Group of companies aim for battery cell production in NRW
Handelsblatt
A group of western German companies including battery producer BMZ and start-up TerraE around Streetscooter-founder Günther Schuh are planning to establish a battery cell production site in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Kathrin Witsch and others write in the Handelsblatt. The factory could be placed at the Ford production site in Cologne and may also use former lignite coal mining grounds. The NRW government has given“high priority” to battery cell production but hasn’t come up with any actual results, the article says. Federal energy and economy minister Peter Altmaier has promised one billion euros in subsidies for potential investors and wants to name two or more groups of companies that will receive funding in the first quarter of 2019.
According to a publication by research institute Fraunhofer ISI, Germany and Europe have six years left to build up a competitive battery cell production, the authors write.
