Volkswagen Group board member Thomas Schmall told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published on Friday that the carmaker's battery cell factories are expected to have a capacity of 170 gigawatt-hours instead of the initially planned 200 gigawatt-hours, adding, however, that further expansions are possible by 2030.
As North America became an "interesting" manufacturing location due to "government funding and low electricity prices," the company decided to redistribute its capacities, Schmall explained, adding that only three plants as opposed to five would be created. "At the three locations in Salzgitter, Valencia and Ontario, we are currently planning up to 170 gigawatt-hours," he detailed.
Even though the demand for electric cars might seem lackluster at the moment, Schmall insisted that battery-electric vehicles are the future. "Ups and downs are normal, transformations are not linear. Our job is to prepare ourselves for the fluctuations," he remarked, stressing that producing one's own battery cells is important as these components make up the "core technology" of a car.
