BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen’s battery unit PowerCo has formed a joint venture with Belgium’s Umicore for the production of precursor and cathode material in Europe, jointly investing 3 billion euros ($2.89 billion), the companies said on Monday.
Umicore will supply PowerCo’s European battery cell factories from 2025 onwards, starting at Volkswagen’s Salzgitter factory.
The joint venture will target an annual capacity of 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2026 with the aim of reaching 160 GWh – enough to power around 2.2 million fully electric vehicles – by the end of the decade.
Both partners will equally share costs, investments and profits.
Volkswagen, which plans to build six battery plants in Europe by 2030 starting with Salzgitter, first announced in late 2021 that it was planning a joint venture with Umicore.
($1 = 1.0379 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, editing by Rachel More)
