No economic basis for gigafactory – battery manufacturers

Battery manufacturers say so-called gigafactories for battery production won't be economically viable in Europe for years, Daniel Wetzel writes for Die Welt. The car industry must first agree on a standard, Christian Riedel, spokesperson of Johnson Controls, said at German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (ZVEI) event in Berlin. “If the Association of the Automotive Industry [VDA] does not agree on cell technology, there will be no investment in major factories on greenfield land.” Rainer Hald, chief technical officer at Varta, said: “There won’t be a business case, as long as no customer from the auto industry is willing to commit [to a technology].”

Read the article in German here.

Read the CLEW News Digest piece Germany misses out on rise of battery cell production in Europe, and the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers for more information.