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Volkswagen will decide on the location of a new battery cell plant in Central and Eastern Europe in the first half of 2022, the German carmaker announced. Each of the V4 countries – Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – are in the running to host the facility. Volkswagen has announced this year that it will set up six large-scale battery cell production plants in Europe as part of its electrification strategy. The CEE plant is scheduled to go online by 2027.
Last week senior executives from VW visited the Czech Republic to view its Skoda subsidiary and meet with Czech deputy prime minister and minister for industry, trade and transport, Karel Havlicek. Czechia’s vast lithium deposits would be a potential boon for any future battery plant, one Volkswagen executive commented.
Hungary is increasingly used as a location for global battery manufacturers. Korea’s SK Innovation, which manufactures batteries for VW, Audi and Daimler, announced in January that it will open a third lithium-ion production plant in Ivancsa, 60km south of Budapest. The USD 2.29 billion project – Hungary’s largest ever greenfield investment – will create 2,500 jobs and enable production of some 430,000 electric cars annually. The Hungarian government will provide a record-breaking state subsidy of EUR 90 million to SK Innovation, as approved by the European Commission.
Source: Hungarian press, InsideEVs
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