VW and Umicore set up battery materials company

Created: 09/26/2022Updated: 09/26/2022, 11:40 am

By the end of the decade, VW wants to work with partners to produce electric car batteries in six European factories.

© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa

The battery division of the Volkswagen Group and the Belgian materials technology group Umicore are founding a multi-billion joint venture for battery materials.

The joint venture of the VW subsidiary PowerCo and Umicore based in Brussels wants to invest three billion euros and deliver materials for 2.2 million electric cars annually at the end of the decade, as the companies announced on Monday in Salzgitter and Brussels.

Salzgitter/Brussels - With the battery components, the companies want to cover a large part of the requirements of Volkswagen's planned European battery cell factories.

The main focus is on battery cathodes and primary materials for 160 gigawatt hours of cell capacity.

By the end of the decade, VW wants to work with partners to produce electric car batteries with an annual output of 240 gigawatt hours in six European factories.

"The most important cost factor of electric vehicles at the moment is the battery," said PowerCo chief buyer Jörg Teichmann.

The battery is therefore also the basis for the success of e-mobility.

Together with Umicore, volume is secured at the best price and with the best cost structure.

Umicore CEO Mathias Miedreich added that the joint venture is strategically unique because it is the first all-encompassing supply chain in this area in Europe.

"No other partnership has such strength across the value chain," he said.

The recycling of used batteries is also an option for the joint venture.

dpa