The Volkswagen Group is pursuing its battery strategy. As we know, the German Group will go to build 6 factories for the production of battery cells between Europe and North America which will be managed by PowerCo, one of its subsidiaries.
Volkswagen, however, is also working to create a supply chainstable always dedicated to batteries. As part of this plan, the German Group will undertake also of the production of cathode active materials (CAM) for electric vehicles, the most valuable of batteries, through IONWAY, a joint venture between PowerCo and Umicore.
Now comes news that the joint venture has chosen the location for its first cathode active materials manufacturing site. The facility will be built in Nysa, Poland, next to the Umicore CAM plant already existing.
THE NEW FACTORY
The construction of the new plant will start soon, as soon as all the permits arrive. Therefore, within a few years the plant will be able to supply cathode materials to battery factories operated by PowerCo. IONWAY decided to focus on Poland for a series of factors including availability of renewable energy sources for production in the plant, the availability of a qualified workforce and the support of the Polish Government.
The Polish Government, in fact, has decided to support the investment for the creation of the production site which will to create around 900 jobs. In particular, it made available to IONWAY €350 million in cash grants under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF). The total investment will come up to 1.7 billion euros (1.35 billion euros net of subsidies) by the end of the decade.
Furthermore, the production site will benefit from of the skills of the adjacent Umicore CAM plant and easy access to raw materials, coming from Umicore's refineries in Finland. The joint venture aims to increase its capacity annual production to 160 GWh by the end of the decade, the equivalent of 2.2 million battery electric vehicles, based on market developments. IONWAY will support also the ambitions of the European Union for the Green Deal, accelerating the development of local, sustainable and transparent value chains.
Limited budget? Redmi Note 12 4G, buy it at the best price from eBay at 143 euros.