According to a study, Germany is way ahead in battery cell production. Dozens of manufacturers have announced factories or are already building some. The researchers assume that by the end of the decade a quarter of European production will be "Made in Germany".
A quarter of the predicted European battery cell production capacities could be covered by Germany by the end of the decade. This is the result of a data analysis by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe. The experts examined the plans and announcements of more than 40 companies worldwide who want to set up battery factories in Europe. On this basis, scenarios that were as realistic as possible were then developed, said battery researcher Lukas Weymann.
The evaluations showed that production capacities in Europe are expected to quadruple to more than 500 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2025 and even increase tenfold to up to 1.5 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2030. This would mean that by the end of the decade about a quarter of the globally announced capacity would be in Europe. According to the analysis, more than a quarter - and thus the largest share - of almost 400 GWh would be generated in new production facilities in Germany.
"We have been tracking and evaluating the announcements for many years and have seen a very strong increase in production capacity in Europe, especially recently," said Weymann. "With 1.5 TWh, a remarkable sound barrier has now been broken."
The predicted rapid growth will be largely driven by European players such as the Swedish company Northvolt and Volkswagen. VW, for example, laid the foundation stone for a battery factory in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, just over a week ago. Among other things, Northvolt is planning battery cell production in Heide in Schleswig-Holstein. Asian and US companies have also announced that they want to expand to Germany or Europe.
