In the old car world, Germany is a heavyweight. The country in which the internal combustion engine was once invented is still the world leader in this technology today. But even in the new car world, in which cars are electrically powered, Germany has a good chance of assuming a clear leadership role, at least in Europe. This is shown by a previously unpublished analysis by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in Karlsruhe, commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Research, which is available to the FAS.
Battery cells are considered a key component for electric cars, accounting for around 40 percent of the total value added in the construction of electric cars. And according to Fraunhofer ISI, Germany will be by far the largest European production site for these important components, ahead of Great Britain and France. Due to stricter climate protection targets in the EU and sharply increasing sales of e-vehicles, there are signs of a wave of investment in new battery cell factories over the next few years.
Around eleven times as much as today
Germany is becoming the center of the construction boom: According to the study, around a quarter of the total European production capacity for battery cells will be created on German soil by 2030. The Fraunhofer experts estimate the annual production capacity in Germany at the end of the decade at almost 400 gigawatt hours, which corresponds to the batteries of around 6.5 million electric cars. In Europe as a whole, a production capacity of 1,300 to 1,500 gigawatt hours is expected by 2030. That would be around eleven times as much as today. So far, on the other hand, European car manufacturers have had to import most of the batteries from Asia.
For their calculation, the researchers evaluated the announcements made by manufacturers about building factories. According to this, there are projects for new battery cell plants in at least 15 European countries. It is mainly local companies that are driving the construction boom. In Germany, among others, Volkswagen in Salzgitter and the Swedish company Northvolt in Heide are building battery cell factories.
