Chinese battery maker Gotion High-Tech and Volkswagen (VW) battery unit PowerCo plan to invest about €3.22bn ($3.7bn) in three joint ventures to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells and cathode material in Europe, days after VW delayed the start-up of its Canadian cell plant by two years.
Gotion will contribute about €1.60bn and PowerCo about €1.62bn, Gotion said in a stock exchange filing today.
The largest venture is PowerCo's gigafactory under construction in Valencia, Spain, where €2.26bn will be invested in 29.1 GWh/yr of cell capacity. Gotion will take 49pc ownership in the project through a capital increase of about €1.1bn, leaving PowerCo with 51pc.
The ownership split is reversed in other projects. Gotion will hold 51pc of an 8.4 GWh/yr cell plant in Surany, Slovakia, and 51pc of a 100,000 t/yr LFP cathode plant in Kenitra, Morocco. Each will cost about €480mn. The Kenitra plant will supply the two cell ventures first.
The European expansion contrasts with a slowdown in North America. PowerCo said on 24 September that its C$7bn plant in St Thomas, Ontario, will start up in 2029, two years later than planned, because of market demand and advances in battery technology.
