PowerCo, Volkswagen's new battery company, and the Belgian materials technology group Umicore have set up a joint venture to produce battery materials in Europe. From 2025, the joint venture is to supply the European battery cell factories of PowerCo with materials. By 2030, the partners want to produce cathode and pre-material for 160 gigawatt hours of cell capacity per year. This corresponds to an annual production capacity that is sufficient for around 2.2 million fully electric vehicles.

Cooperation also in the procurement of raw materials

The long-term partnership is primarily aimed at the production of pre- and cathode materials in Europe, which is of central strategic importance for battery value creation. As part of additional agreements, Umicore and PowerCo also want to cooperate in the future in the sustainable and responsible procurement of raw materials. Against this background, Umicore will also provide refining services to PowerCo.

Refinement and recycling planned

At a later date, the partners also want to bring refining and recycling activities into the joint venture. The joint venture is scheduled to start production in 2025 and initially supply the PowerCo cell factory in Salzgitter in order to enable an annual capacity of 40 gigawatt hours from 2026. Depending on the market and demand development, both partners want to increase the annual production capacity to 160 gigawatt hours by 2030.

Three billion euros for production facilities

Together, three billion euros are to be invested in the development of new production capacities for battery materials. The partnership aims to give PowerCo access to innovative, sustainably sourced and customized high-performance battery material for its unit cell strategy in Europe at competitive prices.

Source:

https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/de/pressemitteilungen/powerco-und-umicore-found-joint-venture-for-the-production-of-battery-materials-in-europe-15208