Volkswagen VW board of directors considering possible IPO of the battery business.
This piece originally appeared on Handelsblatt in German.
Thomas Schmall, Chief Technology Officer said in an interview with Handelsblatt:
We are not initially ruleing anything out – at least for the cell business.
“A single cell plant could not be listed on the stock exchange, the whole thing must be summarized at a higher level.” The Wolfsburg-based car company wants to establish technology partnerships and is also looking for external investors.
🔥 What about we co-host a webinar? Let's educate, captivate, and convert the battery economy!
Batteries News is the global go-to online magazine for the battery industry, we can help you host impactful webinars that become a global reference on your topic and are an evergreen source of leads. Click here to request more details
“The construction of cell plants is extremely expensive,” Schmall emphasized. By 2030, Volkswagen wants to build six new gigafactories for cell productionin Europe alone together with partners for a double-digit billion amount. According to Schmall, this is enough to equip more than five million passenger cars with batteries.
The group may need additional cell factories for its truck division Traton:”That’s added to that. With the six gigafactories, we have so far covered the demand for passenger cars.”
Volkswagen is also preparing to enter the business with raw materials that are needed for cell production. “We will also have to go in this direction – we are looking at the entire process chain from the mine to recycling. We must actively enter the raw materials business,” Schmall emphasized.
Raw materials in cell production would have a cost share of about 80 percent. “We at Volkswagen want to steer into the driver’s seat and the operative business with the new factories,” Schmall continued.
“Electromobility creates jobs,” added the Group Executive Board. In VW’s German engine and transmission factories, the number of jobs will remain roughly constant until 2025, despitethe switch to electric drive. Currently, about 21,000 people work there.
The VW Group has high hopes for the development of a new generation of solid-state cells, which the Wolfsburg-based company operates with its US partner Quantumscape. Solid-state cells are expected to significantly increase the range of electric cars in the future. “We expect to see the first pilot plants for series production in 2025 or 2026,” schmall said.
Check out the full interview here, it’s in German so we recommend our English speaking readers to use Google Translate 😉
- In an interview, Thomas Schmall talks about a conceivable IPO of the new battery division – and the entry into the raw materials business.
VW Board of Management on possible IPO of the battery business: “We do not rule anything out for the time being”, Düsseldorf, June 1, 2021
