off to a comparatively modest start: the battery chemistry specialist, which specializes in battery cells for commercial vehicles, has already put its first cell production line into operation.
Initially, Microvast will manufacture cells with a maximum capacity of 1.5 gigawatt hours; in the final stage, according to current plans, 250 employees will manufacture cells with a total capacity of up to 6 gigawatt hours.
The German battery manufacturer Varta, which has so far specialized in smaller cells, also wants to manufacture battery cells for electric cars - in Ellwangen, Baden-Württemberg, from 2024. As the first customer, Varta announced Porsche some time ago that the planned production volume would drop to 3 gigawatts of total capacity however, it looks comparatively small.
There is another, smaller cell factory in the southern federal state: The Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché is already producing lithium-ion cells with a current capacity of 200 megawatt hours in Willstätt.
In the long term, however, the plant is to be increased to a total capacity of 2.5 gigawatt hours.
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