Porsche questions plans for a battery factory in Brandenburg – Elektroauto.
More than 200 battery factories are expected to be built worldwide in the next ten years , a majority of them in Asia. Porsche also had similar plans for Brandenburg . The plan was to build a battery factory in Schwarzheide in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district . Only about 100 kilometers from Leipzig, where the manufacturer produces the all-electric Macan , and near a BASF factory for cathode material. But now it appears that the plans are stalling.
Tagesspiegel Background reports that Porsche’s supervisory board has doubts as to whether a gigafactory for battery cells is necessary. Problems in the largest car market, China, and weak demand for electric cars in Germany are causing the company’s strategists to hesitate. There now appears to be overcapacity on the global market, which could lead to plans for Porsche’s battery factory in Brandenburg being halted.
About three years ago, Porsche founded the battery subsidiary Cellforce. This is currently building a pilot plant near Reutlingen with a production capacity of up to 1.3 gigawatt hours. An expansion in Schwarzheide was planned. The planned factory will be able to produce high-performance batteries with a capacity of up to 20 gigawatt hours, enough to produce 150,000 to 200,000 electric cars annually. The investment amount amounts to several billion euros.
But these plans could now be stopped, which would be a major setback for Brandenburg as the entire environment for local battery production would be weakened. At the beginning of the week, the cancellation of SVolt’s battery factory plans weakened the cluster . Porsche had originally hoped to become more independent and reduce costs in the long term through its own battery production . But developments in recent years have shown that reality is more complex. The market for battery cells is no longer as tense as it once was; overcapacity is now more of an issue.
The next few months will be crucial. Porsche will closely monitor market developments and adapt its strategy accordingly. Other automakers are also facing similar challenges and may need to rethink their plans. To be fair, it must be noted that several billion saved can definitely be used more sensibly elsewhere if the supply of battery cells from suppliers can be guaranteed.
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Porsche questions plans for a battery factory in Brandenburg – Elektroauto. source
