Volkswagen Lowers Battery Production Targets

Volkswagen’s goal of building 200 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity by 2030 is not “set in stone,” and the automaker will monitor how demand for electric vehicles (EVs) develops, the company’s battery chief told a German newspaper on Friday.

“Our goal is realistic, but not set in stone. Building factories for the production of battery cells is not an end in itself. The expansion of the factories will depend on how the electric car market develops,” said Thomas Schmall, according to previously published parts of the interview, which will be published in full on Sunday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, Reuters reports.

Volkswagen announced in 2021 that it wanted to build up to 240 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity by 2030, of which 200 gigawatt-hours would be built by its battery manufacturing subsidiary PowerCo. It is planned to open six factories in Europe by the end of the decade.

However, Šmal has repeatedly reassessed that goal since then, leaving open the question of whether the automaker will build additional factories, including the one it was considering in Eastern Europe, or expand existing ones.

PowerCo’s three announced plants, in Valencia, Spain, Ontario, Canada, and Salzgiter, Germany, have a combined capacity of up to 170 gigawatt-hours. Factories in Spain and Canada could be expanded, but it remains to be seen whether the automaker will do so, Schmal said, without giving details on when a decision would be made.

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